KTM and Husqvarna electric street motorcycles confirmed for 2025 lineup
KTM and sister company Husqvarna will soon be making their official debut in the electric street motorcycle category, as confirmed by VIN decoding documents filed with the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) for their 2025 model lineup. The VINs make reference to two models – the KTM “Electric Freeride (Street Legal)” and the Husqvarna “Electric Pioneer (Street Legal)”.
The “Electric Pioneer” could very likely be the production version of the Husqvarna E-Pilen concept showcased a few years ago, which was based on the Duke 390 chassis. Notably, in 2022, alongside the E-Pilen, the Austrian parent company, Pierer Industrie, had also mentioned plans for two other models – an E-Duke and an enduro-style Freeride E LV.
The “Electric Freeride” is expected to be the fruition of the Freeride E LV project, which was supposed to launch in 2023. It could also be a street legal version of KTM’s existing, off-road-only Freeride E-XC.
Details of the upcoming bikes’ specs are sparse and call for some speculation. Both models will share the same powertrain, as has been the case so far with many of their gas powered models, including the Duke and Svartpilen/Vitpilen series. According to KTM’s VIN protocol document, the electric powertrain is somewhat confusingly described as “5.54kW Li-ion 660W”.
One likely explanation is that the document was meant to say “5.54 kWh Li-ion”, referring to battery capacity rather than output power, and that the 660 W refers to the charging speed. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that the E-Duke, E-Pilen and Freeride E LV from Piere’s 2022 presentation were also supposed to feature battery capacities of 5.5 kWh.
As further food for speculation, the E-Pilen and the Freeride E LV were listed as having 10 kW (13.4 hp) and 9 kW (12 hp) of nominal power, respectively. The current KTM Freeride E-XC 2023 model also has a nominal and peak power ratings of 9 kW and 18 kW. Lastly, the Freeride E LV was slated to cost under €10,000 ($10,800).
The current Freeride E-XC uses a removable battery called the KTM PowerPack, and with KTM being a founding member of the European Swappable Batteries Motorcycle Consortium, one can reasonably expect to see swappable batteries in these upcoming models as well.
Riders of both electric and gas-powered motorcycles can get GPS navigation with live traffic and weather updates with the Garmin zūmo 396 LMT-S with 4.3" display, or the larger Garmin zūmo XT with an ultrabright display.
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