Interest in Electric Motorcycles Remains Strong, Says Survey

Clarity Research LLC, a leader in powersports market research, recently released data from its syndicated Powersports Event Monitor (PEM) survey of the May 2011 AMA Infineon Raceway sport bike race event attendees. The results show that attendees continue to have solid awareness of the U.S. TTXGP races, as well as personal interest in electric motorcycles.

David Pagnucco, Clarity Research partner, says its PEM surveys provide a comprehensive profile of motorcycle race attendees throughout the U.S.

“The PEM surveys are in their fifth year. Clarity maintains a normative database of key race track and event attendees’ attitudes and behavior from all five years to provide information about race track attendees over time. When launched in 2011, the TTXGP races were the first ever electric-powered motorcycle races in the U.S. We decided at that time to include a section in our PEM survey specifically addressing attendees’ awareness and attitudes towards electric motorcycles. These results provide a baseline for the U.S. and other countries where the TTXGP is held,” said Pagnucco.

An intercept survey was conducted at the first 2011 U.S.-based TTXGP race at Infineon Raceway May 13-15.

The results of the 2011 PEM electric-motorcycle special section is based on a total of 255 randomly intercepted attendees at Infineon. Comparisons are made to the 2010 Infineon TTXGP race results among the 142 intercepted attendees.

“A substantial proportion of attendees (40 percent) were aware of the TTXGP race prior to coming to the race. These results are consistent with the 2010 TTXGP Infineon results (45 percent),” comments Pagnucco.

The survey showed that TTXGP, while being a support class to the AMA-Pro, was a motivating factor for about one-fourth of the attendees (24 percent in 2011 and 28 percent in 2010).

Strong consideration toward purchasing an electric powered motorcycle increased slightly in this year’s race to 15 percent compared to 12 percent in 2010. And similar to the 2010 results, about 50 percent would now at least consider it.

“These results continue to show that interest in electric motorcycles remains strong,” adds Pagnucco.

Once again, Honda is by far the manufacturer expected to be the first to build and sell an electric powered motorcycle. Expectations increased since last year that Honda (39 percent in 2011 vs. 33 percent in 2010) would be the first to produce an electric bike. BMW was a distant second with a 10 percent expectation.

For more information about Clarity Research LLC, visit www.clarityresearch.net. For more information about TTXGP eGrandPrix World Championship for Electric Motorcycles, visit www.egrandprix.com.

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