Zero Motorcycles and Hero nearing new lower cost electric motorcycle

As part of Zero Motorcycles’ new approach to affordability, the California electric motorcycle maker is increasingly relying on strategic partnerships in the industry to help lower costs and leverage production experience. Now we’re getting word that one of the company’s key partners, Hero MotoCorp, is closing in on its first Zero-enabled electric motorcycle model.

It’s giving a whole new meaning to “from Zero to Hero.”

Last year, Zero joined forces with India’s largest motorcycle maker, Hero MotoCorp, to develop a new electric motorcycle model. Zero obviously eyed Hero’s massive manufacturing footprint and decades of production experience, and it looks like that partnership is closer than ever to revealing the fruits of its labor.

“As far as EV motorcycles, as we have talked about, that we are developing in partnership with Zero Motorcycles. And that’s something that while we have not given out the timeline, but the work is in progress. And it will be coming in the middle-weight segment. I would say it’s in the advanced stage. We haven’t announced the timeline as yet, but we would be looking at something which would not be too far off,” explained Hero MotoCorp CEO Niranjan Gupta during the company’s Q2 earnings call with analysts.

While targeting the more sought-after middleweight market, Hero confirmed that the company would also produce a version for the more performance end of the motorcycling market.

Hero has massive production chops to its name, but the company is relatively inexperienced with electric two-wheelers. Hero has just two models of electric scooters currently available under its Vida brand, and no fully-fledged electric motorcycles of the style for which Zero is known.

Zero and Hero have yet to provide specifics about where such a motorcycle might land in the international market, but recent moves by the company could provide a few clues.

Last month, Zero announced that it had partnered with Chinese motorcycle maker Zongshen to produce its new Zero XE and XB electric motorcycles. The move comes as part of Zero’s recently announced “All Access” initiative, which is built around adding more affordable models to the Zero lineup. Priced at just US $6,494 and $4,195, the Zero XE and XB are the most affordable Zero bikes we’ve seen yet.

There’s more where those came from, too. Zero claims that it will have six unique models, all priced at under US $10,000, in the next two years.

Based on the advanced state of the Hero partnership bike, it’s likely that such a model could be revealed as part of Zero’s All Access program.