What are the biggest downers about EVs? Limited range and long charging times. Lithium fires aren’t a selling point either. Solid-state technology holds the promise of fixing these weaknesses.
Verge Motorcycles just announced the first EV you can actually purchase with solid-state battery tech, the Verge TS electric motorcycle. It offers a range of up to 370 miles per charge. If you need to travel even further in short order, just 10 minutes of charging gains you 186 miles of range.
Those are unprecedented specs, if true.
The Verge TS Motorcycle
The Finnish brand Verge is a newcomer to the motorcycle world, but made a big splash in 2022 with its “donut” rear hub motor that you can’t help but stare at — or through. Since then, the TS has matured and is in the hands of paying customers, proving to the world that Verge Motorcycles are not vaporware.
A base price of $29,900 puts the TS in premium territory with bikes like the Aprilia RSV4 or Ducati Panigale. It’s likely to appeal to wealthy and nerdy moto enthusiasts, which is probably why its two showrooms are in California.
The Verge electric motorcycle is real, and improving. Earlier this year, Donut Labs revealed a lighter, more efficient hub motor, claiming 50% weight reduction, and 2026 models will feature NACS charging for the U.S. These all add value to a machine that can deliver 1,000 Nm of torque and 137 horsepower directly to that rear tire via the donut motor.
Are We on the Verge of a Donut Breakthrough?
Verge’s spinoff company Donut Lab is behind the motor and battery tech that powers the latest Verge TS electric motorcycle.
If it can deliver, Verge will have beaten not just big motorcycle incumbents like Honda and BMW, but it will have also bested every automotive manufacturer and the countless billions that they’ve spent on EV development. The closest automaker might be Toyota, which promised solid-state batteries for hybrid-electric vehicles in 2025, but it has yet to deliver. Verge is striking at this opportunity to be the first.
We’ve been on the “verge” (pun intended) of commercialized solid-state batteries for more than a decade. As CTO of an EV company, my inbox is inundated with solicitations “promising” the latest battery tech that is right around the corner. I toss them all.
Cooking up a high-performing battery in a lab is (relatively) straightforward — and makes for quick news. Transitioning a promising lab project to a high-volume production line can take a decade and millions in investment. Has Donut Labs found a way to outrun the biggest battery makers on the planet?
What Is This Fabled Solid Technology?
True to its name, solid-state batteries use a solid lithium metal electrolyte, whereas current production EVs use a gel electrolyte. Battery cells are assembled from rolls or stacks of anodes with layers of electrolyte between them.
Gel is flexible, and that flexibility makes it easier to manufacture. That also makes the electrolyte more mobile and subject to change over time, which eventually leads to battery degradation.
Solid-state electrolyte isn’t readily flammable, so it’s also inherently safer, and it has better longevity — offering more charging cycles. The Verge TS battery might outlast the rest of the bike if the claims are true.
The downside is that solid electrolyte is really difficult to produce at scale because it’s not as forgiving as gel. Hard is not impossible, and you can have a solid-state cell delivered to your door today — it’s just hella expensive. That fact has kept them out of mainstream adoption, but solid state has found its way into medical devices, military products, and other low-volume, high-cost applications.
Why a Motorcycle First?
Why did this battery tech find its way into a motorcycle first? Because size matters.
The Verge TS’s 33.3 kWh capacity is nearly one-quarter of what you’d find in a typical electric car. When you’re supply-constrained, you start with smaller packs. Small packs fit nicely in a motorcycle or a hybrid car, which explains why Toyota is starting with hybrids.
Solid-state cells also promise a performance and energy improvement. You’ll feel that improvement much more in a weight-sensitive two-wheeler than you will in a Camry. We don’t know if the Donut Labs motor can actually take advantage of more power, but it should certainly make the bike lighter and lead to more efficient long-duration rides.
Perhaps most important of all, there should be enough tech-hungry moto-enthusiasts who will be ecstatic to splurge on sexy tech with a save-the-planet story.
Should Solid-State Batteries in a Production EV Be Exciting?
Should you be excited? I am, but I am a self-acknowledged e-moto geek. Even though Verge’s PR strays more toward fluff than function, I can’t help but root for them. PR sells products and brings investors, both of which Verge needs.
That said, even if I had the money, I wouldn’t buy one yet. It’s one thing to take a risk on a startup e-moto brand with a small U.S. footprint. It’s yet another to risk buying a bike with novel battery cells and an unconventional motor design. Unconventional designs require rigorous testing, which translates to abundant time and money in quantities small companies don’t have. TS riders should consider themselves paying test pilots.
Coming Soon, Maybe?
New TS models with steady-state packs should see zero price increase and are scheduled for 2026 delivery to U.S. customers. That seems optimistic, and I suspect this will remain a low-volume machine for a few select individuals in European markets first.
To its credit, Verge has often delivered on its announcements. But, its spinoff, Donut Labs, claims gigawatt-scale production readiness. That’s a bold claim, and if true, Donut Labs is worth far more than Verge and would get promptly scooped up by an automotive giant.
But maybe that’s the goal. Verge pulls in the eyeballs with sleek designs and hardens its technology with a small motorbike. The designs and intellectual property they build along the way will be valuable to a market much larger than motos.
The Donut Labs tech arm then allows Verge’s founders to capitalize on their assets and serve a much broader and more lucrative market. If true, I have to give Verge credit. I think it’s a brilliant play.
At the end of the day, Verge is a real company delivering real bikes to customers. I’ve played that same game working for Motoczysz, Bultaco Motors, and Arcimoto. We failed each time — it is brutally difficult to make money selling motorcycles.
I’m optimistic that at least a few Verge solid-state motorbikes will find their way into the hands of everyday folks soon. Either way, I have to respect its strategy and its fearless novel engineering.
Fearlessness, though sometimes foolish, is what really drives innovation to market.
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