I am not a motorcycle expert, so my first assessment of the Zero SR 2022 is that it is beautiful. Even cool, dare I say, revealing once more that 40 is already over for us. Fortunately or unfortunately, I have not gone through the famous crisis of the 40s either, which is precisely one of the great motivations to buy a motorcycle (although in this case I understand that the most common is to pull for a Harley or similar, and in some cases even buy matching clothes). Let’s say that they seem cool to me, that I do not rule out using them one day, but that today they are far from my area of knowledge.
Anyway, how nib seasoned that I am (or so I want to believe), a press release posted on Businesswire has caught my eye. He stars in it, of course, the Zero SR 2022, an electric motorcycle, with a 14.4 kilowatt battery. This is an improvement over the SR models of previous years, thanks to improvements made by the company to the design of its lithium-ion battery. In addition, it will be possible to expand it to gain autonomy.
But that is not what has surprised me about the Zero SR 2022. What really caught my attention is the section called «On-demand updates with the Cypher Store«, A point in the text where we can read that the company has created its own in-app shopping store, in which users can buy upgrades for their motorcycle. Specifically, these five improvements are mentioned:
- Faster loading.
- Greater autonomy.
- Increased speed and performance.
- Heated parking mode and grips
- Dashboard navigator (well, I don’t know if it’s also called a dashboard on motorcycles).
At the moment it is not possible to buy these updates for the Zero SR 2022, the opening of the store is scheduled for spring 2022. However, we can see that at least three of the updates will have the same price: $ 195 each (faster loading, dashboard navigator and parking mode).
Well, I don’t know what you will think, but personally it seems to me that the motor industry has once again taken the example of technology, but in this case it has done so by keeping an eye on, this is my personal opinion, one of the most disgusting and questionable business techniques that have become popular in the video game industry. I’m talking, of course, about the DLC.
And it is that I understand that if the Zero SR 2022 has, as standard, everything necessary to offer at least part of these functions, it seems to me that I limit them on the basis, so that the owner (who has obviously already paid for the vehicle) has You have to make additional outlays to unlock something that is actually already there, something of a bad joke.
I understand, for example, that the browser function is paid, because the maps have a cost that the company must bear. However, is it really necessary to pay to improve the performance of the Zero SR 2022? In this regard, the company could have taken a different example from the technology industry. I am referring, of course, to overclocking. No manufacturer charges you an extra so that you can increase the clock frequency at which their components work. And yet, they strive so that it can be carried out, within certain parameters, safely.
I have omitted a personal data at the beginning. It is true that I have no idea about motorcycles, but actually I have had an object of desire for years. I’m talking about the Honda ST1300 Pan-European, a 1,300-cubic-centimeter grand tourer that a friend bought in the mid-1990s and has had a crush on me ever since. A work of art to which, in view of this Zero SR 2022, I add the virtue of not having to pay an extra to be able to use the turn signals or know how fast I am going. You will probably never get a Pan-European, but what I do hope I never have is a motorcycle with DLCs.
What do you think? Would you buy a motorcycle like the Zero SR 2022? And if so, would you pay for the DLC to unlock features that are already present? And what will be next, lootboxes maybe?
