Checkitout, checkitout, checkitout. Energica, the company behind MotoGP’s electric racing series (until the end of the 2022 season) has just announced a new sport tourer.
And yeah, it’s battery-powered, which makes it a real rarity in the touring world. So, will it have enough range? It depends how much of your touring is on the highway …
A company in transition
Energica has been around a while now, and it’s always built bikes at the high end of the electric spectrum. Back in 2019, the announced-at-EICMA Energica Ego and Eva models saw claimed range rise to 400 kilometers of urban use, 180 klicks of straight highway range, and 230 kilometers of mixed range, from a 21.5 kWh polymer/lithium battery.
Since then, Energica saw its deal with Dorna coming to a close at end of 2022, and now that it doesn’t have to build racebikes for MotoGP’s electric series, it’s looking to boost its for-the-public production. Thanks to a recent deal with the investors at Ideanomics, Energica now has access to capital; over the past decade, it’s built around a thousand motorcycles, and now it wants to build a lot more. At time of acquisition, Ideanomics’ president said ” “Their technologies and solutions will support product development for our other operating companies and our combined supply chain buying power will improve access to components and batteries so we can build more Energica bikes faster.” Get ready for more Energica models, made in bigger numbers.
The Experia’s formula
So. What about this new sport-tourer?
You’ll notice it has a fairly upright seating position, similar the currently quickly-growing “adventure sports” market, which contains bikes like the Kawasaki Versys, the Triumph Tiger 660, and so on. These machines have 17-inch front wheels, so they’re best kept on pavement despite their general ADV-friendly profile.
It’s the same with the Experia. To go with those 17-inch wheels, you get a 260-kilo running weight. Not light, but not terrible either, especially in this category, and Energica says the Experia makes 105 horsepower and 85 pound-feet of torque—and since it’s an electric bike, that torque should be accessible right from the start of acceleration.
The 22.5 kWh battery (supposedly the largest of any commercially-sold electric moto) is expected to last around 210 kilometers of highway riding, 410 kilometers of urban riding and almost 250 kilometers of mixed riding. Obviously, the regenerative braking does a lot for the battery here.The Energica Experia still doesn’t have the battery range for cross-continent strafing runs, but range and quick-charge times continue to improve.
Just as importantly, quick-charge times see the bike juiced to 80 percent on a DC fast charger in 40 minutes (which is generally where EV manufacturers tell you to top off the battery). Level 1 and Level 2 charging times are obviously much slower, but at least you can charge the bike out your wall plug if you need to.
On top of all this electronic powertrain tech, the Experia comes with 112 liters of storage, between the panniers and top case, along with heated grips and other farkles—if you buy the Launch Edition. Currently, it’s available for $25,880 MSRP, plus tax and fees, in the US … and not available in Canada, as far as we’ve heard. Too bad. It’s expensive, but no doubt there would be interest in these Italian-built bikes, as at this point, there’s really nothing else quite like this machine on the market, attempting to offer long-distance two-wheeled touring via battery power.
When Japanese manufacturers up ended the old standards, they did so with better tech at more affordable prices. Something that seems forgot in this cycle of evolution.
Ooh, I can hardly wait – NOT ! $26K USD, seriously ???
Way too much for me, too, but lots of people drop that on a Harley, so only a little bit obscene.
Though who does 410 urban km on a sport tourer?
That’s, like, 40 round trips to Timmies!