SuperBike Magazine June 2020

26
ENERGICA
Multi-level traction control, ABS, adjustable “engine braking”, (with a regenerative effect)
and power modes for Sport, Urban, Rain and Eco.
Charging from a wall
plug will take about
4 hours to 100%, but
quick charges can
happen in 30 minutes
and will take you up
to 80%.
These bikes were fitted with 13.4kWh batteries, whereas all customer
bikes will have 21.5 kWh batteries. This will significantly
improve range.
few laps to get used to it and then I stop.
I feel I have enough of a feel to drop the
traction control down a bit and put it into
sport mode. I go out and do about 8 laps
at a pace where I know I will not crash
(did I mention the R600k price tag) but
I want to see if the electronics are up
to it and if the suspension can carry the
weight, 280kgs of it to be precise. The
acceleration now is even more dramatic
in sport mode and the TC light flashes but
you can’t feel the cut in, it’s very linear. It’s
quite weird (read nice) to have one long
linear gear which just keeps on giving,
there is a tight right hand hairpin at FK
circuit which puts you onto the straight to
a down hill high speed left hand sweeping
bend. From knee down right hand leaving
the hairpin full on the throttle climbing
over the bike to the left hand side with
the bike charging hard, for sure here I was
happy not to still needing to change gears
at the same time. So electric propulsion
has its merits. But this high speed corner
enters into another tight hairpin right
hander and here the weight can be felt.
The Brembo callipers and Ohlins suspension
hardware coping very well but you
can’t hide the weight, it’s there. We rode
the bike a fair amount and there was a
few of us doing the riding and the battery
lasted fairly well on this short track, only
when it got down to about the 50% level
did it start taking power away. It does this
to make sure you get home to get another
charge. As a matter of fact, if it runs out
completely you can stop, switch it on and
off and again you will have a short limp
home power delivery, that option can be
used twice for an additional 20kms range.
Let me also just draw on the price
again, the father and son pair of Kobus
and Francois, two Petrol Heads (battery
heads in this case) are passionate about
the brand, they planning on bringing in
the bikes in the future and will showcase
them going forward, the ever changing
exchange rate is not helping them but the
first bikes were brought in with all the
bells and whistles added and hence the
exorbitant pricing, also coming from Italy
does not help. But the Ego at a retail price
of over R600k did scare me a little, not
that I could not see the technology or the
R&D cost that must go into the manufacture
process, but what else could I
spend my R600k on if I like 2 wheels and
herein lies their problem. R600k is a lot of
money and there are a lot of options but
if you want to be unique or the first this
will come at a premium charge, excuse
the pun.
I took the Eva (naked) for a road ride
through town and here all of a sudden
the more straight up riding position and