WIRED FOR SOUND
Just imagine an engine that managed to combine the power of a tuned R6 and twice the torque of an R1. Imagine it had a honey-smooth power curve and the butteriest of throttles. And just imagine it cried the high-pitched scream of a jet engine at full throttle. Well, if this is the motor of your dreams you’re in luck, because it powers the new Energica Ego45. It’s made in Modena at the heart of Italy’s F1 belt, but the Ego45’s not powered by a vee, boxer or parallel-twin, an in-line triple or even a two-stroke; it’s electric. Before you turn the page in a petrolfuelled rage, bear with me because electric bikes have come a long way over the past few years. Just look at the Mugen Shinden TT Zero racer we tested in MCN last year; in the hands of John McGuinness, it’s gone from lapping the TT at 100mph in 2012, to scorching round at an insane 120mph in 2015. Battery-powered two-wheelers have evolved from being a bit of a joke, to something to be taken seriously. And the Ego45 is as serious as they come. If a petrol engine was as smooth and effortlessly powerful as this, it would be hailed as one of the greats. The Energica’s 136bhp motor has a similar character to the grunt-laden 2009 Yamaha R1 crossplane crank engine, but without the growl, snatchy fuelling – and trips to the petrol station. That R1 produced 78.3ftlb at the back wheel, the Ego45 makes 144ftlb – the same as an 1800cc Harley Fat Boy. There’s more to these impressive figures than meets the eye. A petrol engine can’t hang on to its peak power or torque for long, but an electric motor can. The Energica has the most elastic of power bands; maximum power is delivered from 4900rpm to 10,500rpm and all that torque comes in instantly from zero through to 4700rpm. When the torque tails off the power takes over, so when you’re riding there’s massive thrust from nothing all the way to 10,500rpm. Just don’t blip the throttle at a standstill by accident… The Energica also costs pennies to run, and this special-edition £31,750 Ego45 (the standard, lower-spec version is £17,600) is the first production electric bike to come with a fast-charger, which lets you charge the battery to 85% in half an hour. Apart from picking yourself off the floor after hearing the price, I know what you’re thinking: ‘electric motors are boring – they don’t make any noise’. That’s usually true, but this one is different. The Italian firm has deliberately used straight-cut cogs inside the electric motor’s gearbox to help create a bit of extra noise. The Ego45 might whine like a milk float at low revs, but the faster you go the more sinister and ear-piercing the soundtrack becomes, like you’re strapped to a fighter jet – or the Batmobile.
The pace of progress
The Ego45 is limited to 149mph, which isn’t exactly slow, but in testing at Mugello it’s clocked over 186mph, which is superbike territory. With so much instant and prolonged torque on tap, there’s no need for gears, or a clutch. That makes the Ego45 a piece of cake to ride around town and at full speed. Coming from a ‘normal’ bike your left hand and foot feel a bit redundant at first, but you’re soon seduced by the Energica’s twist-andgo madness. Energica have been around since 2011 and they’re part of the bigger CRP Group, who’ve been in business for 45 years. The special-edition Ego45 is effectively a birthday present to themselves. CRP is a precision engineering company and are one of the leading lights in the F1 world, manufacturing engine and chassis parts, as well as rapid 3D prototyping (just like Mugen, coincidentally). The Italian firm cut its teeth in electric bike racing world championships (but not at the TT, like Mugen), so they know how to create a fast, sharphandling machine.
Powerplant
An oil-cooled three-phase AC permanent magnet motor has twice the torque of a superbike from zero revs to 4700rpm and makes around the same power as a GSX-R750… but all the way from 4900rpm to 10,500rpm. You can adjust the engine braking/battery regeneration within the riding modes. Stunning dash shows speed, rpm and remaining battery life
Leadingthecharge
A huge air-cooled 11.7 kWh lithium battery pack accounts for most of the Energica’s 258kg bulk. It takes around 3.5 hours to charge normally at home, or if you use a fastcharging station you can recharge it to 85% in 30 minutes. Range is around 90-120 miles, depending on how hard you ride. Each one of the 45 will be numbered Ports for fast and normal charging
Raceready
This limited-edition Ego45 45tcelebratescelebratestheCRPGroup’s45th anniversary. Only 45 machines will be built and features Öhlins suspension, OZ forged aluminium wheels, Brembo monobloc calipers, carbon-fibre bodywork, Bosch racing ABS and a fastcharging system.
Areargear
Such a heavy bike like this is tricky to paddle backwards, so there’s a helpful reverse gear. Just select reverse mode on the dash with the starter button, twist the throttle and back you go. Top speed in reverse is 1.74mph, so it doesn’t go as fast backwards as it does forwards, thankfully.
Ridingmodes
Thanks to a brilliantly set up ride-by-wire system, the Ego45 has four riding modes with differing levels of torque: Sport, Standard, Eco and Rain. There’s also three levels of engine braking control to choose from: High, Medium, Low, and it can be switched off. One too many late nights have left the Ego45 a bit red-eyed Carbon and clip ons, Energica Ego45 is every inch a proper superbike
Based on the standard £17,600 Ego, only 45 Ego45s will be built. It’s dripping with racing goodies, including lightweight forged aluminium OZ wheels, carbon-fibre bodywork, Öhlins suspension and Brembo monoblocs, but its standout gizmo is that nifty fast-charging system. Plug the Energica into your 3kW home mains supply and it takes around three-and-a-half hours to charge, but find a 20kW fast-charging point (granted, there aren’t too many of these in the UK yet) and you can recharge the battery to 85% in the time it takes you to enjoy a cuppa and a bacon sarnie. Recharging is even quicker if you’re not starting from completely flat. Depending on how heavy you are with the throttle you can blow your juice in around 90 miles, riding normally (50-60mph). Dribble around town and you can eke out over 120 miles. We only used 60% of the Ego’s battery during our three-hour test ride in the mountains, around town and motorways. That’s about the same as your average Sunday morning blast. Electric motorcycles polarise opinion among bikers and owning one will always be a series of peaks and troughs. You’ll never have to fill up with expensive petrol again, but the electric motor has limited range and it’s not straightforward to charge up, unless you’ve meticulously planned your route and charging stops. Then there’s the obvious cost; the technology in electric bikes doesn’t come cheap.
The Energica’s powerful, silky smooth and does have a characterful soundtrack at high rpm, but the lack of sound at low speed is off-putting. You hear the clumsy stuff that’s normally masked: the suspension crashing over bumps, the tyre hum over the road surface, the hissing brakes, wind-blast and the skim of a knee slider at full lean. And tip-toeing so quietly through traffic you feel exposed and vulnerable without a loud motor to let everyone know you’re there.
Worth the weight
Even with its carbon-fibre bodywork and lightweight wheels the Ego45 is still as heavy as a touring bike, but it carries that weight well. The ride quality is plush and controlled and it takes little effort to turn and flick through flip-flops. Diablo Rosso Corsa tyres ooze grip and the monobloc Brembos never complain when you’re bringing 258kg to a stop. You notice the Ego45’s weight more at low speed and when you’re paddling it around. But Energica have thought about that and given it a reverse gear. Just twist and go – backwards. Cornering on an electric bike is strange at first. Normally you rely on a petrol bike’s gears and engine braking to help you turn and find grip. But without all that, it’s like you’re coasting through bends on a big pushbike, although you can dial in four levels of engine braking, which also helps recharge the battery when you’re off the throttle. The Ego45 won’t wheelie, or shimmy under hard acceleration like a lightweight sportsbike. You miss out on some of the fun you get when a sportsbike is dancing in your hands at high speed, but the Energica is still quick enough to make you smile. It’s superbly made and looks just like the ‘real thing’. The Ego is already in production and Energica expect to sell 500 bikes next year and 1000 in 2017. They’ve just unveiled the Eva, a super-naked, too. We all wonder what might happen when fossil fuel runs out and of course, that’s what the power stations that give us electricity run on in the first place. But if the future is electric, we don’t have a lot to worry about.
‘You hear the tyres hum, the hissing brakes, wind-blast and the skim of a knee slider at lean’