Weekend Herald

Aussies take on EV giants

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We are living through a renaissanc­e of motorcycle innovation: new brands are cropping up everywhere with a new take on two-wheeled mobility.

New Zealand already has two of its own EV-focused brands in the form of Ubco and FTN Motion, and now the Aussies are getting in on the action with their own take on the EV motorcycle.

The new shocker from the land down under is Savic Motorcycle­s, which takes its name from the company’s founder, Dennis Savic.

Savic, a former Ford engineer, saw an opening in the market between the growing moped class and the expensive heavyweigh­ts from the Northern Hemisphere. Aimed as a middleweig­ht in the market, Savic’s first offering is the C-Series, with the top-spec Alpha version boasting 60KW/200Nm from its three-phase AC motor, Brembo brakes front and rear, upside-down forks, Pirelli Diablo Rosso 3 tyres, a 7-inch touchscree­n, multiple ride modes (also customisab­le), ABS, traction control, and regenerati­ve braking.

It sounds awfully similar to a

certain American offering with performanc­e figures of 0-100km/ h in 3.5 seconds and a range of roughly 200km from its 16.2kWh battery. The main point of difference being that unlike the LiveWire One (formally the H-D LiveWire) the Savic C-Series Alpha is priced at $26,990 in its native Australia, with the lesser-spec Delta coming in under the $20k mark. New Zealand pricing is not yet set, but Savic says it has plans to bring the C-Series to NZ: “In Australia, the C-Series will be direct to consumer, purchased through the custom online configurat­or on our website and will be delivered directly to your door via our transport partners. To support our customer network, we will have Savic-supported service centres around the country, although most of our technical diagnosis and updates will be available over the air.

“We want the ownership

experience to be as easy as possible so our customers can spend more time enjoying their motorcycle­s,” says Savic.

“We’re really looking forward to bringing our flagship C-Series to NZ. Besides being spoilt for choice with the beautiful riding roads and scenery, the investment into scalable electrific­ation initiative­s like Electric Island Waiheke is very promising for the EV future.” Savic is launching its production models into the Australian market later this year and we’ll be keeping a close eye on how this thunder from Downunder is received by the public.

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