Energica Eva gets closer

Electric streetfighter on sale next year

A YEAR ago Italian electric specialist Energica showed its naked Eva as a 136hp prototype. Now it’s revealed the production version and while the power is down to 95hp it’s still looking like a surprisingly sophisticated electric bike.

Range, originally pegged at around 90 miles if you struck to 50mph, is now reckoned to be up to 125 miles provided the bike is in ‘eco’ mode.

Alternatively you can opt for ‘urban’, ‘rain’ or ‘sport’ modes, as well as choosing from four possible maps for the bike’s regenerative braking system: low, medium, high or off.

Being electric there’s no multi-ratio gearbox but the bike can go backwards as well as forwards, albeit with a limit of 1.7mph and just to help you manoeuvre its weight. And that weight is likely to be significant – the firm hasn’t revealed numbers for the Eva but the Ego superbike that uses the same chassis and power pack comes in at 258kg.

Your wallet will be a fair bit lighter to make up for it, though, since prices aren’t likely to start much below the €20,000 mark.

Energica showed two versions of the bike, one with wire wheels and the other with alloys, and says that for your money you’ll get a fair bit of kit as standard, including a dash with GPS and Bluetooth built in, a battery monitoring system and an on-board charger that allows the bike to plug in to 110v or 220v electrics. It’s also promising a special fast-charging system as an option, to be introduced in late 2016.

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