INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Jake Bright
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Jake Bright is a writer and author in New York City
He is co-author of The Next Africa.
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Three e-mobility startups are
accelerating into the U.S
motorcycle market.
Italy&sEnergicaand California basedAlta MotorsandZero Motorcycleshave revved up promotion, distribution, and sales.
You
may see their machines zip by on American roads before the big two-wheel gas powered companies get EVs to showroom floors.
These startups
motorcycle sales while shifting the global motorcycle industry toward electric.
The market
Since the recession, America motorcycle sector
New bike sales have dropped roughly 50 percent since 2008—with sharp declines in ownership by everyone under 40.
Most of the market is
now aging baby-boomers, whose&Live to Ride&days are winding down.
Twobrightspots in the space are women and resales
Females are one of the few growing U.S
ownership market segments
And per anInsurance Institute for Highway Safetystudy, total motorcycles on the road actually increased from 2008 to 2017, though nearly 75
percent of registrations are for bikes over 7 years old.
So Americans are buying motorcycles, but for some reason not choosing new ones.
On
the e-moto front,two-wheel gas manufacturers have mostly stagnated around EV concepts
None of the big names—Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, BMW—offer a production electric street motorcycle in the U.S.
Harley Davidson jolted the
industry in February bycommitting to produce an EVfor sale by August 2019.
On U.S
e-motorcycle sales, Global Market Insights (GMI)recently tallied2017 combinedAmerican e-scooterand moto sales at 245K units worth $155M
Following worldwide trends, GMI projects that to grow to 598K and $304M by 2024, with the share of U.S
e-motorcycles to scooters increasing.
The startups and motorcycles
Alta, Energica, and Zero have niche markets for their unique tech and
design.
Italy Energica is targeting the high performance, higher priced superbike segment
On disrupting existing market leaders such as Ducati or Kawasaki, &Of course we want to do that,& CEO Livia Cevolini told me.
Energica
offers three models in the U.S.: the EVA ($26,240),EVA ESSEESSE9($24,940) and top line 145 horsepower, 150mph EGO ($26,460).
All three share
innovative features, including a patented cooling system to optimize performance of their motors and high energy lithium polymer
batteries.
08-01-2017 Torino, calcio campionato serie a Tim, gara Juventus-Bologna, nella foto: .photo damiano fiorntini
Energica
proprietary Vehicle Control Unit syncs to a digital dash and MYEnergica app
The VCU regulates everything from power output and preset riding modes to ABS andregenerative braking.
As a member of the ChargePoint EV
network, Energica integrates the group 20 minuteDC Fast Charging tech&because if want to ride Saturday with your sport bike friends nobody
is going to wait 2 hours for you to charge,& said U.S
CEO Stefano Benatti.
He explained the company is expanding its American dealer network from San Francisco, to Chicago, Florida, and New York
Energica is also entering racing
Its EGO motorcycle was named the class bike forFIM 2019 Moto-e World Cup.
Brisbane, California based Alta Motors focuses primarily on
producing electric powered off-road machines
Four of Alta five models—including the three that are street legal—are specialized for dirt riding
The MX and Redshift MXR motorcycles are full on motocross racers.
The startup has raised $45M and counts Tesla co-founders Marc Tarpenning
and Martin Eberhard among its investors.
From a design perspective Alta two-wheelers are distinctly minimalist and produce significant power
&We pioneered a new approach to building 18650 based packs,& Chief Product Officer Marc Fenigstein told TechCrunch—referring to the
lithium-ion battery cells used by Tesla.
Alta recently launched its second generation—waterproof, 350 volt, 66 pound—battery
&That pack gives us unique…range per pound for a battery pack and unique economics, not just for the world of electric
motorcycles…but pretty much everything smaller than a passenger car,& he said.
Fenigstein estimated &the premium off-road motorcycle
market is bigger than people think, at [roughly] $2BN.& He would not divulge Alta Motors revenue or sales figures.
Shortly after their EV
commitment, Harley Davidson took an (undisclosed) equity stake in Alta, along with a board seat, and entered into a co-development
partnership.
Alta CEO revealed Harley recent EV announcement &isn&t the program we&re working on&, but confirmed the Alta-HD partnership
&should result in a motorcycle.&
Of the three startups, Scotts Valley, California basedZero Motorcycleshas the widest market and model
The company has six base models,three with dual sport capabilities, distribution in 30 countries, and had sales of $90M in 2017 (according
to GMI—Zero wouldn&t confirm revenue data).
&We&re the number one full sized electric motorcycle manufacturer in the world
We sell more every year than all our competitors combined,& CEOSam Pascheltold TechCrunch—though Zero did not provide exact figures.
Like
Alta, Zero manufactures its EVs in the USA
The startup&sZForce batteryconnects to an internal magnet driven motor
Both are governed by a proprietary Main Bike Board (MBB) processor &the brain…that houses all of our algorithms,& said Zero VP for Product
Development Brian Wisman.
&The specific energy that achieved on Zero lithium ion batteries is far greater than anything achieved by
automotive EVs right now,& he said.
Zero motorcycles connect via Bluetooth to an app that allows riders to monitor and adjust performance
The company EV can be fast charged from charging stations or by plugging into the same home outlet that powers your toaster.
In addition to
citizen motorcyclists, Zero has started specialized fleet sales to the U.S
military and police departments.
The ride
I got a chance to test models from all three companies
The most significant distinctions between their e-motos and gas two-wheelers are power delivery and no shifting.
Zero, Alta, and Energica
machines are fully automatic—no clutch or gears.
Simply flick the on switch and twist the throttle to go
When you do an immediate and uninterrupted stream of voltage powered torque launches you forward
The wind is louder than the motor—though each e-motorcyclehas a distinct sound—and when you stop there silence.
Energica big battery
acceleration is akin to striking a lightning bolt to the pavement
Alta lightweight RedShift MXR is quick, nimble, and flight capable on a motocross track
And Zero SR feels distinctly balanced across power, performance, and rideability
I didn&t find myself missing gas motorcycles at any point of the tests.
The biz play
Energica, Alta, and Zero face their own steep climbs to
profitability—and the e-moto space has already seen two flops in Mission Motorcycles& collapse andBrammo sputtering out.
&We do have a
Like any sub-scale EV manufacturer such as Tesla, we are pre-profit,& said Zero CEO Sam Paschel
&The way to win is scale.&
And while these electric startups probably can&t revive new U.S
motorcycles sales to seven-figures annually—that would take 12 years of five percent growth—they could play a role in transforming the
global motorcycle industry.
As their models close gaps on price, performance, weight, recharge times, and ride distance—Zero, Alta, and
Energica could shift the market from gas to electric.
Their tech appeal and simplicity to ride could bring more first-time and younger
riders into motorcycling, including women.
This — and Harley EV production commitment — could pressure the likes of Honda, Yamaha, and
Ducati to produce electric motorcycles sooner.
These factors (andregulatory tailwinds) could thrust Alta, Zero, and Energica into an active
space for partnerships, mergers, and acquisitions
Their compact, lightweight technology has application for other non-auto, non-motorcycle e-mobility solutions.
Growing competitive pressure
and a shift in two-wheel consumer preferences could also make Energica, Zero, and Alta acquisition targets for mainline motorcycle
manufacturers.
That a lot of speculation, but the big gas manufacturers are apparently watching
&Since Harley EV announcement, three of the big motorcycle companies bought one of our bikes,& an exec from one of the startups told me on
background.
&We&d like to think they&re just curious to ride our e-motos, but more than likely it to break them down and study the tech,&
