Energica Experia: The First Electric Adventure-Tourer

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Energica claims its Experia adventure-tourer has the numbers to go knobby-to-knobby with gas-burning ADV bikes. (Energica/)

Battery-powered bikes have come on in leaps and bounds in recent years. With the reveal of prototypes like Ducati’s V21L and Triumph’s TE-1 we’ve had a preview of machines that really seem to offer a combination of performance and weight to match gas-powered models. Those are just prototypes. But Energica’s new Experia adventure-tourer is available to order right now, and at least on paper, its stats wouldn’t shame a big V-twin or four-cylinder rival.

Energica went for usability over outright performance, so the powerplant delivers 80 hp (with short bursts of 102 hp), 138 miles of range, and a 40-minute 0–80 percent charge time. (Energica/)

Past electric bikes tended to have at least one downside. You could have good performance and range, but the resulting bike would be heavy and expensive. Want cheap and light? No problem, as long as you don’t mind lukewarm performance and regular recharges. The Energica Experia aims to create a new balance between all those priorities, offering something that’s closer to the expectations we’ve grown up with thanks to the wonders of the internal combustion engine and the outstanding energy density of petroleum.

Forget about the power source for a moment and look at the numbers. The Experia offers a peak of 102 hp at 7,500 rpm, along with 85 lb.-ft. of torque. Not jaw-dropping, but pretty much on a par with the output you’d have got from a BMW R 1200 GS Adventure a decade ago, and nobody complained about that. Weight? The Energica’s 573 pounds is again comparable to a GS Adventure. So far so good.

Suspension is Sachs, brakes are Brembo, and weight is 573 pounds dry—though with electric bikes weights are always dry, weather permitting. (Energica/)

At this stage you might be expecting to hear that the battery will be flat by the time you reach the end of the street, paying the usual electric bike penalty, but with the Experia that’s not the case: under WMTC (World Motorcycle Test Cycle) conditions, which aim to replicate real-world use, the Experia is rated to do 138 miles between charges. Drop to urban speeds and that range nearly doubles to 261 miles, and even at highway pace the bike should manage 130 miles in one bite.

How is that managed? A huge battery is inevitably part of the answer. With a maximum capacity of 22.5kWh and a nominal capacity of 19.6kWh, the Experia’s li-po pack is the biggest yet offered on a production bike. For comparison, Triumph fitted a 15kWh pack to the TE-1 prototype, resulting in a 100-mile WMTC range, and Ducati uses an 18kWh pack in the V21L that’s being raced in the MotoE World Cup next year. Despite its size, Energica says the battery is actually lighter than its previous generation.

The Experia has the usual ride modes, with the addition of four regenerative braking modes and a nifty walking-pace mode, which works both forward or backward to help with parking. (Energica/)

When the battery does run out, the Experia can accept a DC fast charge that refills the battery at a rate of 248 mph, or 4 miles a minute, so using the usual 0–80 percent charge measurement it takes only 40 minutes to replenish. Slow AC charging, at either 120V or 240V, is also possible when the bike’s parked up for an extended period.

The other reason for the Experia’s range is its relatively restrained power. Energica’s Ego superbike has already proved the company can make more powerful machines, topping out at 169 hp, but the Experia has a completely new Permanent Magnet Assisted Synchronous Reluctance Motor (that’s PMASynRM) powertrain. As its designation suggests, it uses a combination of permanent magnets and an electromagnet-based synchronous reluctance system. It drives through a single-speed transmission, with no clutch or gearshift, and is rated at a continuous 80 hp or a peak of 102 hp for brief periods.

Electronic controls include seven riding profiles—four factory presets and three customizable ones—four riding modes (Eco, Urban, Rain, or Sport), and four regenerative braking modes. There’s also traction control, with six levels of intervention, and Bosch cornering ABS.

Electric motors are small. Batteries are not. A great deal of the Experia is its 22.5kWh battery. Seat height is very ADV at 33.3 inches. (Energica/)

The electric motor offers the party trick of having a parking assistant setting, allowing it to drive the bike forward or backward at walking pace.

Away from the powertrain, the Experia’s components are pretty conventional fare. The frame uses a combination of a steel trellis section at the front bolted to aluminum side plates clamping the swingarm pivot. The swingarm is cast alloy, as are the wheels: 17-inchers at either end, clad in Pirelli Scorpion Trail II rubber.

Sachs supplies the suspension: a 43mm USD fork with adjustable preload, compression, and rebound, and a monoshock at the back with rebound and preload adjustment, giving 5.9 inches of travel at each end. It’s an Italian bike, so of course the brakes are Brembos: two 330mm discs up front with four-pot calipers and a single 240mm rotor at the back with a two-piston unit.

The bike’s dimensions, including a 59.5-inch wheelbase, 33.3-inch seat height, 83.9-inch length, and 34.1-inch width, are all pretty close to the numbers you’d find on a BMW R 1250 GS spec sheet.

That just leaves the final part of the previously unsolvable electric bike conundrum: the price. Here’s where the story often falls apart for impressive-sounding battery-powered bikes which turn out to be forged from solid unobtanium and wear an MSRP equivalent to the national debt of Guatemala. That’s not the case with the Energica Experia: at $25,880 before tax it’s certainly not cheap, but neither is it an enormous leap from the top-ranked ICE-powered adventure bikes it sees as rivals. If it lives up to its on-paper promise, the Experia might just turn out to be a tipping point.

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