Mar 28, 2024 - 23:14
By autoweek.com

8 Great Electric 2-Wheelers to Convert You from Gasoline Forever

Are electric motorcycles and scooters the future? Before you say no, at least go to your Harley dealer and test-ride an S2 Del Mar. Your outlook will be new and your brain will be smiling. Electric motorcycles and scooters are fast, silent fun.

Energica EsseEsse9+ RS

The Ferrari of electric superbikes, made in Modena, even, the Energica will thrill you like nothing else on electricity.

Think of Energica as the supercar of electric motorcycles. Modena, Italy, is home of Ferrari, Maserati, and Pagani, among others, and just down the road from Ducati in Bologna, so Energica is in good company. It got started in 2009 or 2010 (reports vary) and was officially founded in 2014. The name means “energetic” in Italian. Energica presented its first electric motorcycle, the Ego, at the big EICMA motorcycle show in Milan in 2012 to great acclaim and went into production in 2013.

EsseEsse9

$22,850 at energicamotor.com

Energica now offers four models: the Experia, an adventure touring bike; the Ego+, which, with 171 sustained hp and 164 lb-ft of torque, makes it what Energica says is «the world's most powerful and advanced electric motorcycle»; the Eva Ribelle, the naked (no fairings) version of the Ego+; and the bike I rode, the EsseEsse9+ RS, which the company says shares the technology and sophistication of the EGO+ and the EVA Ribelle but is made more suitable for casual riding without the demanding hyper-performance of the other two models.

I borrowed an EsseEsse9+ RS from Pro Italia, the SoCal Italian motorcycle retailer that is like a candy store for sport bikers. They specialize in Ducatis but also handle Aprilia, MV Augusta, and Energica (and Royal Enfield if you're on a budget yet still want to have a good time). If you accidentally stumbled into Pro Italia, you might think you'd died and gone to heaven.

The first thing I noticed about my loaner EsseEsse9 was the cool look—«classic Italian style,» as Energica calls it. Then you see that almost the entire bike is battery, 21.5 kWh of it, more than at least one electric car that was once on the market, the Mistubishi iMiEV. The main part of the frame is taken up by a big square gift box of energy. That and the