Italian EV-bike builder Energica buffed up its Ego superbike for MY2019 with a number of comfort- and control-centric features intended to increase its appeal and viability as an alternative to internal combustion bikes. Not only does the factory show due concern for performance, but it goes farther than most to retain the smoker-bike look that lets the Ego blend right in with a crowd of the usual super/street suspects. Electric bikes are still fighting to expand the toehold it has in the market, and it's bikes like this that the still-burgeoning genre needs to continue to grow. Think I'm overselling it? Just wait till you see what all the Ego has going on under the hood before you make that call.

2019 Energica Ego Design

Right. This is pure sex-on-wheels, I'm tellin' ya. Maybe not quite as sensual as, say, a Ducati product, but definitely a close second. The Ego leads the way with an angry-bird visage that features a strong brow over a pair of distinctly eye-like headlight projectors before the fairing opens up into a cowl-scoop, just like you'd expect to see on a smoker-bike, and like its ICE brethren the cowling doubles as a shroud for a radiator.

Up top, a bubble shield punches a hole in the wind, but you'll have to tuck in race-bike style to find the pocket because the factory keeps the front end as minimal as possible in order to maximize penetration. The short handlebars make that easy by pulling your fists all the way forward to the upper tripleclamp, and, of course, the jockey-mount foot controls and deep-scoop seat helps encourage an aggressive riding posture.

A realistic-looking fuel-tank hump gives the Ego a natural flyline, but it's obviously a lie since this bike requires no dino-juice. Still, that hump acts as a nice bit of camouflage. It bears a sheer drop down to the narrow waist that leaves plenty of room for body English and gives a straight shot from hip-to-ground when you deploy your training wheels. The tank area has shoulders that flow into the front fairing to form the leg pocket so you can pull your stems in out of the slipstream, and that's an important feature given the performance this beast brings to the table, believe you me, but more on that later.

A steep rise at the back of the 31.9 inch-high seat forms a butt-bucket that you'll appreciate when you get twisty with it, and of course, the lofty pillion gives your passenger an excellent view. Subframe-mount, fold-up footpegs finish the passenger's gear. At the terminus, the taillight rides tucked away at the root of the mudguard extender. It mounts the plate and the short, standoff turn signals with a swingarm-mount hugger to complete the spray containment.

All-in-all, a very normal-looking ride by current superbike standards; it only gives itself away visually right ahead of the swingarm pivot where the side panels open up to reveal a block covered with cooling fins. It just doesn't look quite like anything I've seen before, but I gotta' say, Energica really did a good job with the design, and I reckon that kind of camouflages its true nature as an electric. That has to be good for sales since it delivers something familiar along with the still-alien electric drivetrain. Of course, it could be as ugly as a mud fence and still sell to anyone who looks at the power figures.

2019 Energica Ego Chassis

Tubular-steel members make up the Trellis frame that is surprisingly visible due to cut-outs in the cowling and even up front at the steering head; little is left to the imagination as far as the standing structure goes. It obviously uses part of the drivetrain as a stressed member to complete the structure, but I won't hazard a guess as to exactly which parts. Not that it matters much since it's all hidden anyway.

A cast-aluminum swingarm articulates the rear wheel with a coil-over Bitubo monoshock to tame it. It comes with the obligatory spring-preload adjustment plus an adjustable rebound-damping feature for a little extra ride control. Up front, a pair of usd, 43 mm Marzocchi forks take care of business with the full trinity on tap, so you can dial it in just where you want it.

The brakes are serious business as well with dual, four-pot Brembo calipers that bite 330 mm brake discs up front, and a twin-piston Brembo anchor and 240 mm disc out back. Bosch supplies the ABS, and it comes switchable so you can take it or leave it as you please. Cast aluminum rims round out the rolling chassis with sticky Pirelli Diablo Rosso III hoops in a 120/70-17 up front and a 180/55-17 out back to make the connection to the pavement.

2019 Energica Ego Drivetrain

Ready for the fun stuff? An oil-cooled, permanent-magnet AC motor drives the Ego to speeds up to 150 mph. Oh, it could go faster to be sure, but that's where the factory set the governor, and that's way faster than you have any business going on public roads. It comes with a new electronic throttle that registers inputs as small as one-hundredth of a degree, so you can make some very subtle corrections. Don't worry, it comes with cruise control so you don't have to sweat that right grip over long hauls. No clutch or switchable gearbox to complicate matters and weigh the Ego down, just a twist-and-go direct drive that delivers the goods.

The Ego rocks a quartet of riding modes with unique power-delivery profiles to go with the four regenerative maps and traction control. Though it doesn't have switchable gears, it does come with a reverse mode that'll back up at speeds up to 1.74 mph, so you can really park with impunity regardless of grade.

Power storage falls to an 11.7 kWh, lithium-polymer battery. It relies on a Long Period Rest feature for maintenance and charge balance over long periods of disuse, and that helps the battery meet its 1,200 cycle life expectancy. Plug up for a Mode 2 or 3 charge for a 100-percent charge in 3.5 hours with the on-board, 3 kW charger or go for a Mode 4 “fast charge” and slam up to 85-percent of the the juice into the pack in only 30 minutes, 15-percent faster due to a software buff.

What does that get you? Well, it can get you in a whole heap o' trouble with the folks at the Highway Patrol, that's for sure. I blame the 145 horsepower motor that claims a whopping 148 pound-feet of torque, and it's all right there as soon as you roll on that oh-so sensitive throttle control, unlike an ICE that has to spool up to develop the full grunt. One metric it seems the factory is either keeping close to the vest or ignoring entirely is range, but it's clear that all-out performance was the main concern here, so don't expect this to be your next state-line burner.

2019 Energica Ego Pricing

Energica wisely slashed its prices; a move that reflects the growing competition it faces on the world stage. A new, base-model 2019 Ego will set you back $22,565, and it's really a shame that the federal buyer incentives look like they're about to end thanks to Number 45.

2019 Energica Ego Competitors

I'd have liked to use Harley's LiveWire for my head-to-head, but there are still too many unknowns, so instead I looked to Zero Motorcycles and its SR model. The SR is more akin to the naked genre than to the superbike segment such as the Ego, but I consider performance to be the common denominator with both, so here we go.

Zero doesn't go to great lengths to blend in with the ICE crowd, and so it's pretty obvious at a glance that there is something unusual going on with it. It doesn't look bad, just different. Showa provides the suspension with 41 mm usd forks opposite a 40 mm piggyback rear shock, and both ends come with the full trinity of adjustments to be on-par with the Ego, more or less. Zero falls behind in the brakes with a single front disc against the Ego's dual anchors, but both rock ABS protection.

In the performance department, the Zero falls short but still runs faster than anyone should travel off a closed-circuit at 102 mph top speed. It produces 116 pound-feet of torque for another shortfall, though you'd be a fool to think the SR a “weak” bike, it just carries more reasonable numbers if you ask me. Zero is a skosh more economical at $19,390, but if you want that performance, you gotta' pay for it.

He Said

“Just. Freakin'. Wow. I mean seriously. I wish we had range figures, but from what I can see so far, this has got to be a blast to ride; hopefully it will go farther than the next charging station. Seriously though, this is exactly the kind of product we need to keep advancing the EV bike sector and pull more riders out of the ICE market.”

She Said

My wife and fellow motorcycle writer, Allyn Hinton, says, “Man, you're not kidding on the sensitive throttle. The bike feels very heavy at slow speeds, so the slow mode and reverse are a plus at parking-lot speeds. The bike is built to go fast, though, and that's where it comes alive. And make no mistake; “Sport” mode will scare the crap out of someone who loves you.”

Specifications

Further Reading

Harley-Davidson LiveWire

See our look at the Harley-Davidson LiveWire.

Zero Motorcycles S / SR

See our review of the Zero S / SR.

Energica

Read more Energica news.