This article will take you through some of the specs and how to charge the Energica Ego. The racing model of the Energica family.Â
The Energica Ego is one of the most powerful electric motorcycles in the world, and that’s not exaggeration, that’s a fact. The Ego are most well known for being the competition bikes for the MotoE, the electric version of the Moto GP.Â
The battery capacity of the Ego depends on the model you’re riding, of which there are three. The Ego, Ego+ and Ego+ RS. The base model Ego has a battery capacity of around 13.4 kWh and the Ego+ and RS models have a whopping 21.5 kWh. From base model to RS you will get between 180-250 kilometers of riding in, depending on whether you’re riding in the city or on the highway.Â
Electric motorcycles are backward from gas powered bikes by the way that you will get more kilometers in a city, than you would on a highway. This is due to the regenerative brake technology that sends charge back to the battery, something you’re more likely to use in cities.Â
The Ego’s have an incredible, and honestly scary top speed of between 240-260 km/h, but due to obvious reasons, the road models are limited to 200 km/h.Â
You can charge Energica bikes using level 1, 2 and 3 charging.Â
To access the charging port locate the lock on the right hand side of the Ego, just under the seat and above the suspension. This pops up the seat for you to access the charging ports. Here you will see two rubber caps, one bigger than the other. The larger rubber cap allows you level 1 and level 2, and by taking off the second smaller cap you are able to use both sockets in combination for level 3 charging.Â
Level 1 charging uses a Mennekes cord (also called a type 2 charger) that you can plug in to any standard 10 Amp power socket. These are your usual power sockets you would charge your phone or power your appliances with. Now of course this is the lowest power supply available, giving your bike up to 2.5 kW/h. Type 1 charging will take approximately 10 hours to get you from empty to full charge. This would be a suitable option if you’re charging your bike at home overnight.
If you’re using level 2 charging you will be drawing power from an AC socket. Some of you may have these around home or at work, they’re not too common but you can get them specially installed by an electrician. Here’s the thing though. Level 2 charging has the capacity to provide up to 7kW of power to charge your bike, however, Energica batteries have a 3 kW/h limit on AC charging. This will cut your charging time down to about 7 hours.Â
The fastest charging option is Level 3, or DC fast charging. These are the kinds of charging stations you will usually find in shopping centres, dedicated charging stations or petrol stations. Some DC fast chargers can supply up to 300 kW per hour. As a safety feature, the Energica Ego won’t let you go above 25 kW per hour, this is to protect the battery and the controller. This level of power supply will charge your battery from 0-80% in about 45 minutes, the last 20% will charge slower to protect the battery. To use level three charging you will have to use the CSS port as well as the usual charging socket in combination to access the DC fast charge.Â
When you start charging the motorcycle, you can monitor its progress from the main display or through the Energica app on your smartphone. Once you start charging the motorcycle will also lock the charger in place until you finish charging. To unlock, press the mode button on the left hand side of the handlebars. To finish charging, unhook the charging cords, place the rubber caps back over the sockets and pull back the small latch at the base of the seat to drop the seat back into place.Â
If you want to gather a bit more general knowledge about charging levels and charger types, or even ways to save money on charging, check out these other articles on the AEMC website.Â