Australia’s first full-size electric motorcycle, the Savic C-Series, has launched today in Wollongong at the Australian Motorcycle Festival with orders accepted for for first 49 bikes.

The updated prototype revealed today is a far cry from the one unveiled a year ago, thanks to feedback from the public, according to founder Dennis Savic.

Prices

Pricing is now $12,990 for the 120km-range Omega, $16,990 for the 150km Delta and $23,9990 for the 200km Alpha. (Range is calculated on 100km/h highway riding at constant throttle without regenerative braking. City range should be higher.)

Prices announced in August were: $10,990 Omega, $15,999 and $22,999 Alpha.

It’s still much cheaper than the Harley-Davidson LiveWire electric motorcycle launched last month in the US at about $US30,000 ($A44,000). It will be available in Australia late next year. Pricing is yet to be confirmed.

The Savic range is also competitive on highway range with models such as Harley-Davidson’s LiveWire, and bikes from Zero and Energica.

Savic product spokesman Michael D’Amico says their price rise is “due to an increase in motor torque to better compete with other high end electric motorcycles on the market”.

“So we’ve managed to more or less match performance, for a significantly lower price to customers,” he says. 

“Our prices have increased slightly, but they are in the order of $5-10k below our direct competitors.”

Savic is also offering a $2000 discount on Alpha, $1000 on Delta and $500 on Omega Spec models if customers submit an expression of interest for orders at the Australian Motorcycle Festival or online.

Orders

Michael says they currently (sic) have four orders for the founder-edition vehicles and are today releasing 49 orders of the first C-Series production run.

“The Alpha spec is the most asked-about model, however we have high hopes for the Omega as we intend to have it comply with the LAMS scheme.

“Manufacturing will commence in August 2020 with deliveries scheduled for late 2020 through to early 2021.”

Orders can only be placed online and they will be shipped within Australia only for the first production run. 

Savic has scheduled their first demo ride day in Melbourne in February 2020.

Updates

The updated prototype is a much more handsome bike than the original.

“This year we completely re-designed and manufactured our own electric motor and battery pack,” Dennis says. 

“We developed a liquid-cooled, aluminium-billet, CNC-machined battery enclosure that integrates into the frame.” 

It also helps disguise the “brick” battery shape.

The original prototype’s powertrain was assembled from off-the-shelf parts and entry level battery cells. 

“We were limited to 40kW and about 100Nm of torque from the motor, but the battery cells couldn’t deliver that power at all,” Dennis says. 

“We had to hand fabricate the frame that supported the battery pack and motor, providing a less-than-elegant solution.”

Design

“We learned a lot through 2018 on the vehicle design side of the business,” Dennis says.

“We went back to the drawing board and completely refined the design of the vehicle. 

The original had a swingarm from a donor bike, but they have now engineered a tubular single-sided swingarm for a “designer” aesthetic as well as improved handling dynamics. 

“Last year we hadn’t engineered our seat at all, and we received a lot of feedback on the narrowness of the seat,” Dennis says.

“We did some vehicle level testing and found it to be uncomfortable indeed! 

“We have widened the seat this year and will be tested when vehicle testing begins in December.”

It is still a solo seat, but Dennis says they plan to bring out a pillion option next year. 

The bolt-in Motec dash has also been replaced with Savic’s own dash software and the body and frame finishes have been improved for aesthetics and rider comfort.

There is also now a lower fairing option. 

Manufacture

The Savic Prototype was designed, engineered, developed and built in Australia.

However, it now includes pre-production parts from suppliers in Taiwan and China.

“We are also looking to engage further supply networks in India,” Dennis says.

“The reality is that we have to manufacture our components overseas, but we will be assembling all our vehicles locally for the Australian market.” 

Savic tech specs

Source: MotorbikeWriter.com