Page 55 - Australian Motorcycle News (January 2020)

VERGE TS And we all thought that KTM had

cornered the ‘orange’ market

ANOTHER WILD-LOOKING electric offering that its
makers promise will be delivered to customers in
2020 is the Verge TS.
With styling that’s defined by its attention-grabbing
hubless rear wheel, the Verge is being offered in
Europe for EUR 24,990 (AUD$40,333), with pre-orders
already underway. That conversation piece of a rear
wheel is actually an integral part of the motor, hence
the orange electric cables running to it, and like the
Fuell Fllow it means there’s more space in the chassis
for batteries.
Peak power is listed at 80kW, which appears to
be around the realistic limit of current tech for
production electric bikes – Zero’s market-leading
SR/F has similar performance. Claimed 0-100km/h
time of ‘under 4s’ is about par for the course, too, as is
the range; Verge says it will offer two battery options,
giving either 200km or 300km on a charge.
Weight, at 225kg, is again roughly where we’d
expect it to be on an electric bike with this sort of
performance, and despite the radical rear wheel
there’s little else unconventional about the TS, which
once again goes to Brembo and Öhlins for its brakes
and suspension.
The firm does make a big deal of its torque,
claiming an insane-sounding 1000Nm, but it’s
worth noting that the hubless, direct drive design 80KWAPPEARSTOBETHE
means you can’t make a direct comparison with the
crankshaft torque figure of a conventional bike. After
the torque-multiplying effect of a gearbox and final REALISTICLIMITOFCURRENT
drive ratio, many conventional bikes will also hit
the 1000Nm mark if you simply measure the torque TECHFORELECTRICBIKES
exerted at the rear tyre.

housing, thrust suggestively forward and
hung almost entirely unsupported below VINS EV-01
the main frame. Now two flat aluminium
structures fill that gap and the battery’s DESPITE GOING ALMOST unnoticed at
shape has been revised. The rear shock, last year’s EICMA show, the Vins EV-01
mounted horizontally above the battery, might actually turn out to be the most
has moved downwards as well. convincing electric sportsbike we’ve seen
Other innovations, including the carbon- yet – combining engineering knowledge
fibre girder forks and swingarm that share from a bunch of ex-Ferrari employees with
the same moulding, remain. proven electronics from Zero.
Where Curtiss originally said the Hades The EV-01 is based on Vins’s petrol-
made 162kW (217hp), it now confusingly powered machine, the Duecinquanta,
claims that while the motor is ‘capable’ of which uniquely features a 250cc, fuel
that figure it actually operates at a peak injected, two-stroke V-twin mounted
of 72kW (96hp), and has a continuous-use in a carbon monocoque chassis. That
maximum of 36.5kW (49hp). radical 55kW two-stroke is replaced
Similarly, the firm claims that the motor with batteries and a 51.5kW Zero electric
is capable of 369Nm, but actually operates motor in the EV-01, while other elements
at a peak of 199Nm.
including the carbon girder front
suspension and an unusual transverse-
mounted, pushrod-operated rear shock
are carried over unaltered.
At less than 170kg, the EV-01 is far
lighter than most electric bikes with
similar power, although still far more
than the Duecinquanta, which comes in
at only 105kg in road-going Strada form.

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