The Current News: Oct 21, 2021

As part of the buildup to our Electric Revolution Live event in May 2022, as a follow-up of our Electric Revolution exhibit at the Petersen Museum, we are ramping up reportage on the EV scene.  It’s an ever-evolving, even frantic, landscape of electric vehicles, and it can be tough to keep abreast of all the latest bikes, batteries, and news constantly flooding the market. That’s why we’ve re-launched our weekly EV News Roundup to bring you cherry-picked stories that matter to you.

Howdy readers and riders! Welcome to our weekly roundup of EV news where we report on the stories that matter most to you. In this edition, we’ll take a look at some awesome new releases from Soriano Motori and Daymak, explore an intriguing new website that allows anyone to download and build a bike, and chat about fresh funds.

Have you seen any EV news that’s attracted your attention? Our inboxes are always open! Drop us a line to let us know what excites you.

 

New Drops

• Soriano Motori, an e-Bike startup launched in 2019 in an effort to revive the renowned motorcycle marque’s name for a new generation, recently announced that it plans to premiere its stunning new Giaguaro V1 Gara e-Bikes at EICMA 2021 next month. Soriano promises 80 hp, a range of up to 200 miles, with a 0 to 60mph time of just 3.5 seconds.  This puts them in direct competition with Energica, and soon, Ducati, in the e-sports field: a natural playing ground for an Italian brand, but a tough field as the market for very fast eBikes is still fairly small.  What bike will break through to the sports rider? In other news, last December Soriano became the first moto brand to accept cryptocurrency as a preorder payment. If their bikes are anything like their forward-thinking payment options, we’re excited to see what’s next.

• Toronto-based EV manufacturer, Daymak, made waves earlier this week with its three-wheeled EV prototype, the Daymak Spiritus. One of the first vehicles in the company’s exorbitant Avvenire EV lineup, the electric “car” boasts a 180-mile range and is priced at just under $20,000. Its unique aerodynamic shape plays a significant role in its high range rating and also qualifies the Daymak Spiritus as a motorcycle in almost every jurisdiction worldwide. This means that it’s outside the stringent safety policies passenger cars must adhere to. Daymark President Also Baiocchi notes, “A poster from 2005 of our Spiritus concept three-wheeler still hangs in my office, so finally seeing our vision come to life 16 years later and sharing that dream with more than 25,000 people who ordered the vehicle is a very special moment for us. This prototype is a major milestone in our commitment to the Avvenire program, and having achieved this goal, the rest of the journey is finally coming together.”

From Byte to Bike

One story from this week that immediately caught our eye was Arquimana’s downloadable bike designs that can literally be fabricated by anybody in the world. The Spanish company is leveraging technology to cut down on carbon emissions by enabling folks to build wooden bicycles from downloadable drawings. A person can effortlessly download the drawing from the OpenBike website, take it to their local fablab, and build the bike with the help of 3D printing. Since the fabrication files are licensed under Creative Commons 4.0, builders can modify the bike to their exact specifications.

Show Us the Money

• MoonBikes, an e-Snowbike (!!!) manufacturer, recently closed a $5.2 million seed funding round. Their e-Bike/snowmobile mash-up machine features a light frame, one front ski, and a track in the back. It can reach 26 mph, has a range of up to three hours, and features a 40% steepness grade. Curious how these go in the snow?  Ask Roland Sands!  He spent a month in a cast after crashing into a tree on one…

• The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) recently announced that EV sales in China will grow to 35% of the total market for vehicles by 2025. That’s a jump from 1.4 million units sold/year to three million per year – only EVs!   China already has the largest number of eBikes on the street of any country in the world, after legislating small internal combustion motors off the roads of major cities in 2016.  Now there are an estimated 10M eBikes on China’s streets, which makes them very quiet, with no noxious fumes from cheap two-stroke motors.   Walking the streets of Shanghai is an experience of the future of the global transport, and it’s very pedestrian friendly.  Combined with China’s commitment to dramatically cut its use of coal for generating power, and its current ban on new coal-powered electric plants, puts China in the lead on green energy.  They still have a long way to go on carbon emissions, though, While China’s per-capita emission are low (hey, 1.4 Billion is a lot of people), their total carbon output grew significantly in 2020, as opposed to the rest of the developed world, which dropped with reduced travel and production during the pandemic.  Have a look at China’s carbon footprint here.