When it comes to Italian brands, the eyes of many motorcycle fans light up: Ducati, Moto Guzzi, Aprilia and Co. also exert a great deal of fascination north of the Alps. But with the addition of “electric motorcycles”, most people’s mood suddenly plummeted. The battery-powered motorcycles are said to lack character, not to mention the engine sound. More and more electric motorcycle manufacturers are emerging all over the world, pushing onto the market. Many of them are usually nothing more than hobbyist’s stalls, but in Italy in particular two names have already firmly established themselves in the electric motorcycle industry.
MotoE as a development project
One brand is called Energica, which wants to impress with extremely powerful production motorcycles and has exclusively equipped the MotoE world championship with electric racers for four years.
The second brand is Ducati, which will take over this privilege in MotoE from this year, although it has not yet had any electric motorcycles in its range. Nevertheless, their e-racing bike seems to have turned out well, even if the baptism of fire is still to come.
It’s a smart move by the legendary brand, which boasts plenty of world titles and just last year won MotoGP. Not only can it gain valuable experience in MotoE in terms of electric drives, at some point the traditional brand from Bologna will also build e-motorcycles for the street and can then advertise with the racers from MotoE.
goddess of silence
But there is a third brand from Italy that has been developing electric motorcycles since 2009: Tacita. As is well known, the ancient Romans had an illustrious world of gods and the goddess of silence was called Tacita, which prompted the Turin manufacturer of silent electric motorcycles to choose the name. The electric models are not yet on the German market, but that should change soon and six models can already be pre-ordered. At the beginning, Tacita developed a motocrosser, which saved the constraints of road approval and allowed full concentration on the engine, battery, control unit and chassis. Notably, Tacita relies on liquid cooling for the motor and power electronics.
Tacita T-Race Enduro. Its chassis with the long spring deflections and the frame correspond to those of a sports enduro with a combustion engine.
Electric cruiser in the look of a Harley-Davidson
The T-Cruise Urban comes in the cruiser look of a Harley-Davidson Low Rider S with a low seating position and high steering head and is primarily aimed at the US market. It carries the liquid-cooled T44 electric motor of the second generation. The manufacturer states safety reasons for the 120 volt battery voltage. Other manufacturers (such as Ducati) have long been working with 800 volts, which allows faster charging and helps increase efficiency.
The T-Cruise Urban offers three variants: the T30 with 27 kW (37 hp) and 60 Nm, the T45 with 34 kW (46 hp) and 81 Nm and the top model T65 with 44 kW (60 hp) and 100 Nm. All three have an 8.61 kWh lithium polymer battery as standard. In the T30 it is enough for a range of up to 116 km plus ten percent, as Tacita puts it. This means that the control unit automatically reduces the power significantly when the battery level falls below ten percent.
Five-speed gearbox and clutch
Tacita is one of the few electric motorcycle manufacturers to install a five-speed gearbox and a hydraulically operated clutch, and the rear wheel is driven by a chain. The manufacturer promises a greater range with the gear shift.
The T-Cruise Urban relies on a conventional tubular steel frame with two beams. Their suspension travel is typically short: the upside-down fork at the front is 43 mm, the rear wheel suspension is 90 mm. The driver is enthroned at a height of 750 mm on a seat made of hand-stitched leather. For the brakes, Tacita uses Brembo brake calipers and the brake discs have a diameter of 320 mm at the front and 240 mm at the rear. Regenerative engine braking can be activated at the touch of a button.
Reverse as standard
Although Tacita does not specify the weight of its models, they will probably not be all that light, because they have a reverse gear as standard to be able to maneuver better. The T-Cruise Urban has an integrated charger and can charge with level 1 as well as with level 2. The T-Cruise Urban T30 costs 13,000 euros, but if you add 4690 euros, you get a 17.22 kWh battery with an alleged range of up to 210 km. The T45 is available for 14,360 euros and can also be ordered with the larger battery, while the T65 has it on board as standard, but then 20,950 euros are due. After all, Tacita promises that its 17.22 kWh battery will last 2,000 charge cycles, which should correspond to 363,600 km, and offers a five-year guarantee.
25.83 kWh for 295 km range
Tacita has launched the T-Cruise Turismo for friends of dignified travel. It’s based on the Urban, but has higher handlebars, a different front fender, a bulkier rear fender, larger pillion seat, windshield, luggage set and lots of chrome. However, the most interesting technical difference is that the Turismo can be equipped with an extra large battery of 25.83 kWh. It should increase the range of the T-Cruise Turismo T30, which otherwise only has 8.61 kWh, to 295 km. Then add another 11,500 euros to the base price of 13,790 euros. The T45 is €19,790 with the 17.22kWh battery and the XL battery is €6880 extra. Finally, the T65 starts at 21,690 euros, if you want to upgrade to 25.83 kWh, you have to shell out a whopping 28,570 euros in total.
