Bankrupt: Are high-performance EV motorcycles still a bit too early?

Oct 25, 2024

Two major high-performance electric motorcycle makers have filed for bankruptcy within as many days: Italian maker Energica, and FUELL, the American electric two-wheeler company. Which leaves the question: are EV motos before their time?

Another two bite the dust. Electric motorcycle manufacturers are having a hard time keeping the doors open – at least, Western companies making high-performance bikes. Energica and FUELL are hardly the only ones to go under; over the years we've seen brands like Mission Motorcycles, Brammo and Alta, among others, create genuinely exciting electric motorcycles, but fail to stay in business.

While some fear the worst is yet to come, and that larger e-motorcycle manufacturers are set for a similar fate, these shutdowns also give pause to other early adopters looking to ride the electric wave. A fast electric bike feels amazing to ride, and offers more acceleration than its stat sheet might suggest, while also letting you get around emissions-free. But what do you do if your bike manufacturer goes bankrupt? Can you still get parts? What happens to your warranty?

Born of a TTXGP race project, then officially founded as a manufacturer in 2014, Energica quickly created a strong lineup and established a presence in a nascent market. However, the company's fortunes have been declining in recent months, even though it fielded some impressive offerings, such as the long-range Experia, and was the sole bike supplier for the FIM's MotoE World Cup race series between 2019-2022.

Despite revenue increases and an acquisition by US-based Ideanomics, Inc. in March 2022, Energica has been in precarious economic condition for a while. The company was actively seeking additional funding for the past two years.

Last week, Energica's board of directors decided to enter what it called a bankruptcy judicial liquidation after considering other options. "Despite the efforts from the management in actively and extensively pursuing a search for new investors – always with the aim of preserving going concern in the best interest of creditors – it has become clear in the last few hours that these alternative options are no more viable, thus leaving the company with no other choice than resolving for the opening of a bankruptcy judicial liquidation," was the official word.

As for FUELL, the American manufacturer filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Wisconsin on October 16th of this year. Chapter 7 bankruptcy is a similar legal procedure that enables people or companies to sell off non-exempt assets and pay off the majority of their unsecured debts. These assets are sold under the supervision of a trustee appointed by the court, and the money raised is used to settle debts owed to creditors. Because assets are auctioned to pay off debts, it's often referred to as "liquidation bankruptcy."

Established in 2019 as an emerging ebike and electric motorcycle firm, FUELL gained rapid momentum following the release of its cutting-edge, high-performance electric motorcycles intended for city commuting. It was founded by Eric Buell, a much-loved innovator in the motorcycle industry since his days making American V-Twin sportsbikes under the Buell brand at Harley-Davidson.

For early backers such as Jaap Kramer of the Netherlands, who contacted New Atlas after Fuell's announcement, things started feeling fishy when, despite raising millions of dollars through crowdfunding campaigns, FUELL reportedly delayed delivery of the Flluid ebike more than 20 times, over a period of several months.

Backers, says Kramer, were reassured by FUELL's Indiegogo campaign for the Flluid that their donations would result in a "guaranteed purchase," through a specific statement: "We promise that you will receive your e-bike if you order from us." According to court documents, the company did manufacture some units and built up a parts inventory for the ebike, albeit by shifting funds across from the Fllow electric motorcycle to do so – but Kramer says there's no record at all of anything being built for the Fllow despite the ~US$3.5 million raised.

Kramer and other backers are furious about the way Indiegogo handled the situation: "Throughout this ordeal," he writes, "Indiegogo has remained largely unresponsive to backers' concerns, often marking support requests as 'solved' without providing meaningful replies. This new development raises even more questions about transparency and accountability in crowdfunding. Indiegogo’s actions – or lack thereof – have enabled FUELL’s misleading behavior, leaving backers without clear recourse."

Erik Buell would be lucky to rebuild his once-revered name after the shutdown of the Buell brand at Harley-Davidson, followed by the failure of his next venture Erik Buell Racing (EBR) and the current debacle, even though Kramer says he's attempted to distance himself from the company in emails to Fuell Flluid Discord channel members.

A screenshot attributed to an email from Buell sent more than a month ago reads, "I have been retired from FUELL for some time. I did do the core design concepts for the new Flluid models but have not been involved in the design refinement and commercialization process of them."

A statement from the Fuell company to its creditors reads, "Unfortunately, the Company lacks funds to pay for the labor costs and other required services necessary to assemble and ship products to its customers, and additional funds could not be raised to pay the Company’s outstanding current liabilities or to pay for the assembly and shipment of pre-ordered electric bicycles."

The timing could hardly be worse for Buell Motorcycle Company, which no longer has anything to do with Erik Buell, and is just about to open pre-sales on a $25,900 Buell Super Cruiser it's putting together in partnership with Roland Sands Design.

Neither situation looks pretty – and looked at alongside Alta, Mission, Brammo and others, it leads us to the question: are high-performance electric motorcycles still too early, even in 2024?

For many motorcycle enthusiasts, the batteries have always been the problem. Adequate range and charging infrastructure are evergreen concerns, with most bikes unable to promise more than 200 miles (322 km) before needing a long stop at a charger. Factor in highway speeds, and only the very highest-end electrics can do much more than 100 miles (161 km).

The Energica Ego+, for example, ran a monster 21.5-kWh battery pack, but could promise just 130 miles (208 km) of "extra-urban" riding.

That'd be enough for certain riders with access to fast chargers in their favorite riding areas, but it didn't come cheap; the $24,610 starting price put it out of range of many that might otherwise have loved to go electric. Check the comments on any performance electric article over the last 10 years and the same tune keeps popping up from riders: "looks like fun, but they're going to need to do 2-3X more range and drop the price before I'll buy one." Well, that and "but quiet bikes are boring."

Advancements in battery technology often look promising, but there's a painfully long pipeline between lab testing and commercial rollout at the kind of scale that can bring prices down.

So the sector may continue to struggle until a new type of battery rolls out with a remarkable combination of attributes. It's got to pack in huge amounts of energy by weight and by volume, and yet it needs to reliably not explode on a charger, in a garage, or in an accident. It's got to charge and discharge quickly, at high power ratings, and yet it's got to last beyond the perceived life of the vehicle with minimal degrading. And it's got to be much more affordable than current offerings. That's quite a battery.

It's worth noting, though, that electric two-wheelers are not struggling across the board, just in the high performance area. For millions of people whose main use case is urban commuting, lower-powered electric motorcycles and scooters have been good enough – and affordable enough – for many years.

According to the IEA, some 50% of the millions of motorcycles sold in China in 2022 were battery-electric, and while this dropped to a little over 30% in 2023, possibly due to post-COVID supply chain constraints, it still represents more than five million units. Visitors to China are often surprised just how many electric two-wheelers they see on the road. Elsewhere, of the 19 million motorcycles sold in India in 2023, some 8% were electric.

So the lower 'practical transport' end of the market is on the rise, while premium electrics continue to struggle. What kind of specs would you need to see to make the switch?

Source: Energica