e-motorcycle
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Tarform unveils Luna e-moto for folks who may not like motorcycles
Brooklyn-based EV startup Tarform unveiled its Luna electric motorcycle in New York last week — a model designed for an audience that may not actually like motorcycles.
The company’s first street-legal entrant starts at $24,000, does 0-60 mph in 3.8 seconds, has a city range of 120 miles, hits a top-speed of 120 mph and charges to 80% in 50 minutes — according to company specs.
The model was hatched out of the company’s mission to meld aesthetic design and craftsmanship to environmental sustainability in two-wheeled electric vehicles.
To that end, the Luna incorporates a number of unique, eco-design features. The bodywork is made from a flax seed weave and the overall motorcycle engineering avoids use of plastics. The Luna’s seat upholstery is made out of biodegradable vegan leather. Tarform is also testing methods to avoid paints and primers on its motorcycles, instead using a mono-material infused with algae and iron-based metallic pigments.
The company was founded by Swede Taras Kravtchouk — an industrial design specialist, former startup head and passionate motorcyclist. The Luna launch follows the debut of two concept e-motos in 2018.
Image Credits: Jake Bright
On Tarform’s target market, he explained the startup hopes to attract those who may be turned off by the very things that have turned people on to motorcycling over the last 50 years — namely gas, chrome, noise and fumes.
“It’s more for people who want a custom bike and the techies: people who wanted to have a motorcycle but didn’t want to be associated with the whole stigmatized motorcycle lifestyle,” Kravtchouk told TechCrunch.
Tarform enters the EV arena with competition from several e-moto startups — and on OEM — that are attempting to convert gas riders to electric and attract a younger generation to motorcycling.
One of the leaders is California company Zero Motorcycles, with 200 dealers worldwide. Zero introduced its $19,000 SR/F in 2019, with a 161-mile city range, one-hour charge capability and a top speed of 124 mph. Italy’s Energica is also expanding distribution of its high-performance e-motos in the U.S.
In 2020, Harley-Davidson became the first of the big gas manufacturers to offer a street-legal e-motorcycle for sale in the U.S., the $29,000 LiveWire.
And Canadian startup Damon Motors debuted its 200 mph, $24,000 Hypersport this year, which offers proprietary safety and ergonomics tech for adjustable riding positions and blind-spot detection.
On how Tarform plans to compete with these e-motorcycle players, Kravtchouk explained that’s not the company’s priority. “We’re not even close in production to Zero or the other big guys, but that’s not our intention. Think of the [Luna] as a custom production bike,” he said.
“We did not set out to build a bike that is fastest or has the longest range,” Kravtchouk added. “We set out to build a bike that completely revises the manufacturing and supply chain of e-motorcycles in a way where we ethically source our materials and create an ethical supply chain.”
For this mission, Tarform has obtained funding from several family offices and angel investors, including LA-located M13. The Brooklyn-based e-motorcycle company is taking pre-orders on its new Luna and is pursuing a Series A funding round for 2021, according to Kravtchouk.
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Mobility startup Damon Motors enters e-moto arena with EV debut
Vancouver-based mobility startup Damon Motorcycles has entered the EV arena with a preview of its first e-moto, the Hypersport Pro.
The seed-stage company had previously focused on creating digital safety technology — like its 360-degree radar detection system — to augment two-wheelers made by other manufacturers.
Damon has determined to create its own EV model designed to overcome common flaws it sees in existing motorcycle offerings.
“We are for the first time being black and white about the fact that we are a full-on producer and we have a motorcycle we’re going to unveil at CES,” Damon Motorcycle founder and CEO Jay Giraud told TechCrunch.
That machine is the fully electric Damon Hypersport Pro. The news is a pre-announcement ahead of the full January debut, so Giraud would not offer much in the way of core specs — such as price, range, charge-time and performance.
He was clear the motorcycle is meant to be a direct competitor to the latest e-motos released by Harley-Davidson and California-based venture Zero Motorcycles — and to the gas-motorcycle market overall.
“We’ve come at this and the motorcycle problem in a way that no other company has,” Giraud explained.
“We’re trying to change the industry by addressing the issues of safety and handling and comfort and the problems that have persisted with everyone in the industry, including all the e-moto companies today.”
Damon’s Hypersport Pro is designed around the company’s CoPilot system, which uses sensors, radar and cameras to detect and track moving objects around the motorcycle, including blind spots, and alert riders to danger.
Damon has also taken on the problem of one-size-fits-all in motorcycle design, integrating a system on its Hypersport Pro that allows for adjustable ergonomics. The startup’s debut model will allow riders to electronically shift the motorcycle’s windscreen, seat, footpegs and handlebars to accommodate for different positions and conditions — from more upright city riding to more aggressive high-speed runs.
Damon Motorcycles is taking pre-orders for its Hypersport Pro and will skip dealers, opting to use a direct-sales and service model similar to Tesla . The startup’s Vancouver facility is equipped to build 500 motorcycles a year, according to Giraud.
The company recently brought on Derek Dorresteyn, the former CTO of e-moto startup Alta, as its COO. Full specs of the Hypersport Pro will come next month at CES, but Giraud did offer a glimpse, saying it would be more competitive and more powerful than existing e-moto offerings.
Harley-Davidson released its first e-motorcycle — the $29K LiveWire — in 2019 and California EV startup Zero Motorcycles launched its $19K SR/F, both in bids to go take e-motos mass-market. Aside from the price-gap, both have comparable charge times (about an hour), performance and range (around 100 miles for combined city and highway riding).
The U.S. motorcycle industry has been in pretty bad shape since the recession. New sales dropped by roughly 50% since 2008 — with sharp declines in ownership by everyone under 40 — and have never recovered.
Harley-Davidon’s EV pivot is likely to bring e-moto offerings from the other large gas manufacturers, such as Honda and Yamaha, which are also attempting to revive sales to younger riders.
Harley-Davidson’s LiveWire
With Damon’s pivot to e-moto production, the startup is not alone. Italy’s Energica is expanding distribution of its high-performance EVs in the U.S. Other competitors include e-moto startup Fuell, with plans to release its $10K, 150-mile range Flow in the near future.
Of course, there have already been some speed bumps and market attrition, with three e-moto startups — Alta Motors, Mission Motors and Brammo — forced to power down over the last several years.
So how does Damon Motors plan to succeed as a new entrant in a motorcycle market with stagnant new bikes sales and increased EV competition from established OEMs and startups?
“We have so many advantages the others don’t have and we’re leveraging everyone of their weaknesses,” founder Jay Giraud said. The company’s direct-sale model will lend to more competitive pricing and higher margins for R&D, he said.
Then there are what Damon Motorcycles sees as its Hypersport Pro’s purposely designed comparative advantages over existing manufacturers.
“You’re gonna love the horsepower and range and all that good stuff, but that’s not what makes Damon different from every one else,” explained Giraud.
“What’s different is that it’s a safer motorbike with the safety features and transforming ergonomics that will keep you from smashing into someone’s car,” he said.
Not crashing into other people’s cars is certainly a compelling feature to offer in a motorcycle. Time and sales will ultimately tell how Damon fares in the inevitable cycle of events — profitability, failure, acquisition — that will play out in the increasingly competitive e-moto space.
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Supercross’s anticipated EV class not ready for primetime in 2020
Motorcycle racing series Supercross isn’t quite ready to add an EV class.
The sport — where riders race high-performance machines on jump-filled stadium tracks — currently fields only gas-powered two-wheelers.
Supercross was poised to launch an all-electric class this month, by converting its junior program to a new e-moto manufactured by KTM — Supercross Director of Operations Dave Prater told TechCrunch in April.
“We haven’t one-hundred-percented it yet, but it’s fairly close and we’re…going to race that electric KTM in October,” he said.
That won’t likely happen for the upcoming 2020 season, but input from Supercross and KTM indicates the launch of a junior EV class could be imminent.
On why it didn’t kick-off in October, “That would be a KTM question,” Prater told TechCrunch on a call this week.
“As a company, we’re embracing EV racing. At the moment, we’re beholden to the OEM’s and how quickly they want to introduce it into the mix,” he added.
The first-mover OEM could still be KTM and the first electric class the juniors.
“The KTM Junior racing in Supercross is an incredible experience for a small group of kids and their parents. At some point we might start using the SX-E5,” KTM’s Group Marketing Manager for North America Tom Moen told TechCrunch in an email.
“We can’t have them racing something that is not readily available,” he added.
KTM’s SX-E5 launched in the U.S. this month, but won’t be available in dealerships until late November, according to Moen.
So for now, there appears to be a timing gap between Supercross and KTM.
Another area to watch for the introduction of e-moto competition — according to Moen — is outdoor dirt series Motocross, the rules of which (like Supercross) are governed by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA).
“The AMA…is working on classes for the AMA Loretta Lynn’s championships for 2020, which is the national amateur MX series, the finals happen late summer, this is much more important racing wise,” Moen said.
TechCrunch has an inquiry into AMA for confirmation and will update accordingly.
One hurdle to entering electric motorcycles in AMA gas racing is how to classify battery powered two-wheelers compared to internal combustion engines that the AMA classes based on displacement, AMA off-road racing manager Erek Kudla explained to TechCrunch in April.
The other potentially larger hurdle (as Supercross’s Dave Prater alluded to) is the lack of an OEM-produced competition e-moto capable of racing at or near the specs of the high-performance gas machines that run in Supercross and Motocross.
California based EV startup Alta Motors had come the closest toward creating an e-moto toward that endeavor, but went bankrupt before getting there.
In addition to its junior SX-E5, KTM debuted its Freeride E-XC adult off-road e-motorcycle in the U.S. in 2018, but KTM didn’t indicate if this was the bike it was planning to reconfigure for motocross.
For the moment, it looks like seven to eight-year-olds racing KTM’s SX-E5 in Supercross could be the nearest bet for EV motorcycle competition.
And Supercross creating an all EV junior class has a spot of relevance in the overall transformation of global mobility — namely the conversion of the motorcycle industry to electric.
Factors such as declining sales among young people and competitive pressure from EV startups are pushing the big names toward E offerings. Harley-Davidson launched its first e-moto, the $29K LiveWire, this year as part of a full EV pivot.
Zero Motorcycles is challenging HD with its new $19K SR/F. And rumors have floated on Ducati developing an e-moto, after the Italian company debuted two e-bicycles.
Harley and e-moto companies such as Zero have spoken of the importance of early adopters to embrace e-motorcycles. Harley made moves this year to reach the earliest of early adopters when it acquired kids e-bicycle company StaCyc.
Launching one of motorcycle racing’s first all-electric classes with juniors and pairing it to Supercross’s stadium venues could become more than an EV gateway for OEM KTM.
It could actually start young riders on e-motos before they’ve ever ridden gas and keep them running on voltage into teen and adult years.
For the motorcycle industry at large, that means creating a future EV market versus trying convert one with preferences set in fossil-fuel the past.
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