E-Raw, bringing design and performance to electric motorcycles

This electric motorcycle mixes mechanics tradition and technological innovation.

For the transport sector - which accounted for 14% of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2010 - there is no doubt that the future will be electric. In the past decade, most of the attention and sales have been caught by electric cars, while electrification has been much slower for motorcycles. The slow uptake is partly due to the range of EVs, but also because many motorcyclists still want to enjoy the performances of a combustion engine. But newcomers in the industry are building vehicles high performance motorcycles, with no compromise on the range.

In 2016, Martin Hulin and Pierre-Yves Gilton founded Essence Motocycles and built a first prototype of an electric motorbike with a futuristic look and stunning design. The motorcycle quickly went viral on social media. “We didn’t expect such an enthusiastic answer from the community” recalls Martin. And that’s when the story of Essence Motocycles began.

“We combine our passion for motorcycling with our environmental consciousness” says Pierre-Yves. The co-founders decided to focus on the joy of ride. The result is one of the highest performing motorcycles on the market which can compete with most of its combustion counterparts: it has over 200 horsepower, can go above 200km/h, has a range of 200km and weighs less than 200kg. All of this without emitting any CO2, meaning that every kilometer rid on an E-Raw bike avoids approximately 150g of CO2.

Why Essence Motocycles, then? “Because we got back to the essence of motorcycling: mechanics, performance, passion and pleasure”. E-Raw bikes offer a unique and raw riding experience and “reactivate our senses”. The feedbacks from customers are unanimous: the E-Raw is exceptional.

After years of research and development, Essence Motocycles has just started commercialisation and is currently raising €1.5M to scale their operations. While the market of electric high performance motorcycles is still quite small, representing roughly 0.75% of the motorcycle industry in 2018 (7500 units), the industry is growing exponentially. In 2018, sales of electric bikes grew by over 80%.