On the 4th of July I took off from my home in Whispering Pines, NC to ride to western North Carolina and take on the Tail of the Dragon, the Cherohala Skyway and the Blue Ridge Parkway on my Energica Eva. I have made this same trip a few times on my Zero SR so it was going to be interesting to see how the two bikes compared. My trip covered five days and I would put over 1400 miles on my Eva. The route I took to Deals Gap was slightly different than what I took on my Zero SR, mainly to take advantage of the Eva’s CCS charging capability. The route was designed to maximize CCS use and to minimize L2 charging. When I did charge with L2 it was just long enough to make it to the next CCS charging station. CCS charging stations included Wadesboro, Salisbury, and Lenoir. The stretch from Lenoir to Asheville required a stop in Old Fort to charge on L2 as Asheville, the next CCS charging stop was a bit too far. But there was a Subway that shared the same parking lot and it was lunch time so I took a 50 minute lunch/charging break and I was on my way to Asheville. After Asheville I would stop in Waynesville, the last CCS charging stop on the way to Deals Gap. After Waynesville I would go through Maggy Valley on my way to Cherokee. This takes you up a long hill followed by a very long downhill which saw my SOC increase on the Eva, something I never saw on the SR. I never needed to touch the brakes going down this long hill, just used regen to slow down. Unfortunately the CCS charger in Cherokee wasn’t working so I would charge on L2 there for an hour before heading out to Deals Gap. Most CCS charging times were between 25-35 minutes. The CCS charging starts to taper after 70% but even when you are over 90% it is still faster than the Eva’s L2 charging rate of 3kw. Once I arrived at Deals Gap it was time for a break and I plugged into the NEMA 14-50 outlet at Tail of the Dragon across the street. Overall the trip to Deals Gap was about 360 miles and took about twelve and a half hours. Total charging time was four hours, thirty minutes, 1:50 on L2, 2:40 on CCS. After a short break it was time to get one run on the Dragon before heading to my hotel in Robbinsville. Total mileage for the day was 398 miles. I stayed at the Quality Inn in Robbinsville which used to be the MicoTel. There are outlets on the end of the building you can plug into, something I have done in the past there.
On the 5th of July I would head back to Waynesville and charge on DCFC before getting on the Blue Ridge Parkway, a road I had never ridden on before. I arrived at Waynesville with 12% SOC and 30 minutes later would leave with 90%, enough to ride to Cherokee and back on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Blue Ridge Parkway is an amazing road, great scenery and incredible riding. It is good for the soul to be out there riding, sometimes taking the occasional stop just to admire the scenery displayed from the mountains. The out and back to Cherokee was 62 miles, so I was down to 31% SOC coming back into the Waynesville DCFC. After 26 minutes of charging I was up to 93% and ready to head to Asheville on the Blue Ridge Parkway. More amazing scenery and great riding but they were also doing road work, which really slowed things down as it was one way in two spots and a lot of waiting. Sixty-two miles later I pulled into the DCFC in Asheville with 36% SOC. There was a sandwich shop across the parking lot so it was time for me to get some fuel while my Eva got some juice. From here I would ride an out and back as there were no more DCFC close to the Blue Ridge Parkway east of Asheville. So after 26 minutes of charging I was up to 93% and ready to head east on the Blue Ridge Parkway. This time there was no more road construction and the ride was more enjoyable. After 35 miles I decided to turn around and head back to Asheville to charge. I pulled into the Asheville DCFC with 31%. Would charge 23 minutes to get to 90% and head for Waynesville again, hoping the road construction traffic wouldn’t be quite so bad. It was getting late in the afternoon so traffic wasn’t quite as bed heading south as it had been going north. Guessing a lot of traffic had come from Asheville and folks were heading home. I arrived in Waynesville with 31% and decided to do a short out and back towards Cherokee before heading back to the hotel. A 26 minute charge got me to 80% and I headed south for about 21 miles before turning around. There was almost no traffic so very easy to ride my own pace. Riding the Eva on the Blue Ridge Parkway was easy, just roll on and roll off the throttle. The Eva has four setting for regen, off, low, medium and high. Set on high it is very easy to modulate and you rarely ever use the brakes. I got back to Waynesville for one more charge before heading back to the hotel. I was at 30% SOC and 28 minutes later I was up to 96% for the 63 mile ride back to the hotel. The ride back to the hotel saw the first rain of the day but fortunately only lasted about 15-20 minutes. I made it back to the hotel with 16% SOC remaining and cleaned up the bike and plugged in to get ready for the next day’s ride. My day on the Blue Ridge Parkway covered a total of 414 miles and I spent a total of 2 hours, 41 minutes charging. This was my first time on the Blue Ridge Parkway but it certainly won’t be my last.
Friday, July 6th was time to take on the Cherohala Skyway, a road I didn’t get to my last time out here. The Cherohala Skyway is known for long sweeping turns as opposed to the Dragon’s tight twisting turns. The North Carolina side of the Cherohala is incredibly scenic leading to several stops just to enjoy the beauty of the mountains. As I had seen the two previous days the incredible torque and regen of the Eva makes for an incredible fun ride on the Cherohala Skyway. Once on the Tennessee side of the Cherohala you begin a very long downhill which ends in Tellico, Tennessee. The regen handles all of the slowing down duties and I never had to touch the brakes the entire time on this long downhill. After getting into Tellico I set my GPS for the Toque Campgrounds where a 30 minute charge from a NEMA 14-50 outlet would get me to Maryville, Tennessee and another DCFC. After charging at Maryville I would head back to the Tail of the Dragon where I would spend the rest of the day riding the Dragon. The Eva really shines on the tight twisting turns of the Dragon. The Eva has significantly stronger regen than the SR so the throttle on the Eva controls 100% of your acceleration and about 90% (or more) of your braking. So working my way through the tight turns out the Dragon I found myself rarely using my brakes, just roll on and roll off the throttle. The 148 lb ft of torque of the Eva means it accelerates far faster than the Zero when you are coming out of the turns. The Eva is definitely a heavier bike than the Zero SR but you don’t really notice the extra weight going through the twisties. The Eva performs very well riding through the claimed 318 turns in the 11 miles of US129. There were times coming into turns a bit hot that the regen wasn’t quite enough to slow down so the Brembo’s got used. But coming out of the turns that 148 lb ft of torque sure gets addicting. By late afternoon rain moved into the area so it was time to head for the hotel in Robbinsville.
Saturday, the 7th was the easy day of the trip. Just headed up to Knoxville, Tennessee to spend some time with friends I hadn’t seen in a while. I left the hotel at first light and would head north for one more trip up the Tail of the Dragon. I had decided not to push the pace which turned out to be a good thing. The storms the night before had left two trees in the road, completely blocking the north bound lanes. I stopped at one of the photographers who take pictures of riders on the course to report the trees blocking the roads. But with no cell coverage in the area it would be up to other travelers going south to get the word out about the downed trees.
Sunday, the 8th would be an early start to begin the long trip back home. I left my friend’s house at 5 AM heading east on I-40 to the first charging spot in Dandridge, TN. I held my speed at a steady 70 MPH to get an idea of the Eva’s range at that speed. I arrived at Dandridge after 40 miles and with 28% SOC and 14 miles estimated range left. So at 70 MPH 54 miles is about the limit for the Eva. After a 30 minute charge got me up to 93% I headed for Hot Springs, NC. I arrived in Hot Springs with 34% SOC and a one hour charge on L2 got me to 59%, enough to make it the 36 miles to Asheville. I arrived in Asheville with 9% SOC. This was the longest DCFC stop of the trip as it took 40 minutes to get to 95%. Even at 95% it was charging faster than it would on L2. The next stop would be in Marion, NC for the last of the L2 charging stops of the trip. I arrived in Marion after 36 miles and had 44% SOC remaining. I charged on the L2 for 70 minutes, enough to get up to 70% and to make it to Lenoir, NC. Arriving in Lenoir, NC (just north of Hickory) saw 18% SOC remaining. But 35 minutes later I was at 92% and ready to head to Salisbury. Halfway to Salisbury I wasn’t sure I was going to make as the SOC was dropping faster than I expected. At one point I pulled over and put a L2 station in Statesville into my GPS. Decided I would make the decision about another L2 stop by the time I got into Statesville. By the time I got to Statesville I realized I would make it as the speed limits were lower south of Statesville and power usage would be less than they were in the northern part of that leg. I arrived in Salisbury after 69 miles with 7% SOC remaining. It was here that the impact of the heat showed in the charging speed. Normally you can add 50% charge in 17 minutes and now it took 20 minutes. As expected the battery temperature icon was showing yellow when I was done charging. With Wadesboro only 60 miles away I charged up to 85% in 32 minutes and once again got on the road. Wadesboro would be the last charging stop of the day. I arrived in Wadesboro with 16% SOC remaining. 30 minutes of charging and I was back up to 85% and enough to make it home just 57 miles away. But charging here was a bit slower due to the heat. In both cases it took about 15 miles of riding to get the battery temp icon back to green. I arrived home with just 6% SOC, guess I was cutting it a bit close. The total mileage for the trip home was 373 miles and it took 14 hours, 10 minutes. Total charging time was 4 hours, 57 minutes. 2:10 was on the two L2 charging stops and the remaining 2 hrs, 47 minutes on CCS chargers.
Over the five days of my trip I covered 1448 miles on my Energica Eva. The roads traveled covered everything from the tight twisty turns of the Dragon to the long straightaways of I-40. The biggest strengths of the Eva are clearly its power, its strong regen and CCS charging. I think the Eva handles a lot better than the Zero. Part of that is the suspension but part of that is the fact the Eva is a full sized motorcycle and fits me better than the smaller Zero SR. I am used to a 650 V-Strom and KTM 1290 SA and the Eva is close to the size of those bikes. The benefits of CCS charging were very obvious. Charging for 20-35 minutes sure beats the 1 ½ - 2 hours of my dual Elcon charger equipped Zero SR. But the Eva really needs a 6.6 kw charger for L2, not the 3 kw charger it has. I think Energica also needs to look at better cooling for the battery. While the motor and inverter are liquid cooled, the battery is air cooled. Perhaps better air flow in and around the battery can help this or maybe it really needs to be liquid cooled. There is no question the Energica Eva is more expensive than the Zero SR. But sometimes you really do get what you pay for.
