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[stephen6]

I have a 2020 Energica Ego. I've owned it for two months now and I really like it. It's my first electric bike.
There is a serious glitch though. Twice, on the 405 freeway, the power has turned off. The situation is that I'm traveling at around 80 mph and then I go to full throttle to pass someone, and the power turns off. A red triangle appears in the left side of the display. To get power again, I have to turn the key off and on, and then lightly apply the brake while pressing the starter switch (this way I don't have to come to a full stop on the freeway).
I have taken the bike to the dealer and they say they will upload the fault history to Energica and Energica will diagnose it. When I looked for the fault after locating it in the menu , there was no record of the fault. I suppose only active faults show.
I'm sure  Energica will track this problem down.
There is no obvious cause.
* The battery was nearly fully charged.
* Battery temperature was green.
* All fluid levels are nominal.

The dealer tells me that the 2020 has new firmware, so I guess I'm a field tester.
Has anyone else had a stalling problem?

[BigPoppa]

Sorry, I haven't had that issue occur on my 2020 EsseEsse9. I just dropped it off at the dealer for it's initial 600 mile service and so far it's been fine.

Based on what I've read re: other brands and electrics in general I would suspect 1 of 4 main areas:
1) Ambient temps...IIRC SoCal's been pretty hot this summer...I've read the electrics don't like very high ambient temps.
2) Loose connection somewhere.
3) Software issue
4) Faulty part (VCU or motor would probably be the only two major components IMHO)
5) Issue with the battery (which may be related to any of the above)

Let us know what your dealer determines to be the cause.

Did you have the 600 mile initial service done already? Was there any kind of firmware update applied at that time?

Just checked my owner's manual and updated the list above to reflect what it says can cause the red triangle to come on (it's a general fault indicator).

[Richard230]

Is it possible that you might have accidentally hit the "kill" switch when turning the throttle?  I did that one time while riding my R1200RS on the freeway.  My jacket cuff hit the switch and turned the bike off.  It took me about 30 seconds in the breakdown lane before I realized what I had done.   

[stephen6]

Thanks BigPoppa,
I am having the 600 mile service performed while they troubleshoot the problem.

[stephen6]

Thanks Richard230,
I thought about the possibility of hitting the kill switch. I don't think I hit the switch. I think the act of twisting the throttle to full power might allow me to move the switch in the start direction. I would have to pull on the switch to kill it. If it turns out I touched the switch and turned off the engine, I will cut the switch lever to reduce its length, or build some sort of guard around it.
I really woudn't mind if Energica tells me I pushed the switch in the kill direction, because I can remedy that.

[RFlashman]

Not sure this would be firmware or computer related. Could be a faulty kill-switch, so the logs will only reflect a kill-switch turn-off, as if you requested it. The fact that it has only happened on the highway at high-speed is probably more indicative that it may be your hand touching it, as at 80 mph you are probably in a more compressed position, focused on the road (not the throttle) and some aspect of your setup (maybe a leather jacket cuff or such) could be hitting the kill switch when you hit full throttle in that position. Faulty kill switches usually show themselves when they trip when going over bumps or similar at slow speeds. So once you get it back (assuming they didn't find anything), it may be worth to do some highway testing to see if you can figure out what is happening. If it happens again, look at the switch position before doing anything.

[stephen6]

I have to hand it to Energica. They have taken the motorcycle to San Francisco to diagnose the problem. I live in Mission Viejo, CA just south of LA, so it's a  fairly long haul for them.  They say they will have it back to me in a week, which would be August 5. As soon as they tell me what was wrong I'll post it. I'm impressed with their level of effort to fix a customer's problem.

[Richard230]

Good news!    Zero used to provide service like that during 2012.  Not so much now though. 

[stephen6]

OK. The Ego is back from San Francisco and the stalling problem has been diagnosed.
There is a sensor under the seat that senses whether the seat is up or not. If the seat is up, the software does not let the bike transmit power to the rear wheel.
The sensor was faulty and when I shifted my weight in preparation for full throttle, it indicated the the seat was up, and the software cut the power.
The solution right now is to remove the seat position switch, and that is what has been done for my bike, and I'm happy with that.
There is an error in the control logic that does not acknowledge that when the bike is in motion (80 mph let's say) the seat is probably not up. Therefore, if the sensor indicates the seat is up, and  the bike is in motion, the software should not cut the power. Energica acknowledges the logic problem and will change the software.
Overall, I'm very happy with the way Energica attacked this problem.

[stephen6]

Never mind.
The day after I got the 2020 Energica Ego back, I was riding to work and the power turned off once again. The bike is now back at the dealer.

So the solution has not been discovered. One thing I know is that my fingers never touched the kill switch. The Energica kill switch is not a momentary switch. If you push it to the "off" position, it stays locked in the off position until you toggle it into the "on"position. When the power cut off, in rush hour traffic on the 405 in Orange County   , my first reaction was "Where are my hands?" and "What does the display say."

The following is the detailed account I gave the dealer for trouble shooting.

"
The engine shut down occurred on the 405 at around 9:45 AM  8/15/2019.
The engine turned off as I started to accelerate from about 70 mph. I was not pinning the throttle, just accelerating normally.
I checked the position of my hands. My right had was not close to the kill switch.
The display showed the following:
Unknown error - contact service.
Red triangle on left side of display.
Yellow engine light on right side.
Coasted from the HOV lane to the side of the road. Turned the key off and on while still moving. Applied the brake lightly, while moving about 20 mph, and pushed the start lever for a couple seconds and the engine started.
Upon restarting the bike, the red triangle  and error message went out. The yellow engine light continued to show.
Engine temperature was green. Charge was about 80%.

Continued to ride to work with no incident.

After parking the bike at work and turning it on again, the Diagnostics on MyEnergica show no fault. The on bike status shows OK.
When restarting the motorcycle at work, the ABS light and Engine light came on on the right side of the display. After riding the bike for a few feet and applying the brakes, the ABS light turned off, but the yellow Engine light on the right side of the display remained on.
"

So far I have had three stalling instances. They all happened around 70 or 80 mph, and occurred when I started to accelerate. 70 to 80 is around the area on the torque curve where the engine is transitioning from constant torque to constant power. I think that there is a perfect storm that happens at a particular rpm when you try to accelerate. There's probably only a +/- 10 rpm window where the software thinks there is an error when you try to accelerate, and I've hit that region 3 times.

[BigPoppa]

Bummer to hear the issue persists. I'm definitely watching this thread with interest.

[DonTom]

Bummer to hear the issue persists. I'm definitely watching this thread with interest.

So am I. Those type of problems are the very worse type to troubleshoot. You probably remember all the wrong guesses that were made on why the new TTSE's were shutting down before the real reason was discovered. It's very difficult to troubleshoot anything while it is working normally during the testing.

OTOH, some of these weird problems can be solved with a firmware update. My Tesla backup camera was intermittent. Worked a bit less than half the time. Then a new FW update and no problem with it since.

-Don-  Auburn, CA

[Richard230]

A stall on the 405 in the HOV lane does not make for a good day.  You were lucky not to become someone's Energica hood ornament. 

[Crilly]

Abstruse, radio waves.  It did not happen at the same spot?

Bad connection some where.

Good luck with that.

[deklund]

Stephen,

I have had the same thing happen on my 2017 EVA - oddly enough, also on the 405 fwy.  I sympathize with the fact that this is scary - it's as if the chain snapped when it happens.

That said, I was also having issues with an unstable throttle control.  When the throttle was partially open, I would sometimes feel the bike surging and when checking the display, I could see the power bar jumping around erratically.  Energica replaced the throttle control assembly and I have not had any problems since.

Have you noticed any surging or weird throttle behavior?

Don