International Dealer News 160 April/May 2021 IDN 160 April/May 2021 | Page 25

THE BRADLEY REPORT

THE BRADLEY REPORT

Italian high-performance electric sport bike manufacturer Energica Motor Company has started a technological collaboration with Cellularline and Alascom for an innovative AI project - one that will be developed on Energica motorcycles , but can easily be adapted to any electric vehicle . The project is aimed at developing a communication protocol between the Energica riders and Cellularline- Interphone products through the Alascom app downloaded on the mobile phone . The rider , through the connection between the Alascom app and Ok Google or Hey Siri function of their phone , can interact with the bike thanks to the Interphone . The bike will reply by Bluetooth and the rider will be able to hear it through the Interphone . " Artificial Intelligence is a rapidly growing trend , especially in the interaction between rider and vehicle ," said Giampiero Testoni , CTO Energica Motor Company S . p . A . " We have been pursuing innovation for years , and thanks to this innovative communication protocol , the rider can easily find information on his / her vehicle without distractions . For the development of this project , we relied on industry leaders such as Cellularline and Alascom ." " Innovation and safety have always distinguished Interphone products ," says Emilio Sezzi , with Japanese or European firms when it comes to appearances . The satin gunmetal and orange paint scheme even manages to avoid the taste transgressions of most Chinese market sports models . It ' s a higher-spec ( and better looking ) machine than the
Group Chief Operating Officer Cellularline S . p . A . and Interphone B . U . Director . " We are confident that the collaboration with Energica and Alascom will result in increasingly high-performance solutions dedicated to motorbikers , so that the aim on two wheels is to enjoy the ride ." " A riding experience with a new dimension ," says Marco Scuri , CEO Alascom S . r . l . " Alascom uses Artificial Intelligence to create a voice assistant for the Energica bike with intuitive voice commands to check and control the essential features of the bike . Alascom is convinced that the partnership with Energica and Cellularline will lead to a new driving experience ." In other news , at the end of February Energica announced that its 2021 order book was already 49.7 % of the value of its full year 2020 business ( at over € 2.9m in orders ), with 30 % of them coming from USA . The company ' s north American HQ recently relocated to a new 330 sqm facility in South San Francisco and now has 12 dealers in USA , the newest of which is Energica of New England outside Boston at Gardner , Massachusetts . New England has seen a doubling of electric vehicle ownership ( to 30,000 EV in operation ) and new charging station construction ( there are now nearly 6,500 ) in the last two years . Massachusetts is the third richest state in USA and has revised Benelli 302R sports bike that has also emerged via type approvals . Specs have yet to be seen , but QJMotor has also been spotted testing a smaller 250 cc sports model alongside this 350 cc machine that features a single-sided swingarm .

Energica in AI project partnership

committed itself to having 300,000 electric vehicles on the road by 2025 , which would be around a 23 % share of new car purchases in that year . The first batch of MY2021 Energica models ( which have already been sold ) left the company ' s Modena , Italy HQ for USA in March . Energica continues to raise capital , including an equity investment ( 1.6 million shares ) worth some € 11m by New York based Ideanomics - a NASDAQ listed global company that specialises in facilitating the adoption of commercial electric vehicles and supports next generation financial services and fintech products on a sales-tofinancing-to-charging ( S2F2C ) basis in high growth potential markets . In Italy , Energica has deepened its international partnership with Total Lubricants . Total Italia has chosen the Energica HQ at Modena as the first location for the installation of 11 of its latest generation 22 kw charging stations at the factory . www . energicamotor . com
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