Savic Motorcycles – Electric Start-Up

Electric Start-Up

An obsession with engineering motorcycles led this ex-Ford engineer to form his own start-up to design and manufacture electric motorcycles in Australia.

Savic Motorcycles is a relatively young start-up based in Melbourne but the idea of designing and building electric motorcycles was well formed in Dennis Savic’s head long before he left his job as an engineer at Ford to go solo. “I’m obsessed with automotive and design in general. And so, I loved my job at Ford and really enjoyed working there. So, leaving it was definitely bittersweet. But yeah, this has always been the dream,” he said explaining that he decided at the age of 14 that he wanted to build his own motorbikes and the company that he started is the outcome of that dream. In 2016 the first electric bike that Savic built had a traditional style of frame, a twin spar trellis frame and he used an off-the-shelf power unit but later realised that they needed to do a ground up design not one that had been produced for different power units such as reciprocating engines. The company then went for a backbone frame which is still quite common, where the engine is a stressed member. Savic said it was a somewhat traditional option, but not overly common as most mass manufactured bikes use a twin spar frame. “So, we did that. And then in 2018, it took us a bit of time to raise money because I ran out of funds at that point … then we raised a little bit of money from friends and family and built a concept bike, the C series. So that was the 2018 bike,” Savic explained. “And that was with an off-the-shelf powertrain as well. So that was also the first time we’d launched Savic Motorcycles publicly, and we did really well, we got a lot of publicity. And then, through building that, we realised that the off-the-shelf powertrain wasn’t going to be reliable enough or powerful enough for what the market would want. “Nor was it going to be cheap enough because when you’re buying off the shelf, there’s lots of margins involved. And so, 2019 was the first bike that we built with our own powertrain design. Obviously, having done that, we had a lot of lessons learned and not just engineering, but also supply chain.” According to Savic the supply chain was probably one of the biggest hurdles that had to be faced because the company was quite young and low volume even by Australian standards, so a lot of time and energy was spent in sourcing components. Another bike was completed at the end of 2020. And then Savic spent 2021 capital raising again. Success with capital raising was at a critical point, but now the company has managed to raise roughly $2 million in order to get to commercialisation following a co-funding investment from the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre under the Federal Government’s $30 million Commercialisation Fund. The co-investment of $657,000 from AMGC, will be paired with funding contributions from Savic and its partners for a total project value of $1.14 million (including AMGC funds). With that funding the company plans to offer three C-Series motorbikes which include a 25-kilowatt Omega (comparable to a 300cc traditional bike) a 40kW Delta, and the 60kw Alpha (roughly equivalent to a 1000cc bike). The Alpha has 200Nm of torque, powering it to 100kph from a standing start in 3.5 seconds. The C-Series’ 16kWh lithium-ion battery can be charged to 80 percent in under four hours and boasts an urban range between 150km (for the Omega) and 250km (for the Alpha). “We’ve managed to pack a pretty big battery pack in there. You know, 16 kilowatt hours … that’s on par with high-performance electric motorcycles already in the market. And so yeah, we think we’ll be able to, to get a decent range out of it,” Savic added. “So, the battery pack that we have in there is about 80 kilos worth of cells. I think a normal engine dry is roughly 50.” Savic Motorcycles employed optimisation modelling in its design process with a CAD software tool called Inspire. Engineers tell the software what the materials and design limitations are, and it removes the material that isn’t needed automatically. For example, the headstock of the C-Series prototype went through a number of design iterations to reduce its size while maintaining its load-bearing strength. Inspire helped by breaking down the headstock into its smallest components, assessing the contribution of each, and providing the smallest organic shape to fulfil its structural requirements.

The bikes incorporate an instrument cluster that is touchscreen with navigation as well as a few other features like a phone app. Designed by Sam Carter and developed by Kim Suandee, the 7-inch Resistive Touch display will provide an array of base UI templates that riders will be able to tweak to their own style. The cluster pairs closely with the bike’s other major electrical component, the Vehicle Control Unit (VCU), which controls its signals, sequences, and ultimately its performance. This VCU is based on a renowned aeroplane control system, Wingmate, which was designed for the Red Bull Air Racing team by Savic’s mentor, engineer Peter Wezenbeek. The C-Series boasts a number of world-class, race-quality components, including Wilbers suspension, Brembo brakes, and a customised Optibelt carbon-fibre drive belt. The Savic team is partnering with Bosch Australia for an anti-lock braking system. Through a clever combination of cloud storage, GPS, in-bike sensors and real-time processing, a unique Savic App will give riders a 24/7 connection to their vehicle – enabling them to see everything from its current location and charging status, to previous journey stats and future servicing needs. They will be able to download the app and have instant access to a world of information about their bike – how their build is progressing, news on customisations and special features that may be available. According to Savic one of the hardest things to do was to achieve that right balance of costs. “You know, the design itself and how that impacts cost, the supplier capability,and having a supplier at all to supply that component. And then even when you think

you found a supplier, you need two or three backup suppliers just in case something doesn’t quite work out,” he said. “And yeah, just balancing all of that is so difficult, because then you have to do it across all the systems in the bike. And we’ve got 27 to 30 subsystems alone. So, our parts count is around 300 components, individual components. “The battery pack itself as well. Again, from a supplier perspective, it was difficult to find a good supplier to work with. When we did find a supplier the battery technology is rapidly changing, there are a lot of new options out there and many different cells you can use. “Working out which cell architecture’s the best for the business, not only now, but in future, it was very difficult to do. “I guess the third biggest challenge has probably been the software side for us. We developed and designed our instrument cluster, basically inhouse from a physical standpoint. But we did that to give ourselves as much flexibility as possible on the software side of things, which is how we’ve managed to package so much capability into the box. “So, our software engineer has been working very hard for the last few years to overcome obstacles and get it to the point we and our customers will be happy with. And we’re very, very close now and pretty happy with what we’ve got. So yeah, look, I’d say, those are probably the biggest standout things. “And then, when you think you’ve solved everything, you come up with 20 ideas on how you might tweak it or make it better. So that’s why there’s a saying, you know; shoot the engineering, and ship the product. “So, yeah, we’re really happy with the product we’ve got now. “Look, it’s been a challenge, but we’ve got a great team. The team we’ve got are persistent, talented and very passionate about what they’re doing, that makes the impossible seem possible and it’s all worth it.” As it stands there are already 150 pre orders for the bikes. Exporting the bikes is on the radar but will not be entertained until possibly 2025 starting with New Zealand. While Savic and his team of 13 engineers design the bike the manufacturing of components is done overseas with much of the structural components out of India, other components from China and then some off the shelf components from Italy and Switzerland. As an example the front frame and steering assembly comes from China, the front and rear suspension from Germany and Thailand and the throttles and grips from Italy. Assembly though will be in Australia. “We probably will manufacture in Melbourne, but we will need a bigger facility. Yeah, so we’ve mapped out that we need a two-to-3000 square metre facility. And we haven’t homed in on where that’s going to be just yet,” Savic explained. “Over the next 12 months, the idea is to be able to produce one a week. And we could probably do that in the current space.” However, that won’t do when the plan is to produce 14 bikes a day. When that happens, the company will have to expand from its current 30 workforce to 70-100 people by adding engineers and technicians, and including implementing an apprenticeship program to encourage and nuture new talent in the e-Mobility space in Australia. “Savic Motorcycles is paving the way for electric mobility in Australia by leveraging the best of breed designers, engineers and manufacturing partners to deliver motorbikes of unmatched performance for local and global customers,” Dr Jens Goennemann, Managing Director of AMGC said on presenting Savic Motorcylces the financial assistance. “Savic is proof that when you embrace the entire manufacturing process from design to research and development, all the way through to sales, there are exciting times ahead for Australian manufacturing.”