Cycle News

INTERVIEW KTM PRESIDENT/CEO STEFAN PIERER PART I P70 So in that case you won't only be selling an E-SM Supermotard with lights, like now… Would KTM ever manufacture the E-Speed prototype, your electric sports scooter you launched at the Tokyo Show in 2015? The first step regarding on-road is clearly something for the A1 category like the Duke. So you will see that kind of elec- tric street motorcycle from KTM in two years' time. Okay, that's very KTM, but right now the E-Speed prototype is parked in Kiska Design's front office. Surely it's not going to stay there? No, no. We are proud of the E-Speed, just that we are not ready to introduce the scooter project as the first true KTM E-streetbike. Step by step. I never will say no, it can't happen in the future. And if everything is fine and we're earning enough money, we will do it. It's just that it's very costly to start such a project. Would one way to reduce the cost be to have the vehicle manufactured in China? No, because it's not a vehicle issue—it's the battery pack. And even though this would be made in China it's not cheaper to build the bike there, because basically we are working with the standard product from Samsung, LG, Panasonic, those guys. But capacity and performance is going up. So in the past five years we've been working on the project, it's increased by almost one-third. So the same battery, but one third more capacity, which means that much more mileage from a single charge. Secondly, the cost of the lithium ion raw materials to make the battery is very expensive, and it's the same everywhere—doesn't matter if it's China, or Korea or Europe. So we are basing it on global standardized cells and we do the rest ourselves. What sales volume is KTM looking to achieve with electric bikes? Now we are starting with a 2,000 unit production volume in 2015 for the three versions of the Freeride E. Then with the streetbike coming two years from now, by let's say 2020, we want to achieve 10,000 units a year together with the off-road E-models. So, building up to 10,000 units a year by 2020 is our goal. But by then, given the exponential development of battery technology, things should be very different? Yes, absolutely and that's the reason that I think that within four years we can have suf- ficient mileage available from the battery capacity that it won't anymore be an issue for market- ing our E-products. Because with an electric two-wheeler at the moment it's very difficult to do more than 62 miles on a single charge. Given your focus on E-sport, is KTM inter- ested in establishing its own urban electric motorcycle parks? I don't think we'll do it on our own. It's better if we can motivate dealers or leisure park owners to do something locally, but with KTM's support. That's our strategy. Doing everything yourself doesn't work. We did that the past three years when we made the final testing of the bikes, so we have two parks in Germany and three parks in Austria. But they can definitely be a profitable use of brownfield land, and you can get a good "I'VE DONE A LOT OF BENCHMARKING OVER THE LAST 22 YEARS. I OWNED KTM, FIRST WITH ITALY, THEN GERMANY, THEN SPAIN, THEN MORE OR LESS EVERYWHERE, AND AUSTRIA'S THE BEST PLACE IN EUROPE FOR KTM, AND MATTIGHOFEN SPECIFICALLY."

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