One important thing to know about sand, if you’ve never spent much time in it, is that it gets absolutely everywhere. Your teeth. Your eyelashes. Your hair. All your crevices, inside your shoes, up your nose; you name it. If there is any kind of opening, no matter how minute, those tiny little granules will do a Dr. Ian Malcolm and find a way.
Energica Experia rider Marc Travels is in and around the Morocco area in this video, handling the changing charging conditions for both his bike and himself, as Ramadan had just ended prior to him shooting this video. For those unfamiliar, the holy period of Ramadan involves fasting each day from sunrise to sunset, so observers typically only eat and drink before sunrise and after sunset each day. If you’re a traveler who doesn’t observe this custom, that can make it more challenging to find food in the middle of the day.
As of the start of this video, though, that period has ended, and so Marc is able to find a sandwich to enjoy while he’s out and about. That’s good, because the massive headwinds combined with the surrounding desert are making travel on the Experia very difficult. Headwinds drive EV range capability straight into the basement, even on a relatively capacious range-having motorcycle like the Experia.
That means Marc has to stop and charge more frequently than he might otherwise, and it’s also made a bit more difficult because even though this bike is capable of DC fast charging, there are no such chargers available where he’s currently riding.
There is electricity, though, so even if it’s slow, he is still able to charge. People are extremely friendly and happy to let him stop for a bit, sit down, and drink tea while Eve II (that’s the Experia’s name) slowly refills her battery at least part of the way.
One other distinct advantage of this bike over Marc’s previous Zero SR/F for this environment, I would have to think, is the fact that this bike is chain-driven and not belt-driven. Although the strong winds blowing sand absolutely everywhere must surely be a challenge to the weatherfastness of any machine, having to frequently stop and clean up your belt drive system would be another added inconvenience on top of everything else. The sand makes for great drama in a video, but I can say from experience that it gets into every nook and cranny of your action cameras, mounts, cages, and other accessories as well.
Still, if you have somewhere you have to be, what choice do you have? Here’s hoping he makes it to his next destination without too much trouble. Would you ride an EV motorcycle through high winds and sand like this? Would you ride any motorcycle through high winds and sand like this, for that matter? Let me know in the comments, and feel free to share your stories if you’ve already done it!
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