This EV Dirt Bike Could Change the Game Forever. Why? It Has Easy-Swapped Batteries

The electric dirt bike industry is blowing up, but this new ride from startup Radian has something others don’t. Fast-swappable batteries.

Photo by: RideApart.com

By: Justin W Coffey

May 22, at 7:04am ET

Add RideApart as a preferred source in Google

Comment

Honestly, I can’t keep up with all the new EV dirt bikes that are hitting the market at the moment. It seems like there’s a new model being introduced almost every day, with heritage brands jumping into the space via acquisitions, and others who had been otherwise quiet, unveiling a new model just when you thought they had all but forgotten.

It’s a lot. But it’s a good thing. Competition breeds excellence, as they say, and the EV dirt bike space is at a tipping point.

We’ve gone from lightweight electric bikes with similarly lightweight components to full-size dirt bikes with proper suspension in the matter of a few years. Stark set the bar pretty high when they introduced the Varg MX, too, and subsequent Varg EX models. The 60hp available on the MX felt insane, then they dropped a proverbial bomb with an 80hp iteration in the form of the EX. Those are crazy numbers, and they’ve changed the EV dirt bike landscape moving forward.

Radian is a Dutch brand that I was entirely unfamiliar with, though. And like I said, there’s a lot of new EV dirt bikes coming to market, and it can all get a little blurry when you’re spooning up the word soup that motorcycle manufacturers like to dish out.

But Radian has something interesting to offer. The company just launched the EXR, an electric enduro bike that produces 70hp and 789 lb/ft of torque at the rear wheel, a claimed weight of just 250lbs and a dual battery system that can be swapped in under 30 seconds, without tools.

Photo by: RideApart.com

There’s a clear focus on making electric dirt bike riding more practical, offering riders the opportunity to go further thanks to the pair of swappable batteries that themselves offer a claimed range of 35-70 miles while riding off-road. The EXR is outfitted with KYB suspension, Brembo brakes, an aluminum chassis, integrated storage and app-based ride tuning. All of that adds up to a serious machine, and something that could change the future of electric enduro racing.

The Radian EXR uses an Internal Permanent Magnet motor that can spin up to 14,000 rpm, but it’s the InfiniPack Endurance 8.6 battery system that sets the EXR apart.

Instead of a single battery pack, the EXR uses two removable units, each weighing around 45 lbs, which the company says can be swapped on the fly in less than 30 seconds, without the need for tools or help from a friend. The batteries themselves are curved, which Radian says is designed to make removal easier.

The spec sheet is impressive, to say the least. As mentioned earlier, the EXR features top-shelf components in the form of KYB suspension, Brembo brakes, EXCEL wheels, along with the connectivity we’ve come to expect from an EV dirt bike. Ride characteristics can be adjusted through an app - with preset modes and custom profiles for different conditions – while physical controls on the handlebar let riders switch between modes.

Photo by: RideApart.com

According to Radian, charging the EXR from 20–80% takes 90 minutes using a 3.3kW charger, but they’re also offering the InfiniDock, a sort of golf caddy device that allows riders to charge InfiniPack modules that are not currently being used.

What do you think?

View

Comments

All of this comes at a price, of course.

The Radian EXR carries an MSRP of €14,450 ($16,795 USD) and is expected to be available in the latter part of 2027. Unfortunately, there’s no word on whether we’ll see the EXR in the US, but considering the success of the Stark Varg, I expect to see some pretty intense EV enduro battles between these two brands in the very near future.