Brammo Enertia electric motorcycle primes for its Best Buy debut

 

This has been a banner year for electric motorcycles. In the spring, Zero Motorcycles introduced its street-legal S. Then, in June, the Isle of Man TT hosted the world’s first electric superbike race, bringing 16 teams to compete in the famed 37.73-mile road race as part of the inaugural TTXGP. Now one of the TTXGP’s top finishers is poised to bring its bike to market. The Brammo Enertia will go on sale in select West Coast Best Buy stores starting later this month.

Urban oriented and supermoto in style, the Enertia is for do-gooders whose interest in practical, environmentally friendly transportation trumps their need for speed, which isn’t to say the Enertia is unsatisfying. Quite the opposite. It’s probably the best e-bike I’ve ridden. It’s easy to ride, fun, well groomed and fast...ish.

Brammo is erring on the side of caution, its unofficial motto being to under-promise and over-perform. Officially, the company is only claiming a top speed of 55 miles per hour and a range of 50 miles. But, as with all electric vehicles, those numbers vary dramatically based on how the bike is ridden. While punks might get the bike up to 65 mph, they won’t go nearly as far. Pussycats who tread lightly on the throttle, however, might travel as much as 60 miles before needing to plug in.

Being a regular rider of internal-combustion product, I fall into the former camp. I got the bike up to 65 during my test ride of a very-close-to-production version of the Enertia on Brammo’s home turf in Ashland, Ore. That speed was enough to impress a pair of young guys in a low-riding sedan, who trailed me through the turns, then stopped me to ask, "OK. How much are they?"

The short answer is: "a lot." The Enertia is $11,995 – most of which is attributable to the 3.1 kilowatt hours of power produced by the 76.8-volt, lithium-iron-phosphate battery back. While federal stimulus bill incentives currently skim 10% off the purchase price, Brammo’s goal is to reduce the bike’s MSRP as battery prices decrease and, eventually, to institute a battery-leasing program, which would prevent buyers from having to purchase the equivalent of three years’ worth of gasoline up front.

That lease isn’t available ... yet, but the Enertia’s math is still impressive: It gets the equivalent of 360 miles per gallon, so the more you ride it, the more quickly the investment will pay off. Based on my half day with the bike, I think riders will have a hard time keeping this thing parked. It’s exceptionally fun to ride. Even better, it’s cute.

Offered in colors more often found at a Baskin-Robbins -- (raspberry) blue, (creamsicle) orange, (lime) green, (coconut) white and the distinctly inedible silver – the Enertia is a fantastic looking machine. Unlike some other electric vehicle manufacturers, Brammo hasn’t skimped on the fit and finish. It’s a real looker – its supermoto style given a striking, futuristic makeover.

Engineered in house from the ground up, the Enertia felt like a "real" motorcycle from a major manufacturer, not some gutted and retrofitted Frankenbike. Lightweight and well balanced, I found it easy to throw around, with a nice, tight turning radius. The brakes had a nice, progressive feel. In fact, I found its overall handling was on par with similar product from the Japanese or Italians, in part because the Enertia uses many of the same performance components. The telescopic front forks are Marzocchi. The brakes are Brembo. The swing arm is made by a Harley-Davidson supplier.

Then there are the parts that are completely Oregonian – philosophically speaking, that is. Its fenders and tail lamp shroud are 100% recycled from battery cases, its body work is crafted from 24% recycled polyethylene water bottles, and the plastic under the saddle is made from old nylon carpet. The frame is also aluminum, which, in addition to being lightweight, is also high in recycled content.

The battery cells are, of course, Chinese. Those are mounted within the frame rails, which not only double as a battery tray but hold the sealed, brushless, AC, permanent magnet motor at the bottom of the bike. Both contribute to the Enertia’s low center of gravity, making the whole thing nimble and easy to control.

The Enertia is direct drive. There’s no clutch, no gears – just twist the grip and go. Electric motors are 100% torque the moment you twist the grip, but the throttle didn’t cause whiplash. It was powerful yet gentle, which was great since this bike is being marketed to beginners as well as seasoned riders with gadget-o-philia.

Technophiles are likely to enjoy the digital display, which provides a wealth of information. In addition to the time, ambient temperature, speedo, odo and tripo, there’s extensive information on the bike’s battery life and projected range – all of which is updated every second.

Being early in what is expected to be a long EV time line, the Enertia is at the forefront of figuring out some of electrics’ quirks, such as their silence. The Enertia is silent at idle, only generating a whisper of noise when in motion due to the spinning of the chain, so Brammo has built in some safety features. Even after the ignition and power switches are turned on, riders must also flip a throttle switch. Brammo plans to release some sort of Apple-esque start-up sound that would indicate the bike is ready to roll; it’s also considering a "power pulse" that would add some motion to the right hand grip to indicate the throttle is live.

I got to ride the Enertia in late July, just a few weeks before it was set to go to market. It was a 98% production version, and some kinks were still being worked out with the software, some of which I experienced during my test. After riding through a few turns at full throttle, the bike’s software started to protect the enclosed motor from overheating and wouldn’t let me go nearly as fast – a situation Brammo plans to remedy with a programming change and the addition of a fan to cool this otherwise air-cooled motor. There were also a couple times I twisted the grip coming out of a stop and the bike was unresponsive – a situation that took a couple turnings on and off to remedy – again, a software issue.

Brammo says these problems will be resolved before the bike is available at Best Buy later this month. And if not, that’s what the Geek Squad’s for. Best Buy’s service department has been trained to work on the bikes.

-- Susan Carpenter

2009 Brammo Enertia

Base price: $11,995*

Powertrain: fan-cooled; sealed, brushless, permanent magnet AC motor; 3.1 kWh-capacity, 76.8-volt, lithium iron phosphate battery pack, direct drive

Seat height: 32 inches

Weight: 324 pounds

Top speed: 55+ miles per hour

Average range per charge: 50 miles

Charge time: approximately 4 hours

Claimed MPG equivalent: 360

* Enertia owners qualify for a 10% federal tax credit on the purchase price. Individual states may offer additional rebates.

Comments

[Brammofan]

The last I'd heard, the Enertia weighed in at a svelt 285 pounds, not 324. Other than that, your article contains a lot of exciting new information. The next comments will likely be a combination of: too expensive, too slow, too short a range, my bike gets good gas mileage, my bike costs less, blah blah blah. There are many people, however, who are ready to take the ride. Thanks Ms. Carpenter for a well-written article full of news.

[FearlessNSeattle]

I agree with Brammofan. Great article. This a great first start. My commute is 50 miles round trip. So the range is almost there. Can't beat that equivalent mpg. Back in engineering school there was always a little rivalry between the Electrical Engineers (myself included) and the Mechanical Engineering boys who loved their inefficient dirty internal combustion engines. Who laughing now gear heads. Good work Susan. I want to ride one of these things

[SoCalGal]

I don't know anything about this stuff, but If I were to ride one to work, 10.5 miles, then leave it in the parking garage for 8 hours, will it still be charged when I'm ready to go home if the charge life is only 4 hours? Me confused.

[KC]

The article conspicously avoids the miles-per-charge figure when riding enthusiastically. So, one-to-two hours riding - maybe - for every 4-hour charge? For $12k? That equation may be fine for some commuters, but that's not what riding is about for me.

[leh]

SoCalgirl--The 4 hours mentioned is charge time, not life, so there should be plenty of range left after 10 miles even if you let it sit a month (lithium batteries have low self-discharge).

I wish I could be more positive about this EV--I am an avid e-biker myself, but I'm talking e-bicycle, not e-motorcycle--but the cost and limited range
will likely doom the Brammo to the same fate as the now defunct Vectrix, which just filed for bankruptcy a few weeks ago. IMO none of these emerging e-motos will be economically viable until battery prices come way down or govt incentive subsidies way up--or both.

OTOH you can buy a state-of-the-art e-bike with 30-40 mile range for under $4k that can average 20 mph, and entry level rides can be had for about half that cost. Europeans are flocking to e-bikes in impressive numbers; unfortunately they remain basically an unknown entity to most U.S. consumers.

[novolakers]

This bike should cost $3000. Period.

[guity]

Nice article Susan! You've done a bunch of the electric motorcycles. Have you tried the GPR-S from Electric Motorsport in Oakland?

Their real job is selling EV components to EV makers. Their GPR-S can match or beat the Brammo in range and speed, but is $3,000 cheaper.

The biggest problem with them is that they are still a very small company. However their small size (and their ability to make money selling EV components) should allow them to survive longer than some of these other companies that are swinging for the fence.

[Dig Deep]

Who's making the money the Chinese. It's their battery the most costly part of the bike. Chinese are all over us when it come to storage batteries. GM buys them from China. Where's US technology in this. Wheres the three wheeled version with some range in miles.

[edward]

Uh, "brammofan" must not be enough of a fan to visit brammo.com and read the specifications page; weight: 324lbs