One hangup for a lot of folks unsure of electric drivetrains is the cost. Most electric cars are out of the price range a majority of the population can afford, at least right now. Costs will go down as the technology spreads.
Brammo is getting a head start though, dropping the sales price of their Enertia Electric Motorcycle from $11,995 to $7,995, a 33% cut in price on a motorcycle that has only just hit the scene.
At this point, most of us have heard of Better Place and their battery swap station idea, but they aren’t the only ones who’ve though of such a thing. NuTech, a company I recently discovered at the Alt Car Expo in Santa Monica, CA, has developed their own take on the concept of drive-thru battery swap stations… only theirs is portable.
Brammo is rolling out test bikes at Best Buy locations as quickly as they can, and on Sunday I had a chance to take one for a spin at Best Buy in El Segundo, CA. David, Brammo’s Service Manager and Josh, Brammo’s Southern California Marketing Manager, were on hand to answer questions about the bike—of which I had plenty.
There was only one bike available for us to test and it only had 55% of battery life in it when I took for a test ride, which held me back from going all out because I was trying to keep it alive for others to test it after me. Even so, I managed to reduce it to 29% battery life in 20 minutes.
Sean Daily, Green Living Ideas’ Editor-In-Chief, talks about the new Enertia Electric Motorcycle and new plug-in technologies with Craig Bramscher, CEO of Brammo.
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Brammo followed up the massive hype of the brand’s initial launch with by taking on the famous Isle of Man TT motorcycle race back in June with the Enertia TTR sportbike (shown, above).
As impressive as their racing efforts were, however, the latest news out of Brammo is even more impressive: the bikes are on available at select Best Buy stores … NOW!
Apple fanboys might still be drooling from yesterday’s iPhone 3Gs announcement, but I bet they never saw this coming: an electric superbike with an iPhone for all its instrumentation!
Heck, I was happy to finally get MMS support!
The MotoCzysz E1pc is one of the many entries in the TTXGP race this Friday. How the iPhone is integrated into the bike is still a mystery but features like its native GPS will surely be used. And whether it wins or loses, it definitely gets points for creamy white geeky goodness.
Motorcycles are probably the softest challenge for anyone considering electric propulsion. Most bikers don’t stray too far from home, bikes are by nature lightweight, and unless you’re talking about a pumped-up crotch rocket, they don’t need to go stupid fast. The real challenge lies in marketing a bike with limited range and top speed with a high price tag, as battery technology still has a way to go in terms of affordability. But to that end Brammo, who soon plans to release the Enertia electric motorcycle to the market, has been beefing up their brand-building and marketing team by adding veteran players to their company.
Their new Director of Marketing is John Farris, who was GM’s Brand Marketing Director for the Chevy Silverado pickup truck and founder of Hardcard Holdings, a marketing consultancy who has worked with Toyota, Harley Davidson, and Red Bull among others.
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