The Green Optimistic

Ashland, Oregon - July 10th -– Brammo Motorsports today announced the Enertia, the world’s first production, zero-emissions and battery powered plug-in electric motorcycle. (http://www.enertiabike.com/ http://press.enertiabike.com/ )With the goal of creating momentum for change in the way vehicles are conceived and created, Brammo has delivered this groundbreaking motorcycle.

The Enertia’s range of 45 miles significantly exceeds the daily commute for the average U.S. consumer of 29 miles. Battery charge time is 3 hours to full re-charge.

Borrowing from racing technology, the Enertia utilizes a carbon fiber chassis producing an ultra strong, light-weight vehicle platform of just 275 lbs. The chassis integrates six lithium-phosphate batteries from supplier Valence Technology that together produce the power to propel the Enertia to a top speed of over 50 mph.

Paul Seredynski, MSN autos said, “For those looking to make a lifestyle change, or for a cool “green” machine to get around town on, few options exist that can compete on so many levels.”

“We believe consumers are eager to adopt vehicles that have a fraction of the carbon footprint of a today’s cars”, says Craig Bramscher, Chairman & CEO of Brammo Motorsports, “Our Enertia electric motorcycle empowers people to make this choice today.”

Brian Wismann, Brammo Director of Design said, “It is extremely satisfying to design a vehicle that people can both feel good about using and appreciate the way it looks.”

Brammo’s Enertia is the first of a line of plug-in electric commuter, commercial and recreational vehicles under development.

About Brammo

Brammo (http://www.brammo.com/) is a premier specialty vehicle manufacturer developing sustainable performance products for the next generation of transportation. Through integration of digital engineering and high impact design, Brammo transforms ideas into compelling products. Located in Ashland, Oregon the company was founded in 2002 and is a privately held.
Battery Technology

The Enertia uses six Lithium Phosphate battery modules built by Valence Technologies, Inc. in Austin, Texas. Representing the latest in battery technology, this battery chemistry provides both an amazing life cycle and inherent safety not found in other Lithium-Ion batteries. These six individual modules are in constant communication with each other and the Battery Management System (BMS), which serves a “big brother” function making sure all the battery levels and temperatures are in check.

The BMS is roughly equivalent to the ECU in an internal combustion engined vehicle. The main difference being – instead of controlling ignition, spark and cam timing, and metering fuel – it’s busy keeping an eye on the current being delivered from the batteries to the controller and the state of charge of each cell to ensure that none of the six modules gets out of balance. The BMS also controls the charging cycle to ensure each battery module gets just the right juice to end up with a fully charged and balanced battery pack.
Carbon Emissions
Well… the electricity has to come from somewhere, right? Right! This is exactly the reason these charts show “Well to Wheel” efficiency, which takes into account the entire energy system required to provide propulsion to a vehicle. The data presented here assumes that a large portion of the electricity used in the Enertia is generated from powerplants running a coal furnace. If the Enertia is this efficient now, imagine what you’d get if that electricity were generated though alternative power sources like Solar, Wind, or Hydro!

So… how does the Enertia fare compared to other vehicles in carbon emissions “Well to Wheel”? See the chart below for the surprising results…

Global Warming is here. We’ve all contributed, and now we have a great opportunity to make a difference. With the amazing “Well to Wheel” energy efficiency of the Enertia, commuting to work even for part of the year on an Enertia would drastically reduce your carbon footprint as the graph below illustrates…