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Brammo Enertia on Fox Business News – Racer Top Speed 90 to 95mph

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Enertia TTXGP racerJust caught a short spot on Fox Business with Craig Bramscher, CEO/Chairman of Brammo, manufacturer of the Enertia electric motorcycle. At the end of the interview, Craig was asked about the speed of the Enertia, which is listed as 50 mph for the street bike, but he went on to say that the racer, currently on the Isle of Man for the TTXGP, has a top speed of 90 to 95 mph. That’s the first reference to how fast their racer is that I’ve heard. If true, and not some kind of secret psychological trick played on the other teams, then their speed is quite a bit less than the potential top speed of both the MotoCzysz E1pc and the Mission One, both of which should run comfortably in excess of 100 mph, perhaps as much as 150 mph. Hmm …, looks like some pre race sorting in the TTXGP Pro class is beginning.

Comments

  1. Considering that it is extremely difficult to average the course at 100 mph this shouldn’t be too bad if corner speeds are kept up. Hmm, stone walls…

    -todd

  2. The others also have to finish, sooooo you never know (at least until the actual race is run). Personally I kinda feel like it very well may come down to whomever manages to finish (without crashing or running out of juice of course) will be the winner. Hopefully I am wrong though and the race is a close battle.

  4. Looks like a tortoise and hare race to me. I think the deciding factor is going to be “fuel management” or its electrical analogue. The e1pc and the Mission One may be much faster but if they spend all their energy wheelying out of corners and the like, the Brammo’s chances might start to look better.

    But really, I’m quite content to sit and watch, dreaming of the day I can park a MotoCzysz bike ( be it electric or ICE) in my garage 🙂

  5. if you have to choose this circuit is about horsepower and huge speed rather than weight and finesse, the back of the island where speeds get crazy and is where this will race will be won

  6. I suspect that the majority of entrants in the TTXGP will be using this as a “demonstration” of their creations. It won’t be a “race” in the traditional sense except, perhaps, for one or two “out fronters.” Some will be lagging behind but all will be looking for data downloads. As the technology improves (read: information is stolen back and forth) we will see closer competition. Right now, it’ll look more like a John Deere running against a Ferrari (or a Brawn, eh?)

  7. That’s not much faster that my ’75 XT500 Yamaha & I can both have a blast & scare myself silly at that. It’s still better than most speed limits anywhere I’ve been. I wish them all a good time, interesting data, proof of concept, good publicity, & a lot of fun pushing the envelope!

    Even Enzo Ferrari had a bike racing heritage before he moved over to those 4 wheeled things.

    Oh Yea! I hope someone wins the TTXGP race.

  8. If I recall correctly the Inertia is using a bigger, water-jacket cooled version of the road bike’s motor. Some company in Germany makes them?
    Any indication on what kinda distance she can cover? Is it just the 45 miles or so at racing speeds as with the road bike or is there more potential?
    Love the stretched 250 GP racer looks

  9. I’ve noticed that in all the videos we’ve seen, nobody has shown the bikes running with anything that would be considered “real speed” from a performance bike point of view.

    I’m not expecting any of these bikes to put down any blistering speeds, but it’s a start and the rate of improvement will be MUCH faster than we see with today’s sport bikes which have already been pushed to their limits.

  10. Scott, not only will the rate of improvement be substantial, you may have already noticed, next year’s TTXGP is expanding quickly, too, they’re adding cars to the mix but also, next year will have a PRO2 class for motorcycles, 2 laps instead of one and hot swap batteries allowed. Things are happening so fast, it’s hard to keep up.

  11. Just looking at all the innovations in transportation over the years, a great deal of those things came from racing. I think if we really want electric vehicles to improve, they have to be raced. I think this is a great first step.

    I’m curious what would happen if some major OEM’s got involved in this?

  12. If it’s only good for 95mph, then it has WAY more brakes than it needs, and that means lots of wasted weight.

  13. If I remember correctly hard acceleration tolls on the energy supply is only due to the inherent loss of efficiency at high load and in a loss less world hard acceleration would require the same input energy as slow acceleration. Efficiency losses are especially heavy for voltage controlled DC motors at high currents, but AC my be able to extend its efficiency curves by well thought out controls and allow a large acceleration without a significant loss of range. DC could get around this by having the motor operating only in it peak efficiency load and control the power by pulse width modulation.
    I am basing my assumptions on the energy needed to get to speed being
    E=Ke + Losses. Where Ke = 1/2Mass * Velocity^2
    Of course going fast has its own drawbacks as air resistance goes up by a square of the velocity. Especially since I am rather disappointed in the apparent disregard to better aerodynamics. They look just like current ICE bikes. Though this may be due to regulations rather than choice.
    Overall though I will watch this progress with cautious optimism for the future.
    Peace.

  14. I think they MUST put that fairing on the production bike!

    1. Looks great.
    2. Cuts aerodynamic losses, increasing the top speed and range of the batteries.

    Why not?

  16. I’ve been at the TT in the Isle of Man (as a spectator), let me tell you that in some places you needs serious corones to ride at even 95 mph … 😉

    Can’t wait to see that …

  17. 50cc, probably not. 250cc, probably

    does anyone know what type of lap times ICE bikes are averaging here so that we can compare these bikes afterwords?

    also, is there any prize money at stake here? obviously winning is incentive enough because it gets your name out there. i was just wondering if there was a monetary compensation for finishing in say the top 3 places or some such thing.

  19. Those stone walls look scary enough at 95mph.
    I’m excited to see these bike in action – I wonder what they will be doing in a few years’ time. It’s all progress!

  20. Things are only going to get better and better for electric vehicles with time. Everyone just needs to have a little patience.

  23. As to why the bikes look like they have a fuel tank, two things come to mind: The shape of tanks on modern race bikes helps support the rider’s upper body in a tuck so they aren’t putting as much weight on their wrists. Also, the best place to put weight on a bike is in a triangle from the rider’s shoulders to the two wheels. Form follows function, the same principles that make the area between the bars and the seat a good place for a gas tank (or airbox on some new bikes), makes it a good place to attach other things on an electric (I’d guess that’s where the circuitry rides to keep the CG low).

  24. Thanks for the video, Frozen Prairie! They certainly look like they’re capable of some speed.

  26. . . . hmmm. . . and a half-hour Kneeslider show with weekly updates on news of the motorcycling world would also make for some interesting programming.

  27. I hope that they only get cash from the geek squad, and not tech support.

    Looks like a nice bike, could use some tweaks for production to give it character and stand out a bit, bus not bad for racing. Good luck to them.