Brammo Enertia Plus electric motorcycle

For most people who don't live in America, the motorcycle company Brammo probably sounds more like a bubblegum or shoe-polish brand.

However the company is pretty serious about its motorcycles, all of them electric, and has released a new model in the States, the Brammo Enertia Plus.

We looked at the Brammo Empulse sports bike in mid 2010, but this model is a more sedate design, geared for touring rather than peg scraping.

The new Enertia 'Plus' model represents a coup for the company, by doubling its cruising range from 64km to 128km thanks to the inclusion of a higher capacity battery pack, a 6.0kW/h Lithium Iron Phosphate.

At the time of writing there were no plans to bring the Brammo range of electric motorcycles to Australia, but never say never. The price for the American-market Brammo Enertia is $8995, and with the Aussie dollar close to achieving parity with the US dollar, there idea of a $10,000 electric commuter bike starts to make sense.

There's no more need to fill up with petrol, just plug it into the wall socket when you park it at home or at the office, and you're set.

The bike has a top speed of more than 100km/h, so freeways wouldn't be off-limits, and 40Nm of torque on tap from a theoretical zero revs gives the electric bikes decent acceleration.

Marzocchi forks prop up the front end and reports from the States suggest the Brammo Enertia has sharp handling dynamics.

There are also large incentives and government rebates for electric vehicles - both motorcycles and cars - in the US, which has helped promote development of these models, initiatives that we are yet to see in Australia.

Check out Brammo.com for more details on the electric motorcycles.

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