Brammo Enertia to be sold at select Best Buy locations in May
Click above for a high-res gallery of the Brammo Enertia
Last September, when Brammo Motorsports got a big chunk of investment money from Best Buy Capital, eyebrows arched with the possibility that the biggest of all Big Box electronics retailers might actually sell the electric motorcycle from their own retail locations. Now that it's been confirmed, the initial disbelief has turned into excited anticipation that the long-awaited fully electric Brammo Enertia will finally be available in May, and at 5 selected West Coast Best Buy locations to boot.
Perhaps most interesting are comments that CEO Craig Bramscher made about the future of the bike. "What we're selling is a lot closer to consumer electronics than to transportation," he said, suggesting that on-board cameras that can link up to the internet would be one likely add-on. Basic repairs and maintenance will be carried out by the Geek Squad crew while more intensive work would be performed at various service centers around the country. If this initial rollout proves successful, Bramscher envisions a time when the Enertia and its future siblings would be available at every Best Buy locations around the world. Thanks for the tip, John!
Gallery: EVS23: Brammo Enertia motorcycle
[Source: Greentech Media via Electric Motorcycle Forum]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
alexacoon 6:50PM (2/27/2009)
Speed 50+ mph
Range 35-45 miles
Recharge time ~ 3 hours
Ok I could ride this to work 6 or so month of the year (MA)
How much would this cost and would i ever recoup the cost versus a 30mpg car?If this needs to be registered and insured like an ordinary motorcycle tht alone would wipe out months of gas savings every year (I have a Suzuki now)
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Luke 9:19PM (2/27/2009)
The last time I checked, their website said the price ran from $12k-$14k. I don't have Flash on this computer (Adobe doesn't really think 64-bit Linux matters), but here's the URL:
http://www.enertiabike.com/
What kind of Suzuki do you mean? Do you mean a Suzuki car, or a Suzuki Boulevard?
http://suzukiboulevard.net/
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Eric Bandholz 10:03AM (3/02/2009)
Luke,
Not to turn this into a tech blog - but I'm running Ubuntu 8.10 64 bit and I have the flash drivers working fine. Granted it's a little buggy (crashes a lot) but can still see videos.
Luke 9:44PM (2/27/2009)
Also, if you're new to motorcycle-riding, make sure you include the price of the safety gear (~$1000) and the Motorcycle Safety Foundation Basic Rider Course as part of the price for the bike. I wish I'd done this before I started riding -- and if the only reason you ride a motorcycle is to save money, it will help you to be realistic.
However, there are a lot of non-monetary benefits of getting out of the 4-wheeled cage and into the real world with wind, sun, pavement, seasons, and interesting smells -- into a a world where Your Skills Matter in a very basic and primal way. It's a hell of a way to get to the cube-farm! Weee! :-)
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John Adamo 9:59PM (2/27/2009)
NP!
One cool thing the mentioned is the bike will have a built in web server and an API that will be open to third party developers. This could be something that would make the extra cost worth it depending on what applications were developed.
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Chris M 11:08PM (2/27/2009)
Some Best Buy locations have garage service bays for installing the car electronics and audio equipment they sell, so they'd be well suited to service this bike. Hmm, makes you wonder if some other EVs might be next...
I wonder if Fry's Electronics is considering something similar, they have a competitive streak and a marketing plan similar to Best Buy, and most of their locations also have service bays. Let the competition begin!
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G-Meister 6:44AM (3/02/2009)
Think Chinese EVs or Hybrids, sold through Sam's Club, with their own and Walmart auto centers doing the service- Get me some Brawndo while you're there.
noonesxhero 1:14AM (2/28/2009)
The day I let a Geek Squad "Agent" anywhere near a motor vehicle of mine is the day I cut off my own leg for funsies.
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nicpottier101 12:17PM (2/28/2009)
Seems like a ZeroX is a lot better deal.. you go farther and faster for less money.
These guys have been making vaporware for what? Two, three, years?
Zero has been selling bikes for all that time, albeit their off road version.
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wisdesign 11:22PM (2/28/2009)
How do you figure? Zero lists a range of "up to 40 miles" on their website, which is likely optimistic with just 2.0kWh. Also... $9450 for their top of the line model... which is not road legal.
steve 5:46PM (3/02/2009)
Their website lists the price as $14,995 for the limited edition, or $11,995 for the regular model. However at those price points this bike becomes no more than a fancy electric toy for the rich. When you can pick up a new Kawasaki 250 that gives around 70 mpg for around $5000, the additional $6,995 needed for the Bramma would buy enough gas to drive 195,860 miles ( assuming $2.50 per US gallon, and 70 mpg for a KLX250, and totally ignoring the cost of charging, and replacing the batteries every couple of years )
Until these bike manufacturers ( Bramma, Zero, etc) can start to compete price wise ( over the full 50-100K miles life cycle ) with the current range of gas powered bikes, these are nothing more than expensive battery powered toys :(
While I would love to buy one of these :) I simply couldnt afford, or justify the cost of being an early adopter at these prices :(
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