Brammo beefs up its executive team before electric motorcycle launch
Click above for a high-res image gallery of the Brammo Enertia
Oregon based start-up EV maker Brammo is getting ready to launch its first electric motorcycle soon, so it had decided to bring on some experienced hands to help out with marketing, sales and engineering. John Farris is coming aboard to head up the marketing, communications and branding staff. Farris has past experience with similar roles on the Chevy Silverado team at GM and heading up motorsports marketing firm, Hardcard Holdings.
Adrian Stewart will lead the efforts to actually sell the Enertia and follow-on products to retail customers. That will include setting up distribution and service channels for the bikes.
However, none of that means much if the machines aren't properly engineered. For a battery-powered bike the electrical engineering is especialy important, so Roger Gerson will be joining from the recently bankrupt Vectrix to lead the EE staff. Brammo is also looking for bodies to fill other roles at the company so check out the site at brammo.com if you're an engineer or can count beans.
Gallery: Brammo Enertia
Gallery: EVS23: Brammo Enertia motorcycle
[Source: Brammo]
Electric Motorcycle Readies For Launch; Brammo Adds Industry Leaders to Executive team
Ashland, Oregon, May 1, 2009 –Brammo, a start-up manufacturer of electric vehicles, set to launch the Enertia, the first motorcycle in their lineup has added three industry leaders to its executive team. These staff additions bring deep knowledge and experience in brand building, channel development, operations and electric propulsion from the transportation and technology industries.
Brammo has hired John Farris as the Director of Marketing. Farris, a passionate motorcycle enthusiast, was a Brand Marketing Manager for GM's Chevrolet Silverado, the Vice President of Commercial Development for AMA Pro Racing and a Founder of the leading motorsports marketing consultancy, Hardcard Holdings, whose clients included Toyota, Harley-Davidson, BMW, Vespa, Red Bull and may others. At Brammo, Farris will lead marketing, brand development and communications.
Adrian Stewart, who joins Brammo as the Director of Channel Development, will lead the organizations retail strategy and manage the business relationships necessary to grow the Brammo brand. Stewart brings extensive global management and leadership experience in high technology, finance and startup internet organizations including IBM, Kleinwort Benson and Dresdner Bank.
Roger Gerson joins Brammo as the Electrical Engineering Manager and will head up the electrical engineering function on the Enertia as well as future Brammo products. Gerson comes to Brammo from Vectrix Electrics where he was instrumental in launching production of the Vectrix Maxiscooter, one of the early entries to the electric vehicle market. Roger's past associations include; iRobot, Brooks Automation, Avidyne, and Safe Flight Instrument Corporation. Roger earned a BS-Engineering from Northwestern University, and an MS-Engineering from Boston University. Roger is a bicycle and motorsport enthusiast who enjoys 2-wheeling, 4-wheeling, and sledding.
"The expertise of these new team members positions Brammo for industry leadership and will help us to accomplish our goals of helping create a new transportation segment that is both environment friendly and fun," said Craig Bramscher, CEO of Brammo. "We're looking forward to the opportunities ahead for the EV market and to driving sustainable innovation with this team."
Brammo is actively hiring to further grow its team. Please see www.brammo.com for more information.
About Brammo
Brammo (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.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tohe 8:37PM (5/01/2009)
I'm actually looking forward at Roger Gerson's contributions to Brammo, if he can extend the range of the Enertia to say 80 miles, I will be a happy camper (a bump in speed would make me extra happy).
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jpm 8:48PM (5/01/2009)
Are you planning on buying one?
I don't understand how these guys ..
http://www.electricmotorsport.com/
can sell a bike with slightly better specs for $2000 less.
Let's hope hope the guy from Vectrix doesn't add any ugly plastic to the bike.
gorr 10:02PM (5/01/2009)
They should offer in option a 2 000$ small 49 cc gasoline electric generator booster and range extender of 4-6 h.p.
Tohe 12:09AM (5/02/2009)
Thanks for the tip JPM, I want an electric bike to go to the gym and get around my neighborhood, you would wonder why the GPR-S can achieve 60-70 mph and 30/60 miles range, and the Enertia cannot. I'll admit I dig the looks of the Enertia, it is a new sleek breed of recreational bikes. But I can't go for it only for its looks. I will wait till launch and see what happens then.
...and yes the Vectrix is like a scooter on steroids.
jpm 2:44AM (5/02/2009)
my sentiments exactly. The enertia looks good but the price is hard to swallow. I'm guessing the price difference is due to the batteries. I actually test rode the GPR-S and was able to get a peak at the batteries from a bike w/no frame in their shop -- it looks as though they're using Thundersky batts from a cheap asian supplier, whereas the enertia is using batts from Valence Technology, an american Li-ion co. So maybe you would end up getting better cycle life w/the enertia? In any case, the price needs to come down and the performance needs to come up for their to be real demand.
Tohe 9:49AM (5/02/2009)
That sounds reasonable JMP, I've seen those batteries being used on conversion projects like the evcapri.com.
A good company usually defines how they plan to become profitable. There are many profitability schemes. For instance, the barbie doll business model profits from the top of the line vintage dolls, while their base dolls exist for brand expansion and continuity. From what I read here today, I believe Brammo is in the process of defining its profitability model. Who knows what they will do. But whatever they do, they need to put out there a product that people will want, either because specs or because of affordability, a mediocre high priced product wont entice either market.
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Tohe 11:00AM (5/02/2009)
BTW I found this image which reveals the modular battery array:
http://media.photobucket.com/image/enertia/DromSeciba/enertia_exposed_3s.gif
Looking at it, the Enertia could probably benefit from producing their own battery pack a la Tesla.
jpm 2:06PM (5/02/2009)
That's a cool render, you gotta love solidworks.
Yep those are Valence batts,
http://www.valence.com/products/battery_modules/u-charge_xp
I wish the price would come down on the Li batts so they could toss a few more of them into the bike to bring the voltage (speed) up and extend the range a little.
Tohe 3:40PM (5/02/2009)
You bet.
M1hai 3:50PM (5/02/2009)
Looks like electric-drives are changing the design of vehicles...cool
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MikeInNC 10:03AM (5/04/2009)
As much as I would love to have one of these bikes, something like a '09 Ninja 250R wipes the floor for half the price and has a vastly longer range, higher top speed and charges (refills) in 2 minutes. Don't fret, I understand this is somewhat like a Tesla project for motorcycles and it would be a lot easier to handle with a longer range but the price is hard for mere mortals to swallow once they start doing the math. I with them (and Electric Motorsport) all the luck in the world though. If I could lay hands on one of these for the same price as the above 250, I'd be all over it. I'll have to wait until there's a used market I guess.
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John H 12:01AM (5/06/2009)
Ahh, at last I find a blog with someone else pointing out that there are far more cost effective electric motorcycles out there (see jpm commentary on GPR-S). Just like with the failing Vectrix (they've ceased trading - never a good sign!) which had better performing, less expensive competition but a marketing and sales department who seemed to chose to persuade the market that they're the only one.
Alas, I think the price combined with the marketing guys from GM and IBM are actually a bad thing. It smacks of Brammo attempting to do what Vectrix failed at.
@jpm - thanks for posting at least one of the alternatives out there.
@tohe - yep I also agree the Enertia is the better looking bike. But like you (I think) I'd have a hard time paying such a premium for purely looks. Isn't buying something for purely looks and marketing appeal rather than usable functionality what gave us the SUV glut?
@gorr - a range extender / hybrid for a m/c would, IMO, be a really, really bad idea. You'd re-introduce all the emissions problems and you'd double the complexity and add a ton of weight. Mind you I don't even really like hybrid cars all that much - so I'm biased! But explain how you'd fix the issues to be worth adding a range extender? (why not just buy a regular bike?)
@MikeInNC - yep you'll have to wait a long time to get an EV bike that will beat an ICE bike strictly on price/performance. However, at least half the price is in the battery pack - and AFAIK, Lithium and Iron are abundant resources and LiFePO4 is the battery of choice these days (or at least one of the strong contenders). So prices, theoretically, might come down. But you'll have to wait for a game-changing energy storage technology to come along AND economies of scale to kick in before stopping riding the good old Ninja 250. The trouble is that Ninja might be economical - but it sure ain't clean when it comes to emissions...
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johnbruce 8:19AM (7/27/2009)
I love this.
But I rather own my own electric kick scooter.
Razor Scooter anyone?
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