| Industry | Vehicle Manufacturing |
|---|---|
| Founded | Ashland, Oregon (2002) |
| Founder(s) | Craig Bramscher |
| Headquarters | Ashland, Oregon, United States |
| Area served | North America |
| Key people | Craig Bramscher (Founder) |
| Products | Automobiles, electric motorcycles, electric vehicle drivetrains |
| Website | Brammo.com |
Brammo, Inc. is an electric vehicle company based in Ashland, Oregon, United States. Its first production electric motorcycle, the Enertia, is assembled in Sárvár, Hungary and is selling online via the company's website and is available for sale and service at select motorcycle dealers throughout the USA.[1]
Brammo Motorsports began in Craig Bramscher's garage after he visited several Ferrari and Lamborghini dealerships in Hollywood and Los Angeles, California, looking for a supercar that he could comfortably sit in. Bramscher, who was a football player at his high school, Shawnee Mission South, is 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) tall but has described himself as "long-waisted, so I sit like I'm 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) tall." Bramscher set out to design and build a car comparable to the McLaren Formula 1 car, but which would comfortably accommodate a 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) tall person weighing 300 lb (140 kg). On September 4, 2002, he registered the name "Brammo Motorsports" with the state of Oregon.[2]
Brammo began importing the Ultima Can Am in an attempt to understand at a basic level the components, tools, and processes needed to manufacture a complete vehicle. The company continued to import the cars from Ultima in component form, assemble them, and sell them to customers. Customers were offered “build journals," which enabled them to watch their vehicle being built in near real-time online.[3]
The Enertia GT was a car planned for production, intended to be powered by a naturally aspirated Falconer V12 engine. However, it has since been announced that the project has shifted to making the GT a battery electric vehicle to compete with the Tesla Roadster.[4]
Brammo applied for a trademark of "Pro GT" in April 2004.[5] Brammo finalized the design for the Brammo Motorsports Pro GT and hired Brian Wismann as the lead designer prior to building the prototype. The Pro GT prototype had a 600 cu in (9,800 cc) V12 engine producing 800 hp (600 kW). Brammo commissioned a six-speed transverse synchro-mesh gearbox with Xtrac, Inc., of Berkshire, England. They also built a custom Falconer V12 engine.[6] Brammo changed the name of the Pro GT to the Rogue GT. They also imported some Gardner Douglas T70s, but demand for the vehicle was not sufficient. In 2006, Brammo executed an assignment of its interest in the trademark "Rogue" to Nissan Motors,[7] which introduced the Nissan Rogue, a compact crossover SUV in October 2007.
In early 2005, Brammo purchased a license to produce the Ariel Atom, an exo-skeletal vehicle designed by Nik Smart while he was a transport design student at Coventry University. Brammo's license allowed the company to produce the vehicle for the North American market only. After it secured the license from Ariel CEO Simon Saunders, Brammo reverse-engineered the vehicle, making several improvements along the way, and began production. The company could not secure the Honda engines which were installed in the UK versions of the car, so it approached GM and was able to obtain the supercharged GM Ecotec engine, although a limited run of ten of the Atoms came equipped with Honda K20A engines. The company sold just over 130 of the cars during a 20 month period. Jay Leno bought one of them and wrote an extensive review of it for Popular Mechanics.[8]
In 2007, Bramscher decided that a car with nearly 1,000 hp (750 kW) that got 3 mpg-US (78 L/100 km; 3.6 mpg-imp) was not a viable product to be selling in a post-Inconvenient Truth world. Brammo began looking at electric motors as a possible next step because of the torque produced by such motors. It began developing an electric Ariel Atom and learned some of the intricacies of electric drivetrains while it worked toward production of the vehicle. Although Ariel Atom UK had been amenable to Brammo's re-engineering of the Atom for a GM motor due to the unavailability of the Honda system used in the UK, it became economically unfeasible for the electric Atom project to continue due to the amount of the royalty required by Ariel for the electric vehicle. Brammo then decided to develop its own electric vehicle (EV) from the ground up.
Brammo's experience with building supercars, coupled with its research of electric drivetrains and then-current battery technology led to the belief that with the power-to-weight ratio and energy density of lithium batteries, an EV was possible, but that the vehicle's weight was a crucial concern. The decision was made to produce a lighter motorcycle.
Brammo focused on designing and building the Enertia powercycle prototype. After completing the prototype, the company met with investors and determined that Brammo Motorsports needed to become Brammo, Inc., and that it would thereafter focus fully on electric vehicles. The name "Brammo, Inc." was registered in August 2008.[9] In September 2008, Brammo raised a $10 million round from Best Buy Venture Capital, Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital, and others.[10]
In February 2009, Brammo announced that the Enertia would be sold at Best Buy stores on the West Coast, with a gradual roll-out to the electronic retailer's stores nationwide. Bramscher said, "what we're selling is a lot closer to consumer electronics than to transportation." He indicated that basic repairs and maintenance would be carried out by the Geek Squad crew while more intensive work would be performed at various service centers around the country.[11] The Enertia began selling at select Best Buy locations in August 2009.[12]
In June 2009, Brammo entered two modified Enertia motorcycles in the Time Trial Xtreme Grand Prix (TTXGP), a motorcycle race billed as "the world's first zero-emissions superbike event." The race took place on June 12, 2009, on the Isle of Man's 37.7-mile (60.7 km) Snaefell Mountain Course. Brammo's #26 bike, a model it called the TTR, finished in third place during the final race. Scottish rider Mark Buckley finished with a time of 30 minutes, 2.64 seconds, an average speed of 75.35 miles per hour (121.26 km/h), and reached a top speed of 102 mph (164 km/h).[13]
In 2010 Brammo announced the Empulse Trio line of water-cooled electric motorcycles, with models 6.0, 8.0, and 10.0 offering an average range of 60, 80 or 100 miles respectively. Top speed is in excess of 100 miles per hour.[14] Summer 2011 delivery[15] was projected for orders placed in July 2010. The 2011 delivery date was later extended into 2012 due to the decision to incorporate a gearbox into the production model. [16]
In September 2010, Brammo announced an agreement with Flextronics as its global manufacturing partner for the production of plug-in electric motorcycles and components. Brammo CEO Bramscher indicated that it would benefit from the arrangement because of Flextronics' ability to supply Brammo with all its electronics needs and because it would use Flextronics' assembly facilities worldwide in order to build its motorcycles closer to end user consumption, rather than shipping completed motorcycles overseas from US assembly lines.[17]
Later in September 2010, Brammo filed a Form D "Notice of Exempt Offering of Securities" with the Securities and Exchange Commission.[18] In that filing, Brammo certified that it had secured $12,454,653 of the total $30,000,000 private offering. Brammo indicated that most of the remaining $17.5 million worth of shares it intended to sell were spoken for, and that its goal was to close the offering within the next two months. Chrysalix, an energy-focused venture capital firm in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Best Buy Capital, which together backed the company with $10 million in the Series A Round in 2008, were joined in this round by Alpine Inc., an Edmond, Oklahoma, gas and oil exploration investment group. Another investor participated, but CEO Craig Bramscher said a nondisclosure agreement prevented him from naming the organization.[19]
In October 2010, Brammo announced a new model of its Enertia motorcycle, called the Enertia Plus. Set for delivery in 2011, the Enertia Plus will have a 6.0 kWh Brammo Power Lithium Ion battery pack. According to CEO Bramscher, the Enertia Plus is a zero-emissions motorcycle that will travel 80 miles on one charge, over 60 miles per hour, and should take about 6 hours to fully power up at any electric vehicle (EV) charging station with Level 1 capabilities.[20]
In May 2011, Brammo announced two new models of electric motorcycle, the Engage and the Encite. The Engage is a full-sized dirtbike, available in both motorcross (offroad) and supermoto (onroad, mostly) variants. The Encite MMX Pro, the smaller of the two bikes, was described as a more hardcore racing version. Along with the announcement of the two bikes came the announcement that the company had partnered with SMRE, an Engineering and Design firm based in Umbertide, Italy. SMRE had designed the mechatronic six-speed gearbox that the new bikes, in prototype form, were using.[21]
On May 14 and 15, 2011, at Infineon Raceway, Brammo's Empulse RR racing motorcycle won the first two races of the TTXGP North American Series, also known as the A123 Infineon Round. The motorcycle was ridden by Steve Atlas, an AMA credentialed racer and a contributing editor for Motorcycle-USA.com. During the race on Sunday, the Empulse RR broke the track record for electric motorcycles, set the previous year by the Zero-Agni machine, ridden by Shawn Higbee.[22]
In July 2011, Brammo announced it had entered a partnership with TTXGP to provide race-ready rides for the TTXGP electric racing series for the 2013 season. Brammo indicated that it would provide box-stock Empulse motorcycles to the TTXGP through Mavizen, the electric motorcycle startup launched by TTXGP founder Azhar Hussain. Mavizen and Brammo would develop a “race kit” including racing bodywork, unspecified “race performance upgrades” and track-side tech support. [23]
Although Brammo's Empulse RR racing motorcycle took third place at the TTXGP race at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah on the weekend of September 2, 2011, its position and prior points earned in the racing series guaranteed it the title of TTXGP North American Champion. The electric racing motorcycle was piloted by Steve Atlas, who had given the team consistent speed and performance throughout the 2011 season. According to Brian Wismann, Brammo’s Director of Product Development, the team was satisfied by the dependable performance of the bike and was "excited about the opportunity to defend the title next year against even stronger competition." [24]
In September 2011, Brammo acquired QuantyaParx, a motocross rent-and-ride business created and operated by KOM Enterprise GmbH with operations in five European countries. Hans Eder, founder of the parks, indicated that "Brammo ownership will give our existing and new BrammoParx operators access to the Brammo Engage and Encite, the most advanced off-road electric motorcycles in the world." Craig Bramscher, CEO of Brammo, indicated that they would be making the Brammoparx franchise opportunity available to more locations, including within the United States. [25]
In October 2011, Polaris Industries, a manufacturer of ATVs, snowmobiles, neighborhood electric vehicles, Victory Motorcycles and Indian Motorcycles, announced an investment in Brammo that closed the final tranche of the Series B funding round of $28 million. Polaris had been showing interest in electric propulsion for some time, producing an electric version of its Ranger Side-by-Side, and more recently buying up Global Electric Motorcars (GEM) from Chrysler. As one publication put it, "This latest move likely signals the addition of clean and quiet drivetrains to ATVs and motorcycles under the global giant's brand umbrella – snowmobiles may have to wait on battery breakthroughs before they become commercially feasible." [26] Along with the announcement of the Polaris investment, Brammo indicated that the Brammo Power battery pack production would be commencing soon in Frickenhausen, Germany.[27]
In October 2011, Hong Kong's Government Logistics Department announced that it would be replacing its existing fleet of gasoline-powered motorcycles in the District's Police Department and Water Supplies Department with Brammo Enertia Plus "LE" (Law Enforcement) electric motorcycles. The Hong Kong Police Department had been using several Brammo Enertia motorcycles as part of pilot project for over a year and had decided to commit to switching over to the electric motorcycles on a permanent basis. The bikes would be supplied to the government through Brammo's exclusive dealer in the area, JCAM Advanced Mobility, Ltd. [28]
In November 2011, Popular Science Magazine chose the Brammo Empulse electric motorcycle as the recipient of one of its "Best of What's New 2011" Awards in the Automotive Category. The magazine called the Empulse, the "fastest and farthest-driving consumer electric motorcycle ever made."[29]
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