Author Topic: Brian Tech Talks in California  (Read 1335 times)

Shinysideup

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Brian Tech Talks in California
« on: March 08, 2014, 08:17:50 PM »
Brammo's Director of Product Development, Brian Wissmann, will host a Tech Talk:

Wed March 26
6:30-8pm

San Diego BMW Motorcycles
5673 Kearny Villa Rd
San Diego, CA 92123
(858) 560-2453

------------------------

Thur March 27
6:30-8pm

Scuderia West
69 Duboce Ave
San Francisco, CA 94103
(415) 621-7223


BrammoBrian

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Re: Brian Tech Talks in California
« Reply #1 on: March 09, 2014, 12:30:38 AM »
Yep... the rumors are true.  I'll be paying a visit to some of our dealers to get feedback on how we can continue to improve on the customer experience, so we thought it would be cool to have a short presentation and open discussion on current and future EV tech for whomever is able/willing to show up.  Obviously, I would LOVE to have members of this forum show up to help me out.  I am by no means a trained presenter/PR person, so it would be nice to see some friendly faces in the crowd... just be sure to introduce yourself with your forum handle!  ;)

Also, if you've got suggestions on topics you'd like to see covered, please let me know. 




Ok, ok... I'm no Tony Stark, but I wish I was... I probably won't bring my holographic projector or arc reactor. :D
« Last Edit: March 09, 2014, 12:45:04 AM by BrammoBrian »

Gavin

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Re: Brian Tech Talks in California
« Reply #2 on: March 09, 2014, 02:10:24 AM »
Gotta start growing that goatee...

G

Ps...taking the cut away Empulse? Would make for a killer visual aid.
« Last Edit: March 09, 2014, 02:14:53 AM by Gavin »

Jeff

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Re: Brian Tech Talks in California
« Reply #3 on: March 09, 2014, 09:06:27 PM »
Awesome!  I will be there.  Haha you probably know all my feedback already anyway.

Is this aimed more at current customers or prospective ones?  I can probably come up with a list of things I wanted to know/have discovered during the time with the bike.

protomech

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Re: Brian Tech Talks in California
« Reply #4 on: March 10, 2014, 02:58:35 AM »
The cutaway Empulse would be a great demonstrator.

Will anyone record the talk?

Some things I'd love to hear about:

- Empulse motor map efficiency and tradeoffs. because you have a multispeed gearbox can you sacrifice a little motor flexibility for improved power density or peak efficiency?
- transmission applications, when multispeed gearbox makes sense and when it does not. I don't know if Parker has publicly released full specs on their GVM motor line, but it's granular enough that you should be able to compare a smaller motor + IET combination against a larger motor.
- cooling and heating cells for quick charging and discharging
- challenges and solutions for taking a prototype bike (RR) to production
- challenges and solutions for touring electric
- where Brammo sees opportunity to decrease costs over time
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BrammoBrian

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Re: Brian Tech Talks in California
« Reply #5 on: March 10, 2014, 11:30:10 AM »
Great suggestions, Protomech! I'll see how much of this I can incorporate.  I assume others will also like to hear Brammo's views on emerging battery technologies - i.e. Lithium Sulfur, Flow-batteries, etc...

I think the discussion may be guided by the participants in it. If Jeff shows up, we'll spend the whole time talking about racing! ;)

Shinysideup

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Re: Brian Tech Talks in California
« Reply #6 on: March 28, 2014, 12:20:05 PM »
Thanks Brian for a great session in San Francisco last night! It was enjoyable to meet up with Adan, Jim and Jeff at Zeitgeist beforehand.

The cutaway was MUCH more impressive in person than in web photograph and I was in awe to talk to the creator and find out it was mostly done with a hacksaw and grinder! Very cool display that allowed me to see where there's free space for me to squirrel away goodies.

The presentation was perfect, covering the history of Brammo as well as EV technology in general. I learned several new things, despite having owned an Empulse for over a year, like how the oddity of the clutch's lack of low speed disengagement is a function of the motor's not spinning when the throttle is closed, and therefore not throwing the oil out from between the wet plates.

I especially liked hearing about future developments, with the focus on battery technology.

Your delivery was effective in that you never got in the way of the information and your quiet passion for what you do came through. My only suggestion is to speak up a bit more, as in project your voice to the person in the audience that is most distant from you. But then I'm an OG whose hearing isn't what it used to be!

I really appreciate the whole team's  being there and only wish we had generated a much bigger audience for all your considerable collective effort.

And the pizza wasn't bad!
« Last Edit: March 28, 2014, 01:42:21 PM by Shinysideup »

protomech

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Re: Brian Tech Talks in California
« Reply #7 on: March 28, 2014, 01:16:10 PM »
Sounds like a great presentation.

... anyone recording? : )
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Adan

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Re: Brian Tech Talks in California
« Reply #8 on: March 28, 2014, 02:27:12 PM »
Yes, it was a very good presentation.  I'm proud to be the owner of a product where the key people in the company are so open and accessible. 

Not a fan of Costco pizza, but there certainly was a lot of it!

We should repeat the Zeitgeist thing once in awhile.  Next time, everyone in leathers!!

Gavin

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Re: Brian Tech Talks in California
« Reply #9 on: March 28, 2014, 02:28:00 PM »
See below
« Last Edit: March 28, 2014, 02:30:09 PM by Gavin »

Gavin

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Re: Brian Tech Talks in California
« Reply #10 on: March 28, 2014, 02:29:01 PM »
Sounds like a great presentation.

... anyone recording? : )

Sounds like a job for Peter Anton....

G

BrammoBrian

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Re: Brian Tech Talks in California
« Reply #11 on: March 29, 2014, 11:06:29 PM »
Thanks for showing up and listening to me "talk tech"!  It was great to see some friendly faces in the crowd.  Thank you, Bill, for the praise and the pointers on projecting my voice.  This was only the second Tech Talk we've done, so I'm hoping 1. we can build some momentum for future talks and 2. I get better at this as we go!  The questions from the group were great and I really enjoyed the whole event.  I hope it had a positive effect with the dealer as well in getting them more familiar with our terminology and needs as a customer base.  Scuderia is a great motorcycle dealer and now we need them to become a great electric motorcycle dealer as well. 

I also enjoyed a great (and scary  :o ) ride with Jeff around SF in the heat of rush hour traffic while we chatted (on his intercom system) about the finer points of product development and maintaining a culture as your company grows.  He's a demon off a stop light!

Thanks to everyone that showed up and I'm already looking forward to my next opportunity to visit SF.  I'm sure there's a way to stream the TechTalk, so I'll talk to Peter about that.  We do want to encourage people to show up in person though... How else will you get the free t-shirt? ;)