Future Range?

[SamM]

Well, if Brammo can basically double the range of the Enertia in 1 year, what will the range be two years from now? 320 miles? With the announcement of the Enertia Plus, I am certain that I will wait even longer to get the much better bike that will certainly follow in a few years. Now I'm glad that I actually waited! Brammo will continue to make improvements, as they go and as battery technology improves. I see better things coming to this type of motorcycle. I really hate to say this but the Enertia Plus made me decide to delay, my purchase of an electric motorcycle.

I'll be happy with my ICE bikes until even more electric range is possible! Hopefully, by then charging stations will be more numerous.

A patiently waitly and still lurking motorcyclist! 

SamM

[Phantom]

I am sure Brammo will increase the range of its motorcycles in the future as battery technology advances, but I would not expect double range each year. It would be cool, but I do not think it is likely.

I am too impatient to wait. My magic range number has already been hit based on my commuting distance to work. When I bought my Enertia, I expected higher performance motorcycles to follow. I also get a kick out of being able to demonstrate to people that alternative energy vehicles are in the here and now.

 I think it is similar to buying a computer. You know the technology will advance as soon as you buy it.

With any luck, I would expect that I could upgrade fairly easily to an Empulse or Enertia Plus once they are available for delivery. It might mean selling my Enertia, but it would give someone else the chance to ride an electric motorcycle at a lower price than buying new.

[Gavin]

Ah yes, the age old question we hear all the time on the computer forums (and yes transportation, TVs, phones, etc etc are all getting more and more like computers), Do I buy now or do I wait for the next--faster, more powerful, better graphics, longer life battery--versions?

And the same simple answers apply. Applies for computers, HDTVs, and now electric cars and bikes...

1. If you need one now, buy one now. Sure next years model will be better, maybe even cheaper...but you will have lost a year of fun or productivity that you could have had by using the very good current model. Need it? Buy it.

2. Don't need one? Then it almost always makes sense to wait. ***

3. The typical wildcard is: but I WANT it now. If that is the case, and you gots the cash...go for it...life is too short to say, dang I shoulda...again, as long as it isn't taking food out of your kids mouths. Plus if you have the cash, early adopters help cement a product, improve the product usually and help decrease the price of the product.

***one possible reason not to wait when it comes to electric cars and motorcycles...the industry will be helped with a fair amount of early adopters and interest. I believe electric transportation is inevitable...but a slow early adoption rate could delay both product and needed infrastructure by many years. Which is fine if you're young...but I will be fifty next year...having the products and infrastructure ramp up over the next 5-10 years is very important to me...a slow ramp up could change that to 10-20 years instead...and that would make me sad.

Gavin

[GeorgeS]

3. The typical wildcard is: but I WANT it now. If that is the case, and you gots the cash...go for it...life is too short to say, dang I shoulda...

*** I believe electric transportation is inevitable...but a slow early adoption rate could delay both product and needed infrastructure by many years. Which is fine if you're young...but I will be fifty next year...

Gavin

I hear ya Gavin,
I will be 62.5 yrs old and on Social Security before my Empulse arrives. Hopefully I will live long enough to get it (the Empulse AND SS). The age thing also applies to solarPV. You need to own it for quite a few years to make it pay off so get the system while you have 20 yrs or so left and don't plan to move. I  got my system in last year and the cost of electricity out of the system is around 6-7 cents/kwh over the lifetime of the cells. Not bad considering with: 1) adoption of electric transportation on a large scale and 2) a forced mandate to get a larger percentage of our electric from green sources ,,we are bound to see some hefty increases in the price of the juice that makes this form of transportation economical.

[protomech]

Enertia 3.1 kwh => Enertia 6.0 kwh was made possible by switching to a battery chemistry with higher specific energy (energy / mass); from lithium iron phosphate to lithium ion (cobalt). Lithium ion is basically the highest density chemistry in mass production right now, albeit with some previous serious safety concerns, so that's a one-time upgrade.

The cells in the empulse and enertia plus are similar specific energy to the cells in the tesla roadster (circa 2008/2009), but the roadster has heavy packaging that manages battery temp, significantly increasing weight. The leyden energy cells may tolerate higher temperatures more readily than the tesla roadster cells, and

Tesla claims they have cells for the model s that are 50% higher energy density than the cells they used in the roadster. The Model S is supposedly to be produced in limited quantities in 2012. If Brammo follows Tesla with a similar battery chemistry (that's a huge assumption) in a similar time period, then we might see an Empulse 9.0 / 12.0 / 15.0 and similar Enertia available around 2013-2014.

That's a huge assumption made on a chain of unsupported claims from Tesla .. so take that guess for what it is.

Bottom line, don't expect to see another doubling of range next year, or the year after.