(STONEWALLED AND REJECTED BY DOE)
by Sebastian Blanco on Jun 14th 2009 at 11:16AM
The Secretary of the Department of Energy, Steven Chu, gave the commencement address at CalTech on Friday, and electric vehicle advocates could find something to cheer about from his words of advice to the Class of 2009. Plug-in supporter Paul Scott went to the ceremony, and was happy ot hear Chu say that we needed to prepare for the “inevitable transition to electricity as the energy for our personal transportation.” Scott writes:
While most may have missed the importance of this comment, it meant everything to me. Those at the top of the Obama administration understand the need to move from dirty fossil fuels to renewable electricity, and their efforts so far show they are serious.
Chu’s defunding, at the federal level, of the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle means he knows we need to put our efforts toward solutions that are ready now, not some expensive, inefficient technology that requires us to continue buying our energy from oil companies.
Alas Chu seems to have lied to poor Brammo
THE BRAMMO ENERTIA
The Enertia is an electric motorcycle designed and sold by Brammo, Inc. It uses a Lithium iron phosphate battery, and is intended as a commuter vehicle. Enertia motorcycles first went on sale in late July 2009,[2] and began selling at Best Buy in August 2009.[3]
Contents
Construction and components
The body uses monocoque construction. Early prototypes used carbon fiber as the principal material, but Brammo later decided to produce the monocoque body out of aluminum. Some of the bike’s components are made entirely of recycled material, while the body panels are created from a mixed percentage of recycled and new materials.[4]
The Enertia’s permanent magnet AC Synchronous motor is powered by six Valence lithium iron phosphate battery modules, which can provide a top speed of over 62 mph (100 km/h).[4] The vehicle’s batteries can be recharged via the onboard charger within three hours by plugging into a standard 110 volt electrical outlet.[5]
Brammo has stated the Enertia does not have regenerative braking because of the limited benefit that current regenerative braking technology provides to motorcycles, and the risk of traction problems.[citation needed]
According to Cycle World magazine, “With its wide, mild-rise handlebar, sporty steering geometry and narrow 18-inch-front/17-inch-rear Avon RoadRiders, the Enertia is a light and responsive handler.” The road test editor recorded a 0-60 mph time of 16.1 seconds, and a quarter-mile run of 20.19 seconds at 60.78 mph. [6]
The current testing versions of the Enertia being shown to the media are described as enjoyable to ride, nimble and easy to control. It is also capable of better speed than widely promised, up to 65 mph (105 km/h), although this quickly drains the battery.
Most of the cost of the motorcycle is due to the battery. Brammo is hoping for the cost of this component to fall in the future, and is talking of creating a program to lease rather than own the battery.[7]
Comparison with conventional motorcycles
With 12 to 25 hp (8.9–18.6 kW), and 17 to 34 ft·lbf (23–46 N·m) of torque in the ‘performance’ mode, the Enertia’s power output is comparable to a conventionally powered Kawasaki Ninja 250 motorcycle.[8][9] However, the 2009 Ninja 250 has a top speed of 95.5 mph (153.7 km/h),[10] while the Enertia’s top speed is 50 mph[8] or 55 mph (89 km/h).[4][11] It has no gears or clutch so shifting is not required, which Brammo claims enables the Enertia to go from 0 to 30 mph (0 to 48 km/h) in 3.8 seconds in performance mode.[8] Tested by Cycle World, the Ninja 250 accelerates from 0 to 30 mph (0 to 48 km/h) in 2.0 seconds.[12] Motorcycle Consumer News projected a range of 246 mi (396 km) for the Ninja 250 based on their tested 51.2 mpg-US (4.59 L/100 km; 61.5 mpg-imp).[10] Brammo claims the Enertia has a range of 40 to 50 miles (64–80 km) between charges if power is set to the minimum level, 40%.[8]
At 19.564 lb (8.874 kg)[13][14] of carbon dioxide (CO2) per gallon consumed,[15] the Ninja 250 would emit 93.9 lb (42.6 kg) per 4.8 US gal (18 l; 4.0 imp gal) tank, or about 4,967 lb (2,253 kg) of CO
2 per year if ridden the US average of 13,000 miles (21,000 km) per year.[16] The Enertia would consume 260 charges over the course of 13,000 miles (21,000 km) at 50 miles (80 km) per charge. With a battery pack capacity of 3.1 kW·h,[17] the annual consumption of electricity would be 806 kW·h. With a US national average emissions of 1.297 lb (0.588 kg) CO
2 per kW·h, the Enertia’s yearly carbon emissions would be 1,045 lb (474 kg).[16]
References
- “Brammo Enertia Powercycle Specifications”. Brammo, Inc. Retrieved 2009-08-28.
- “SOUTHERN OREGON MANUFACTURER BRINGS ELECTRIC MOTORCYCLE TO THE MASS MARKET” (PDF). Oregon Economic Development Association. June 2, 2009. Retrieved 2009-07-21.
- Korzeniewski, Jeremy (August 28, 2009). now on display in select Best Buy locations, sales begin “Enertia Now on Display in Select Best Buys, Sales Begin” Check
|url=value (help). Autobloggreen.com. Retrieved 2009-08-28. - McDermon, Daniel (June 11, 2009). “A Short Ride on the Brammo Enertia Electric Motorcycle”. The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-07-21.
- Hall-Geisler, Kristen (June 4, 2009). “An Electric Glide, at a Price”. The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-07-21.
- Miles, Matthew (April 2010), “Brammo Enertia Wind in your face, lure of the open road . . . and the hum of an electric motor?”, Cycle World (magazine), pp. 40–43.
- Carpenter, Susan (31 July 2009). “Brammo Enertia electric motorcycle primes for its Best Buy debut”. Los Angeles Times. Up to Speed (blog).
- Paul Seredynski. “Enertia: The Electric Motorcycle”. MSN Autos. Retrieved 2007-11-28.
- Blain, Loz (6 June 2007), “US$15,000 Carbon Fibre Enertia electric motorcycle to hit stores in early 2008”, Gizmag,
It’s zippy enough to shoot clear of the traffic when the light turns green – the electric engine has 100% of its torque available from a standstill, and it’ll pull to 30mph in 3.8 seconds, which is in the range of a semi-sporty 250cc motorcycle.
- Santos, Franke (June 2008), “Model Evaluation Kawasaki Ninja 250R” (PDF), Motorcycle Consumer News (BowTie, Inc.), pp. 16–19
- Fermoso, José (5 October 2008), “With Motorcycles, Eco-Friendly and Badass Can Mix”, Wired,
At 12 to 25 horsepower (19 kilowatts) in its “performance” mode, it’s on the same power level as the Kawasaki Ninja 250 gas bike (though its speed tops out at 50 mph).
- Ets-Hokin, Gabe (June 2008), “Small Fortune; 2008 Kawasaki Ninja 250R Cycle World Test”, Cycle World 47 (6), p. 76, ISSN 0011-4286
- Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gases Program; Fuel and Energy Source Codes and Emission Coefficients, US Department of Energy
- Emission Facts: Average Carbon Dioxide Emissions Resulting from Gasoline and Diesel Fuel, US Environmental Protection Agency
- Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gases Program (Glossary of Terms), US Department of Energy,
Emissions coefficient: A unique value for scaling emissions to activity data in terms of a standard rate of emissions per unit of activity (e.g., pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of fossil fuel consumed).
- How We Calculate, Carbonfund.org
- Enertia Bike Technical, Brammo
