Twenty-one months ago, Brammo announced the Empulse, a hot-looking electric streetfighter capable of hitting 100 miles per hour and offering up to 100 miles of range. Electric motorcycles had arrived. Minds were changed, $6 million in pre-orders were placed and enthusiastic fans hunkered down and chatted about this two-wheeled object of desire on internet forums and waited. And waited. And then...nothing.

Ok, not nothing exactly. The company made a number of interesting business moves, like teaming up with Flextronics for manufacturing and partnering with Polaris. They also announced a trio of motocross style bikes that would feature a six-speed transmission. It seems that it was the appearance of this multi-speed gearbox that signaled a change in approach to the sport bike drivetrain, and thus the delay that has continued until now.

Ok, until almost now. Brammo has announced it will fully reveal the Empulse and Empulse R on the 8th of May at a launch event, which will be webcast live to its (patient) customers with existing pre-orders. Fortunately, we aren't completely left in the lurch until then. The company has just released technical specifications which give us an good idea as to what to expect from the new configuration. Scroll down to see them.

Gone, it seems, is the concept of one bike with either a 6-, 8- and 10-kWh-sized battery pack with a single-speed gearbox. Instead, we have the Empulse and Empulse R, each with a 10.2-kWh lithium battery using nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) chemistry and both sporting a six-speed transmission with a multi-plate, hydraulic activated wet clutch. It's not clear how the two models are differentiated, though we imagine the "R" to have an edge performance-wise and, perhaps, a fairing. We expect the "non-R" to be naked. And both to be beautiful.



Top speed is given as 100 miles per hour plus for the R, while the potential range is laid out using three different scenarios. Driving at a constant 70 mph will take you 56 miles, a city/highway combination should net 77 miles, and pure city driving might keep you in the saddle for up to 121 miles. Acceleration is described as "rapid off-the-line", and we hope it can keep up with its looks.

Charging from empty can be achieved in 3.5 hours using a J1772, level 2 set-up. Plugging into the wall may take as long as eight hours. Scroll down for the official press release along with all the fresh specs. We've also got the latest Empulse-centric promotional video that gives us a bit of insight into the new battery, the company's racing heritage and a sneak peek of the new design.

via [ green.autoblog ]

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