The promise of this new electric motorcycle is clear and simple: a top speed over 100 mph and a range in excess of 100 miles.

Achieving either would give Brammo’s Empulse R a marked advantage over any other production electric motorcycle to date. Doing both holds the potential to rocket the nascent form of transportation into the mainstream, creating a product that’s not just environmentally friendly and cheap to run, but also real-world, everyday practical and fun to ride.

Can the Empulse hit those magical numbers? Tests have shown, it absolutely did. But, it achieved so much more that those numbers didn’t end up feeling like the real story. This thing doesn’t just serve as practical, fun transportation; it uses the benefits of electric propulsion to achieve real performance benefits over internal-combustion-engine sportbikes as well.

designer: brian wismann
producer: brammos
period: 2012