AGV Backmarker: I Sing the Bike Electric

So far, it’s been one of those years in the motorcycle business. First, with sales down 30%, the CPSC decided to ban the sale of kids’ minibikes. That ban was recently stayed, but on Tuesday the L.A. Times reported that CARB—the California Air Resources Board—has decided that motorcycles made after 2000 will now have to be “smogged.” That is, they’ll periodically have to pass an emissions test in order to be registered for use on the street. Cue: much rolling of eyes, slapping of foreheads, and gnashing of teeth amongst California motorcycle dealers. It seems, “…and, it never has to be smogged,” was actually part of a lot of sales pitches.

While bikes typically get far better fuel mileage than cars and as such, produce less CO2, and contribute far less to global warming, they produce more of some smog-causing nitrogen compounds. According to CARB, although motorcycles only account for less than 1% of traffic, they are responsible for about 10% of vehicular smog.

Of course, lots and lots of motorcyclists fit aftermarket “for racing use only” exhaust systems that have no catalytic converters at all. None of their bikes will pass a smog inspection. Having ridden almost all the popular sport bikes on the market, I can tell you that the last thing they need are modifications to make them go faster. They’re already faster than their riders, but that’s applying logic to a sport that’s driven by passion. Suffice to say the new rules won’t do the aftermarket industry any good (though they will do a tiny bit of good to our air quality).

Nowadays, not all motorcycle manufacturers have to pay any attention to this news. In the last few weeks, I’ve ridden a prototype of Brammo’s Enertia, and an early production version of the new Zero S. If you read this on the day it’s posted, I’ll be at Infineon, watching Tom Montano put the Mission One TTXGP bike through its paces. And next week, I’ll help Brammo shake down their TTXGP racer at Thunderhill.

So, as far as I’m concerned, the age of the electric bike is already upon us. Admittedly, for the price of a Zero S you could buy a better-performing Kawasaki Ninja 250 and have enough money left over to buy 100,000 miles worth of gasoline. But given the intense research effort being put into better batteries, it’s safe to say will we live to see the day when electric motorcycles have a competitive price:performance ratio. (As old and reckless as I am, I don’t bother forecasting much further ahead than five-to-ten years.)

And, they’ll never have to be smogged…

One of the people who’s already made the jump to new technology is John Farris. He’s just been hired by Brammo to shepherd the company’s brand development and marketing. John was recently known to Road Racer X readers as one of the partners in Hardcard—a high-profile talent and PR agency on the U.S. motorcycle racing scene. (Besides repping riders and helping Indianapolis Motor Speedway build buzz for the Red Bull Indianapolis GP, the company was one of the bidders for the AMA Pro Racing road racing rights that were subsequently acquired by DMG.)

So, John’s been focused on the racing industry for some time and is now downshifting. He’s moving from the Detroit area to the far more bucolic setting of Ashland, Oregon (where Brammo is based). He’s going to help create a brand that, at least for now, is associated with mild-mannered commuter bikes.

I was interested is his perspective on the current state of the electric motorcycle business, so I called him up earlier this week. Here’s what he had to say. I began by asking him to give me a quick account of the road he’d taken to Ashland:

“My background is really in brand management,” Farris said. “I was the guy at Chevrolet that brought Chevy Trucks into the AMA Superbike Championship, and into their sponsorship of the Kawasaki motocross and supercross teams. From there, I moved into commercial development at AMA Pro Racing. Then in 2006 I formed Hardcard with Andy Leisner and Scott Hollingsworth.

“But the Brammo opportunity was too good to pass up. The idea of being a part of a whole new transportation segment—it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Vectrix, Brammo, and Zero are at the forefront of it. Vectrix got a head start, but the product direction they took, making big [Suzuki] Burgman-style scooters, is a lot different than the approach that Brammo’s taken.

“We have other models than the Enertia coming out, but that’s what we’ll be launching with. We think there’s an opportunity to reorient the marketplace towards electric vehicles and show the market that they don’t have to be utilitarian. We think the Enertia’s design is going to open up motorcycling to new markets. If you can ride a bicycle, you can ride the Enertia. There’s no gears, no clutch, no shifting. So it will be more approachable than traditional motorcycles.”

With John’s history in Detroit, I was also curious to hear why the electric motorcycle category seems to be so far ahead of the electric automobile segment. After all, in more than seven years, Tesla’s still produced far more press releases than cars.

“The electric motorcycle category is a little bit ahead of the electric car category because motorcycles are not as heavily regulated,” Farris said. “Cars have to be crash-tested and pass tests on everything from bumper strength to air bag function. It’s a lot easier to bring a motorcycle to market than it is to bring an automobile to market.”

The category as a whole promises to bring many new riders to motorcycling, and Brammo’s Enertia has been specifically designed for that:

“That’s the magic of the category,” John confirmed. “It’s a more approachable vehicle than a [gas-powered] motorcycle. The typical motorcycle has about 1,200 parts; the Enertia has about 200, so it’s a much cleaner and simpler design. Future products from Brammo will be even more accessible to a wider audience.

“We’ve studied Honda. When they brought out the Super Cub, they exposed motorcycling to a whole new generation and audience and just exploded the market. We think the product line we’ll have, and the way we’ll offer people the chance to have fun on a motorcycle while still being environmentally conscious, will appeal to a lot of new riders.

“I can’t talk too much about our sales approach, but it will not be anything like the way people bought motorcycles in the past. [Brammo will initially market bikes through Best Buy.] We’ll expose motorcycles to a much broader consumer base than if we went through a conventional motorcycle retail channel.”

Anyone bringing an electric motorcycle company into the market has two basic problems. First, of course, they have to build a suitable machine. But then, they have to build a global brand and distribution system. A lot of people who’d be great at solving the first problem would be terrible at solving the second one.

“That’s what makes Brammo a compelling story. We’ve looked at all the ‘Five P’s” of marketing,” John says, referring to Marketing 101’s 1) Presence—i.e., how generally known is the company in its category? 2) Product—how good is the machine? 3) Price. 4) Promotion. 5) Placement—i.e., how easily can it be put in front of potential consumers?

“The genius who produces a good product may not have the vision or resources to get it out there in front of millions of the right consumers,” Farris continues. “Nor may he or she find the capital needed to build a global brand. We’re building the company and scaling the brand for worldwide acceptance. We’re treating this as an opportunity to introduce a whole new way to have fun on a motorcycle.”

Brammo CEO Craig Bramscher recently told me that in five years, he hopes to be selling about 100,000 motorcycles per year (about the number of machines sold by annually by BMW, for a point of comparison). Given Brammo’s positioning, it’s safe to assume a large number of those bikes will be sold to new riders. The Enertia prototype I rode would, indeed, be an easy bike to pass your skills test on, though it’s not inherently safer than a gas-powered bike. The goal of Brammo (and the electric-bike category as a whole) must not be to merely produce a lot of newly licensed riders—it must be to produce a lot of safe new riders.

“There are five to six million people in the U.S. that have a motorcycle endorsement but that don’t regularly ride or own a bike,” Farris says. “There are a few obstacles to getting a motorcycle, whether it’s the intimidation factor, or the shopping experience, or simply not having a license. A key to this product is how approachable it is to the first-time rider, or to someone who has had this on their bucket list for a long time. Our goal is to break down all those obstacles.

“The dynamics of that challenge—to produce safe new riders—isn’t any different than it is today. Hopefully there will be more throughput in that model [i.e., MSF new-rider schools]. The bikes they’ll buy from Brammo will be a lot easier to ride, but they’ll still need the same education and training, and need to use the same caution.”

I wondered if the AMA had reached out to Brammo. After all, riders of electric bikes could be encouraged to join the association. And it wouldn’t hurt the AMA’s lobbying efforts if it could argue that not all motorcyclists were noisy polluters.

“To my knowledge, they haven’t approached us yet,” Farris said. “The AMA’s not always the most proactive organization. Brammo is a member of the Motorcycle Industry Council, and we intend to be active there. On the riders’ side, we hope to work with the AMA to ensure that they have the information they need to communicate the benefits of electric motorcycles to the motorcycling community.”

Brammo’s distribution mode—selling in specialized Brammo boutiques inside selected Best Buy stores—is not a selective filter for motorcyclists. Yet, the millions of licensed riders who don’t currently own motorcycles are surely the low-hanging fruit, as far as customers go.

“Our research shows that new or returning customers typically seek advice from people they know who are already active in the category. That’s probably someone who’s been riding for years and consumes a lot of motorcycle media, whether it’s online or magazines. We know we have to educate current motorcyclists because we see them as possibly adding a Brammo—for trips to Starbucks, rather than firing up their Harley—and because we see them as advocates for entry into the sport.”

American consumers have the shortest attention spans of any known creature. As gasoline prices have dropped back down into the $2-$3 range due to the recession, interest in electric cars, alternative-fuel vehicles—and for that matter, in scooters and small motorcycles—has flagged. The electric-motorcycle category had better hope that it’s not going to be driven by cost savings.

“From a big-picture perspective, the country needs to have an energy policy that fosters alternatives to burning fossil fuels,” Farris says. “From the perspective of individual consumers, a guy can trade his Tahoe for a Prius, and do the math and see what he’ll save over time, but that won’t be a purchase motivator in the motorcycle segment.

“More and more people are becoming aware of their carbon footprint. More and more people are trying to do the right thing and use only their fair share of resources. I think the efficiency of electric motorcycles—and the fact that, as we already know, they’re a blast to ride—will push the sport out to whole new masses of people.”