Hong Kong Police Take Brammo Into Custody

The Hong Kong Police have given the green light to Brammo electric motorcycles becoming a permanent part of the fleet.  Additionally, the Hong Kong Water Supplies Department has tapped Brammo’s Enertia Plus for use by its engineers to ride to various district service locations.  It’s been over a year since the HK police originally tried out the Brammo Enertia, and this deal keeps Brammo and electric vehicles prominent in the news feeds, following last week’s big news about Polaris Industries becoming a big investor in Brammo.

Out with the old . . .

And…

In with the new.

The fact that HK is going to be phasing out its fleet of petrol bikes in favor of adopting the electrics produced by Brammo is a big deal – HK and China have a significantly bigger problem with air pollution than the U.S., and any move toward reducing the amount of emissions from tailpipes is a good one.

No word yet on what Jackie Chan, CEO of JCAM Mobility has to say about this deal, but since we’re tight, I’ll be sure to let you know as soon as I hear from him.

Press release, after the break.

Top Ten Brammo Stories of the Year

Time to count ‘em down, folks.  These are, in my fair and balanced opinion, the top ten Brammo stories of 2010, in reverse order, of course:

10.  Brammo Enertia wins the Edison award for “Best New Product: Transportation.”

9.  Ali Afshar and ESX Motorsports starts showing off the Brammo Enertia at Malibu’s “Rock Store,” Bob’s Big Boy, and the Power Rangers convention. Ali – ESX, weekly rides and Power Rangers.

8.  Brammo branches out of the Best Buy marketplace, looking for dealers, and finding at least one: Hollywood Electrics. See:  Dealership development director solicitation and the Hollywood Electrics story.  (There would have been at least an Honorable Mention for the Brammo Enertia Appears on BestBuy.com story, but for the unfortunate attempted buying experience story).

7.  The Hong Kong Police test a fleet of Brammo Enertias.

6. Main stream media cover Brammo and some even call it the “Best Electric Motorcycle of 2010.” See, also, Cycle World review, Popular Mechanics , Entrepreneur, National Geographic (not on the site, yet), CNBC Power Lunch – one of the best products of 2010, and too many more to list here.

5.  Jackie Chan and his company, JCAM, team with Brammo to introduce the motorcycles to Asia and to an upcoming Jackie Chan movie. And, basically, the world gets to see the Brammo bikes at EICMA in Milan and at the Hong Kong Motorcycle show.

4.  Brammo announces the partnership with Flextronics to produce electric motorcycles around the world.

3.  Brammo Empulse RR Racebike revealed and prepares for 2011 season.

2.  Brammo unveils the Brammo Enertia Plus with Double the range.

And finally, the top story in my opinion, of 2010:

1.  Brammo announces the Empulse – 100 mph, 100 mile range, naked streetfighter.

Some honorable mentions:

Brammofan wins Brammo Evangelist of the Year and of course Enertia Day, Kansas City.

Skadamo and I open the doors of the Brammo Owners Forum.

Voyage of Rob Novey, and the (hopefully) soon-to-be-published book of Zen and the Art of Electric Motorcycle Maintenance.

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It looks like I’m not the only one putting together a list of the great year Brammo has had.  Click here to see their 2010 Christmas Card with a slide show that includes many of the stories, above.

Translation, Please?

If you happened to be following me on Twitter yesterday, you already know that I received a box from Hong Kong with presents from JCAM, the folks who will be distributing Brammo motorcycles in their neck of the woods.  And you know that they neglected to put a “Do not open ’til Christmas” sticker on the box (not that it would have mattered, anyway).

The unboxing:

The box, with Luna, the devil dog, guarding it.

The contents of the card:

Card, signed by the great people of JCAM, a Brammo USB key filled with images, and an autographed picture of Jackie Chan

and, finally, the contents of the box:

Yes! A Brammo jacket!

That jacket is all kinds of awesome, by the way.  The HTC cameraphone picture does a disservice to it.  A much better picture of one (and an order form) can be found in the Brammo Store.

But let’s get back to the picture of Jackie Chan:

Jackie Chan, another Brammo Fan.

My daughter (who happens to be Chinese-born, and who happens to have taken Mandarin lessons for about 5 years) had no idea what Jackie wrote there.  Until I hear otherwise, I’m telling everyone that it is:

“To Harry – a kick-ass Brammo Fan.  May good fortune continue to smile on you, your family, your friends, and JCAM and Brammo and everyone else who deserves it.  Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy New Year, and Happy Year of the Rabbit to you. Jackie”

I know, it seems a bit wordy compared to the amount of writing on it, but I’ve always been amazed at how much meaning can be represented in a single character of Mandarin.

If you happen to have a more accurate translation, let me know in the comments.

And to JCAM: Thanks again to all of you for the thoughtful gifts.  It’s been great getting to know you this year and I look forward to a fantastic 2011.  Brammo fans on twitter should definitely follow the JCAM crew: @JCAMMATT @JCAMJAMES @JCAMFRANCIS @JCAMBENNYHO @JCAMTIN @JCAMBENNYNG @JCAMSUKI @JCAMGRACE @JCAMBRAMMO .  (I hope I didn’t forget anyone).  Oh, and @EyeOfJackieChan, of course.

Jackie Chan + Brammo = Love

Just a couple pictures, today, of Jackie Chan admiring the Brammo TTR race bike and the Brammo Empulse.

Captions? Put ‘em in the comments.  Challenge: No “Rush Hour” references. And yes, those appear to be sunglasses, not some sort of orthodontic headgear.

Brammo Bull in China – Shop!

My Mandarin is a bit rusty these days so I’m not sure what the announcer is saying in this video about Brammo.  Perhaps one of my visitors who is a bit more fluent can provide a translation.  I do have to say, my first thoughts were:

1. Wow… they already have Enertias in China, and

2. This part of China looks amazingly similar to Ashland, Oregon, home of Brammo.

I eventually figured it out, and you will too.  Lots of footage of Enertias, and some Isle of Man 2009 TTXGP racing footage about mid-way into this video.