Details: Brammo Empulse RR

HFL superfriend Sean Smith stuck his camera lens up inside the Brammo

Empulse RR to grab these pictures at Laguna Seca last weekend. What they

reveal is an electric race bike that's shockingly similar in

configuration to the 2010 MotoCzysz E1pc. We're not suggesting that one

rips off the other, instead it looks like two companies have

independently come to similar conclusions about the best possible

configuration for an electric racer. Could this represent a new electric

sportsbike archetype.

There's a certain inevitability to this arrangement. On ICE bikes, the largest, most important component is the engine and fuel tank. On electrics, its the batteries. Placing them where the engine used to go just makes sense, placing the center of gravity low and in the middle of the bike. But, that does create a bigger problem: where the hell do you put the second largest component, the motor?

Both the E1pc and the Empulse RR locate their engine outside the frame at the rear. MotoCzysz milled a custom swingarm so the motor can fit inside, it looks like Brammo's gone with the slightly less-sophisticated solution of going up and over the motor.

Both bikes are also carrying two different types of radiators behind the front wheel. On the Czysz, one is oil-cooling for the motor, the other water cooling for the controller. It appears that Brammo has adopted a similar arrangement.

We don't have any specs on the Brammo motor but the MotoCzysz E1pc's oil-cooled unit produces 250lb/ft and 100bhp continuously.

One area where we know the Empulse RR falls behind the E1pc is in battery capacity. The Brammo is packing 12.5kWh, while the MotoCzysz packs 1.25kWh more.

Of couse, Brammo has MotoCzysz beat on one big thing: there'll be production versions  of the Empulse on the road early next year, albeit with a less powerful motor, no fairing and less battery capacity.