Brammo is a startup company that has been getting some good attention for its electric motorcycle (they call it a powercycle) called the Enertia.

On October 13, a Brammo employee and one from their ad agency (Crispin Porter Bugosky) left Ann Arbor, MI to ride the Enertias to Washington DC in order to give one to President Obama. Here’s the official description from their tour website, shockingbarack.com:

“Our plan is to retrace the route of the automotive CEOs who went to Washington DC asking for government loans. But instead of looking for aid, we’d like to present President Obama with a homegrown solution to the transportation crisis. And instead of flying in a corporate jet, we’re riding Brammo Enertia powercycles….”

The end result is that the pair arrived in DC on October 26, but did not have a plan to actually deliver the vehicle to Obama and found White House Security less than receptive to two guys handing them the keys to a electric motorcycle. As a result, their last entry was them chaining one of the bikes somewhere in DC and mailing the keys to Obama. We’ll have to watch to see how that turns out for them.

The tour itself provided for some good opportunities to talk about the Enertia and Brammo along the way. So, in this respect, it seems to have achieved their goal of raising awareness. And, it did get the Brammo CEO Craig Bramscher invited to a meeting with the Energy Secretary, Steven Chu. Unfortunately, it also likely played into the fears of those who are not already EV advocates (or at least fans). The fact that it took the pair 13 days to make the 500 plus mile trip demonstrates one of the challenges of an EV motorcycle with 42 mile range (though perhaps it could have been done in a few less days if the drive was not focused on the PR effort). Of course, the Enertia was not designed to be driven on long freeway trips like this.

This kind of publicity event will help prove to many that Brammo’s electric Enertia is ready for mainstream America. However, a trip like this will also help cement concerns that others have regarding EV range. Additionally, with the price of almost $12,000, many will likely feel justified in their belief that electric vehicles are too expensive with too short range. This dichotomy in the market between those who think EVs are ready now, and those who think the technology is still lacking, is the challenge facing the entire industry, not just Brammo. I suspect that we’ll see plenty more of these types of road trips from manufacturers and charging station providers attempting to persuade the latter group that EVs are affordable and ready for mainstream America.