Oregon electric bike company wants to 'Shock Barack'

WASHINGTON - An Oregon company that makes electric motorcycles thinks it has a solution to the nation's energy woes. To prove it, the company has sent two riders from Detroit to Washington, recreating the trip of auto company CEOs looking for government help.

Instead of flying corporate jets like the auto executives did when they went in search of a bailout, the duo is riding electric motorcycles.

Brammo Inc., of Ashland, Ore., makes the all-electric Enertia, which sells for $12,000. The company's chief engineer and an advertising executive rode nearly 600 miles from Detroit in 45-mile increments - the distance the bike can travel on one charge.

Their ultimate goal is to meet with President Barack Obama and present him with what they call a "homegrown solution to the transportation crisis."  They call the project "Shocking Barack."

After they arrived in Washington, the riders and Brammo CEO Craig Bramscher met Tuesday with officials from the Energy Department and with lawmakers, including their home state senators. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said Brammo, which employs 52 people at its southwestern Oregon plant, was poised to become an economic driver for the state.

The company is lobbying to extend an Energy Department grant program to include two-wheeled vehicles. It also wants to expand a 10-percent federal tax credit available to electric vehicle buyers under the economic stimulus law.

Riders David Schiff and Brian Wismann are documenting their journey on their Web site, on Twitter (@shockingbarack) and with YouTube videos.

"We want to have a little fun," said Schiff.

Schiff, creative director of a Colorado-based advertising agency that is working with Brammo, dreamed up the trip and the Web site, www.shockingbarack.com, which he said is intended to impress Obama with the efficiency of electric motorcycles.

A crew of six has been documenting the journey, with updated videos and diaries on the Web site and even a GPS-aided map showing the exact locations of the bikes being ridden by Schiff and Wismann, Brammo's director of product development.

"People have lost faith in America's ability to innovate and be scrappy and do a lot with a little," Schiff said. "We believe that we are riding two-wheeled evidence to the contrary."

CEO Bramscher calls electric vehicles the wave of the future, and says that if the price of the bike can be brought down to about $9,000, the Enertia could become a popular commuter choice.

Video of the Shocking Barack crew ringing the doorbell at the White House (and somebody from the White House actually coming out to meet them):