Originally posted by Cow Poke
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Getting an Electric 'Vespa'!
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Originally posted by Sparko View Post
look at his first post. It shows both batteries under the seat.The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.
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Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post
OK, wait --- you run on one of the batteries at a time? If so, that makes a lot of sense.... You could reasonably get back the same distance as you got "there".
So, another question --- is there an auxiliary charger available? Like keeping one at home and one at work? (Naturally, if you're doing short runs, that wouldn't be necessary)
This is interesting.
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Originally posted by eider View PostYes. The picture in the OP shows the separate battery sockets for individual use.
You could buy a second charger but there is a compartment in the left hand 'bulge' to put the charger, so just take it with you, I guess.
thanksThe first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.
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So......... On Tuesday last a good neighbour with a 'tail-lift' van took me to Sidcup, a rather wealthy area on the outskirts of London, for me to pay for and collect my second electric vehicle (I have an electric bike).
The seller is a senior technical director for a very well known US/UK finance house, who wanted to use this EV for easy travel in to London's City Centre, but he only rode it for 241 miles so the project didn't work for him, I guess. It's a great help when sellers are caring decent folks because in the UK it is the seller who has to transfer a sold vehicle to the new owner by either IT or post, and this guy must have completed all that before we had even arrived home. It's not 'good form' to flog safety gear like crash helmets second hand and so this gentleman didn't include his in the sale, but when I saw this brand new (241 miles) very expensive open face helmet with visors etc sitting on the saddle I just blurted out 'Can I have that?' and he was pleased to hand it over. I don't know where he would have kept it on arrival in the city but he also gave me it's lock, the most enormous 4' length of covered chain with an immense lock.... if this lock is ever defeated in crime the makers promise to cough-up £400 to its owner. I'm taking it to the motorcycle shop to exchange for something more suitable for a moped! Security is simplified for EV bikes because the batteries can be removed for in door changing and so the parked machine is empty of fuel and less valuable by half since the batteries cost £500 each.
Insuring Electric motorcycles should be easy, but it isn't, and nearly all the big vehicle insurance companies don't offer it to EVs (motorbikes) which is totally bl**dy stupid in a country which is supposed to be climate careful. I 'phoned a broker that popped up during my IT searches and a really brilliant operator answered, gave me prices for three underwriters that are interested in offering cover and I chose the least expensive premium (£101) over the most expensive (£231 bells and whistles cover including trauma counselling after road rage attacks.... it went on... and on).
This morning I taxed the EV on the Government vehicle IT site for the enormous fee of £zilch. All done. The thing is legal.
And so today I will take it for my first motobike ride in quite a long time. It is good that I have been riding an electric bike for four years because I am used to the very high torque of electric motors, and I know that this 60volt 3000W motor could throw me off if I don't get used to the twist grip throttle very quickly, so for the first few minutes I will be working throttle and switches with the drive wheel off the ground.
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Originally posted by eider View PostSo......... On Tuesday last a good neighbour with a 'tail-lift' van took me to Sidcup, a rather wealthy area on the outskirts of London, for me to pay for and collect my second electric vehicle (I have an electric bike).
The seller is a senior technical director for a very well known US/UK finance house, who wanted to use this EV for easy travel in to London's City Centre, but he only rode it for 241 miles so the project didn't work for him, I guess. It's a great help when sellers are caring decent folks because in the UK it is the seller who has to transfer a sold vehicle to the new owner by either IT or post, and this guy must have completed all that before we had even arrived home. It's not 'good form' to flog safety gear like crash helmets second hand and so this gentleman didn't include his in the sale, but when I saw this brand new (241 miles) very expensive open face helmet with visors etc sitting on the saddle I just blurted out 'Can I have that?' and he was pleased to hand it over. I don't know where he would have kept it on arrival in the city but he also gave me it's lock, the most enormous 4' length of covered chain with an immense lock.... if this lock is ever defeated in crime the makers promise to cough-up £400 to its owner. I'm taking it to the motorcycle shop to exchange for something more suitable for a moped! Security is simplified for EV bikes because the batteries can be removed for in door changing and so the parked machine is empty of fuel and less valuable by half since the batteries cost £500 each.
Insuring Electric motorcycles should be easy, but it isn't, and nearly all the big vehicle insurance companies don't offer it to EVs (motorbikes) which is totally bl**dy stupid in a country which is supposed to be climate careful. I 'phoned a broker that popped up during my IT searches and a really brilliant operator answered, gave me prices for three underwriters that are interested in offering cover and I chose the least expensive premium (£101) over the most expensive (£231 bells and whistles cover including trauma counselling after road rage attacks.... it went on... and on).
This morning I taxed the EV on the Government vehicle IT site for the enormous fee of £zilch. All done. The thing is legal.
And so today I will take it for my first motobike ride in quite a long time. It is good that I have been riding an electric bike for four years because I am used to the very high torque of electric motors, and I know that this 60volt 3000W motor could throw me off if I don't get used to the twist grip throttle very quickly, so for the first few minutes I will be working throttle and switches with the drive wheel off the ground.
I'm always still in trouble again
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Silencio Bruno!!!*
* An amen if you catch the referenceThat's what
- She
Without a clear-cut definition of sin, morality becomes a mere argument over the best way to train animals
- Manya the Holy Szin (The Quintara Marathon)
I may not be as old as dirt, but me and dirt are starting to have an awful lot in common
- Stephen R. Donaldson
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Originally posted by Bill the Cat View PostSilencio Bruno!!!*
* An amen if you catch the reference
But you're right, it is so silent! Too silent, really.
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Originally posted by eider View Post
Ah! I had to cheat because I could not grasp the reference Google directed me to a cartoon where two kids raced down a mountainside upon a scooter, calling out that slogan.
But you're right, it is so silent! Too silent, really.The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.
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Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post
My wife's Toyota Rav4 makes NO engine noise when backing up, so they have a weird sound that plays from the engine compartment that, to me, sounds like some kind of demonic angels singing.
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Moving forward.......d
And so yesterday this EV 'Vespa' was road legal and ready to go. My (E-bike) top speed has been about 20mph up till now, if I pedal strongly and use maximum E-power, and so I didn't expect to be impressed with a moped's 28/30 mph, but the acceleration was brilliant, and it can hold its speed up steep hills easily.
I'm reluctant to disclose what the combined weight of myself and wife might be but I can tell you that our IC Vespa of thirty years ago definitely had an easier time of it with us on board. But the torque on this moped is amazing and it could take us both up hills with more ease than a 150cc machine.
It is quiet. Too quiet, and horn buttons are fitted on both sides of the handlebar for better access. The trouble with the horn is that it is very shockingly loud and to sound that is not only going to warn people hundreds of yards ahead but fill anybody more close with as much adrenalin as if they are jumping out of an airplane. I have always assumed that everybody is as deaf as a post when riding my E-bike and that is exactly how I will ride this machine.
But for a second vehicle to take my Missus to work if her jimny cannot take us........ it's ideal, almost cost free, and if you ignore the dreadful emissions count caused by digging Lithium out of the ground it's very very clean. But it sure can replace our second car.
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Update........
It was bright, sunny and dry on Tuesday afternoon and so my wife decided that we could both go for a first ride together on the new machine. It is about 26 years since she rode pillion on a motorbike or scooter with me so I was really extra careful. We just cruised around the rough roads and tracks on our estate for twenty minutes and then ventured out on to the route towards her workplace. I avoided the steep hill which follows the cliffs along the seafront and we took the flat route along the coast. And then home........ and Mrs Eider said 'Yes!'...in an emergency I could take her the 2.5 miles along the coast to her workplace....on the electric scooter.
Phew! And so we can reduce down to one car only, which is what this this whole project has been about. I've put this brilliant little machine under its cover for now because for me it's all about cycling and walking for fitness. This is a secondary mode of transport. I would like to buy an electric car at some point but at this time they are very expensive; I hope that prices will come down soon.
Thank you for your interest.
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Originally posted by eider View PostUpdate........
It was bright, sunny and dry on Tuesday afternoon and so my wife decided that we could both go for a first ride together on the new machine. It is about 26 years since she rode pillion on a motorbike or scooter with me so I was really extra careful. We just cruised around the rough roads and tracks on our estate for twenty minutes and then ventured out on to the route towards her workplace. I avoided the steep hill which follows the cliffs along the seafront and we took the flat route along the coast. And then home........ and Mrs Eider said 'Yes!'...in an emergency I could take her the 2.5 miles along the coast to her workplace....on the electric scooter.
Phew! And so we can reduce down to one car only, which is what this this whole project has been about. I've put this brilliant little machine under its cover for now because for me it's all about cycling and walking for fitness. This is a secondary mode of transport. I would like to buy an electric car at some point but at this time they are very expensive; I hope that prices will come down soon.
Thank you for your interest.
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Originally posted by Sparko View Post
My next car might be an electric. I still don't think they are quite "there" yet. My current car is a standard "petrol" compact SUV (Kia Sportage) it's 10 years old but only has 50,000 miles on it. I think it can last me another 5 to 10 years. Hopefully by then the electric cars and the infrastructure to support them will be better. I would also like to see self-driving options become mainstream too. They kept promising us self-driving cars by 2020, but that never happened. I still like to drive manually, but on long trips it would be nice to put it in auto mode and be able to sit back and relax without fear your car will kill you.
If I travelled great distances on dual carriageways and motorways I might be more interested in self-drive vehicles, but I still find the concept scary even though humans at the wheel can be horrifically dangerous. But we don't. We had a holiday afternoon out, driving around the Northern Downs of East Kent last Thursday, quite the furthest distance travelled in two years. and must have burned a whole 1.5 gallons of petrol in my Wife's little Suzuki Jimny.... we just don't travel far anymore. But......... if a vehicle could take a very disabled or blind person to a destination, that would be quite wonderful.
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Originally posted by Sparko View PostMy current car is a standard "petrol" compact SUV (Kia Sportage) it's 10 years old but only has 50,000 miles on it.
My current vehicle is about the same age, with probably three times the mileage. My first car was about 25 years old when we sold it, and had almost 300k miles on it. That includes minimal driving in England for three years; only half of those 25 years were spent in Texas.Curiosity never hurt anyone. It was stupidity that killed the cat.
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