Adventures in an all electric vehicle.

[Agrismith]

By legal definition a moped cannot exceed 50cc. I have a Powerpak ‘cycle moped’ somewhere in the garage. As early teens we used to ride motorcycles around the fields. One was a Mercury Mercette - with a two speed 4 stroke overhead valve engine. Went like stink compared with some mopeds of the day. Only about 2 1/3-3 HP, I believe.

The powerpak: http://www.icenicam.org.uk/articles9/art0150.php

Mercury Mercette engine pic: https://cybermotorcycle.com/gallery/mercury/Mercury-Mercette-06.htm

The Mercette got scrapped over 20 yesrs ago. Wish I had collected it before it was skipped… One would be mega-expensive today

A local Romanian bloke has a modern version of this from wish grafted on the back of his bicycle. It gets a fair lick on and he goes miles on it. Quite how the police have left him alone I don't know. You can here him coming as it's a very distinctive sound somewhat like a woopy cushion

 

[Smallfry]

I am not ashamed to say I had a Honda 90. Always got me where I wanted to go. Not very rock 'n roll though. However, it was desirable enough for someone to nick it.

 

[DAPPH]

Was that a flying pig I just saw? Perhaps we will all sit at home wearing virtual glasses and just 'experience' travel and all that goes with it .

Ye of limited intellect and vision the future holds wonderous things, many of which have not yet been discovered nor the principles of which they are made.

 

[DAPPH]

And that was the point I was trying to make, it's having the right tool for the job you do 99% of the time, and finding an alternative for the other 1%. And in many cases I suspect that an EV, even with the current charging situation would fill that criteria.

I needed a van a few weeks ago to move a bathroom suite. I didn't buy one to run around empty in for the one occasion a year that I need it, and I didn't sit here moaning that my 206 was rubbish because I couldn't get a bath in it. I hired a van for the day, and if I needed to travel a long way once a year then it would probably be more efficient to hire a car for that journey.

I'm not saying that EV is without problems and there are certainly issues to overcome and address, but that will happen as time goes by.

I'll bet that in 1900 there were people saying I'll not swap my horse for one of those stupid ICE powered cars. They can't go through a muddy field, and where do you get this petrol stuff from anyway?

Likewise I'll wager that there's not many on here that would want to swap back to using a Yankee screwdriver and hand drill instead of their battery powered unit.

The first battery screwdriver I had was utter rubbish though. Battery tech moved on, as it will for cars and vans etc and before long we'll be wondering what all the fuss was about.

Doing a fair bit of research at motorway services this week end at the EV charging bays ( we get our Citroen Brlingo EV on Tuesday & hand back the 2.2 turbo diesel drunkard ) everyone of the dozen or more drivers we spoke to who were either about to get into their EV or were sat outside in the sunshine said that the problem of having to have multiple apps to get a charge has all but disappeared in the last 10 months , as most are now wipe the card and charge machines so good if you don't have a smart phone . The four Tesla drivers were brilliant , a wealth of info , none of the EV drivers we spoke to ever want to return to gas & oil burners . Most did the majority of their charging at home and were only service station charging because of long distance journeys , two of the drivers had access to their big power walls at home which helped a lot , five of the drivers worked mainly from home .

All of them said it is a step change from the old way of driving and takes a few days to get comfortable with using them . The biggest thing that they all said is you need a few seconds to plan new journeys to places you've not visited in an EV to find and record the charging places as it stops run out of battery power anxiety & there are several good apps that now contain such info .

 

[DAPPH]

I am not ashamed to say I had a Honda 90. Always got me where I wanted to go. Not very rock 'n roll though. However, it was desirable enough for someone to nick it.

Happen they weighed it in for scrap once they had taken the light bulbs and fag ends out the ash trays .

 

[Smallfry]

Happen they weighed it in for scrap once they had taken the light bulbs and fag ends out the ash trays .

They didn't actually. I got a VISIT from the Police 18 months later (This was the 1970s), to say it had been found.

They had sold it to and elderly woman, she must have been about 55 who used it togo to work. I let her keep it.

 

[DAPPH]

Switched on the comuter and got MSN's daily regurgitated rubbish with add on's .. " Punters are worried about not being able to charge their cars if they live in high rise blocks with no parking space allocation or charging points .

Shock ,horror , dread and peels of laughter .......the article was from 6 March 2021 . Townies living in high rise usually have little need for a car with their 15 buses and underground trains etc each our hour of pubic transport not to mention cheap short taxi fares instead of car insurance , road licence , maintenance & devaluation .

 

[Seadog]

That needs applying to bicycles if I’m honest.

However that’s a different thread probably.

E-bikes will be registered before long I have no doubt. Once the scrotes start using them for crime and hooning about that’ll be it.

Once they start?

 

[reb78]

Switched on the comuter and got MSN's daily regurgitated rubbish with add on's .. " Punters are worried about not being able to charge their cars if they live in high rise blocks with no parking space allocation or charging points .

Shock ,horror , dread and peels of laughter .......the article was from 6 March 2021 . Townies living in high rise usually have little need for a car with their 15 buses and underground trains etc each our hour of pubic transport not to mention cheap short taxi fares instead of car insurance , road licence , maintenance & devaluation .

Bit harsh to just wipe out car ownership from anyone who lives in a high rise just because ... they live in a high rise though...? Although Sadiq is pretty much saying poor people cannot own a car if they live within the M25 so I guess he has paved the way for sweeping policies like this that remove choice from normal people.

 

[premmington]

Bit harsh to just wipe out car ownership from anyone who lives in a high rise just because ... they live in a high rise though...? Although Sadiq is pretty much saying poor people cannot own a car if they live within the M25 so I guess he has paved the way for sweeping policies like this that remove choice from normal people.

Sadiq - well transport for london - not too keen on motorcycles either - erasing all the parking bays.

I thought motorcycles were a good thing for congestion.

 

[addjunkie]

They didn't actually. I got a VISIT from the Police 18 months later (This was the 1970s), to say it had been found.

They had sold it to and elderly woman, she must have been about 55 who used it togo to work. I let her keep it.

Thats quite ageist……55 year old women are young birds to many of us, with or with out a charging point to plug into

 

[premmington]

Thats quite ageist……55 year old women are young birds to many of us, with or with out a charging point to plug into

There are some fit 55yr old MILFs about ....

 

[Agrismith]

Sadiq - well transport for london - not too keen on motorcycles either - erasing all the parking bays.

I thought motorcycles were a good thing for congestion.

They want to wipe out anything and everything, they won't be happy until Londoners are bolted inside their houses.

 

[premmington]

They want to wipe out anything and everything, they won't be happy until Londoners are bolted inside their houses.

I don't understand - they either going for the "eco thing" or they are not?

Scooters even thou ICE - use so little fuel - move so little volume of air thru them - they just can't be "gross poluters". I get the two stroke thing - but you take a plug out of modern fuel injected Honda 4T - it is white it is running so lean.

I just dumb fat car mechanic - I not a a politician

 

[addjunkie]

I just dumb fat car mechanic with an eye for MILF……Im not a politician

There fixed that for you!

 

[Agrismith]

I don't understand - they either going for the "eco thing" or they are not?

Scooters even thou ICE - use so little fuel - move so little volume of air thru them - they just can't be "gross poluters". I get the two stroke thing - but you take a plug out of modern fuel injected Honda 4T - it is white it is running so lean.

I just dumb fat car mechanic - I not a a politician

They don't want lorries there either, I'm really unsure of the logistics of this.

 

[Ubique]

They want to wipe out anything and everything, they won't be happy until Londoners are bolted inside their houses.

It'd do wonders for the crime stats...

 

[Bullet2012]

 

[dobbslc]

Bit harsh to just wipe out car ownership from anyone who lives in a high rise just because ... they live in a high rise though...? Although Sadiq is pretty much saying poor people cannot own a car if they live within the M25 so I guess he has paved the way for sweeping policies like this that remove choice from normal people.

Unless Londoners wake up and start protesting!

Sadiq - well transport for london - not too keen on motorcycles either - erasing all the parking bays.

I thought motorcycles were a good thing for congestion.

Motorcycles are such an alien concept for many politicians they really dont care one way or the other.

There are some fit 55yr old MILFs about ....

Don't rule out the GILFs...

 

[minimutly]

Doing a fair bit of research at motorway services this week end at the EV charging bays ( we get our Citroen Brlingo EV on Tuesday & hand back the 2.2 turbo diesel drunkard ) everyone of the dozen or more drivers we spoke to who were either about to get into their EV or were sat outside in the sunshine said that the problem of having to have multiple apps to get a charge has all but disappeared in the last 10 months , as most are now wipe the card and charge machines so good if you don't have a smart phone . The four Tesla drivers were brilliant , a wealth of info , none of the EV drivers we spoke to ever want to return to gas & oil burners . Most did the majority of their charging at home and were only service station charging because of long distance journeys , two of the drivers had access to their big power walls at home which helped a lot , five of the drivers worked mainly from home .

All of them said it is a step change from the old way of driving and takes a few days to get comfortable with using them . The biggest thing that they all said is you need a few seconds to plan new journeys to places you've not visited in an EV to find and record the charging places as it stops run out of battery power anxiety & there are several good apps that now contain such info .

To be fair, this is no different to when I used to run my mgv6 back and forth up to north and east wales. Sure, filling up was slower than Petrol, not as slow as EV though. I'm not sure I would appreviate 45 minutes at Welshpool, Oswestry or Newtown on a winters evening.