The future is coming...

[guest18]

Still stupidly expensive and a little while away from being mainstream but the future is now for a few and coming for the rest of us... 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8017014.stm
edited to add: Of course if the government were to pick up half the purchase price I might be persuaded....!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8001254.stm

[guest7]

Cool. Perhaps they could put a rumble device into it, like on arcade games, to make it feel as if it has a 'proper' engine. To replicate that single cylinder feeling they could spin a washing machine drum with one quarter lined with concrete.

GC

[Steve Lake]

Cool. Perhaps they could put a rumble device into it, like on arcade games, to make it feel as if it has a 'proper' engine. GC

Remember when you used to use a washing peg to fasten a bit of plastic to the back fork on your pushbike so's it was sticking into the spokes?.....instant motorbike as the wheel went round......that'd do wouldn't it??

[guest18]

Lol, yes I did wonder about the lack of noise... but then bicycles can be a right good laugh and they're silent... car drivers don't notice us anyway so what's the difference 

30hp, 100kg and 60mph, sounds like a blast! Only the supermotoesque range is a drawback but it's useable for most commutes, a small improvement to battery technology and it's there...
There was an article on R4 recently about new technology being trialled which could hopefully fast charge batteryies (ie. full charge in a couple of minutes), if that works then expect the roads to be transformed in a few years, and innovative new taxes being applied by the government!!

My first thought was a variant on "too expensive it'll never catch on"... but then twenty years ago I'd have laughed if you'd described the current prevalence of internet use, hell fifteen years ago virtually no-one had a mobile phone and now you're weird if you don't.

I reckon if these work as advertised they'll start to sell, and if that happens then mass production isn't far away... perhaps not the death knell of the IC engine, but I could see them (IC engines) becoming lesiure / specialist application things in the forseeable future 

[Steffan]

60 mile battery range followed by a 4hr recharge - hmmm

[Mark]

And if they state 60 miles per charge that probably means 40.

[guest18]

As always, it depends how truthful the advertising is!!
Of course they may be hedging their bets to avoid "you said it would do 60 miles, it only does 40 I want my money back"... or not 
Proof of the pudding will be in the riding. Apparently the (horribly expensive) Tesla manages to meet it's distance claims.

All that said, battery life is steadily improving and the design of electric and electronic devices even more so, remember the battery life of the first mobile phones....? My current one has been on constantly for as long as I can remember and it's at least a couple of days, umpteen texts and a couple of calls since it's last charge!

Anyway Steffan, you could treat it like the bikes of the old days, 60 miles riding then 4 hours maintaining the bu**er, except this time you don't have to get oily you could just have a cuppa 

Joking aside though, how many people commute more than 40 miles? At 6p for a charge, ride to work, whang it on charge, ride home.... will work for some, what's the congestion charge in London now anyway? and when do the profiteers, erm sorry, politicians plan on inflicting it elsewhere?

Like I said somewhere near the beginning, it's a solution for the few just now, but imho I can see the potential there. (How many GXSRZZRXXXR's are ridden 20 or 30 miles at the weekend then parked up the rest of the week, and they cost even more to buy!  )

Edited to add: Just checked their website "Up to 60 miles" so I'd expect 40ish. PITA then, although you can buy a reserve battery to plug in which apparently will give you up to an extra 40 miles.
Not there yet, but getting ever closer.

[robG]

I'm getting a whole new cottage industry re after market goodies ,

Scratch and sniff Castro R , Spray on top end oil leak ..........................

Rob 

[Andy M]

They already call me Ernie* at work because i'm using a hybrid. I'm not having you lot start too!

First day I had it I gained a ten foot four way extension and three packs of Duracell AAA's, all left on my desk by "comiedians".

Ernie

*he drove the fastest milk cart in the west

[guest18]

lol. Out of interest, what sort and why? (if you don't mind sharing of course!)

[Andy M]

Honda Civic. I pay the taxman about £10 a month less, the company saves £120 a year on road tax plus the difference in 40,000 miles of petrol versus Diesel (call it £350 saved). We also wanted to know just what one would be like as the technology won't go away. As a car it does exactly what my old Skoda did, you put fuel in it and it goes where you need to. Honda are trying to flog the things, so you get an unlimited warranty for three years and eight on the drive train. Again the company is laughing when you think it cost them £1300 for a flywheel and clutch on a Skoda that was 3-months away from being sold as a mini cab.

This is not "green" BTW. I can't see how using the same volume of petrol over diesel makes any difference to polution and resources and it gets worse when you think they've got the batteries to recycle. The taxman needs to think harder if that's his aim. A plug in hybrid or full system would be no use, I'd be back in a Skoda or Golf TDI if they went that route on the tax.

Andy

[guest7]

What is is with these modern clutches that they always take out the flywheel when they go wrong and then the repair costs more than a grand. It's down to the tricky clutches they're using isn't it (dual mass or some such buzzword?).

Because, let's face it, we've all been using clutches on cars all these years and thinking "if only they could make this better" 

I heard that one of the big utility companies were running new Transits with the newer type of clutch and they kept wearing out. Ford denied it was a problem so the company went for an aftermarket solution and retro-fitted the older clutch to their Transits. Result? no more premature clutch failures. End result? the company now buys another make of van.

GC

[tj63]

It's a dual mass flywheel which apparently seemed a good idea at the time, but now are being replaced by the old type.

Certainly Hyundai have had huge problems with them, as well as Ford.  It must have cost them a fortune, seeing as how they supply their vehicles with a 5 year warranty. 


Trevor

[Steffan]

Anyway Steffan, you could treat it like the bikes of the old days, 60 miles riding then 4 hours maintaining the bu**er, except this time you don't have to get oily you could just have a cuppa 

ha ha, where have you got the CCTV hidden in my shed...and it's a damn sight more than four hours I can tell you.

Steffan