Electric scooters

[The Pastor]

One of those electric scooters costs more than my 1000cc bike! ive spent the diffence on gas though (first time i filled up!hehe)

But there is an electric bike i saw in a bike mag, its a rock climber/stunt, light weight and HEAPS of tq make it much better than the petrol ones! cost is about the same as ur scooters. (not road legal though no lights/ indicators)

[notme]

It's limited to 50k for scooter reasons so probably cheap rego and no warrant?
Dunno what the LTSA would have to say about max power of 2.3kw, should be 2.0kw max if they want to be 110% legal.

All i know is the importer has had them officially approved as mopeds, meaning 50km/h max, any class of NZ license required to ride one on the road, no WOF, and cheap rego (unsure how much - will find out)

[notme]

But there is an electric bike i saw in a bike mag, its a rock climber/stunt, light weight and HEAPS of tq make it much better than the petrol ones!

Yup....that's the big advantage of electric vehicles, motor efficiency and torque, plus no gearing needed.

Of course the big downside is current battery technology - size and weight.

[notme]

It's limited to 50k for scooter reasons so probably cheap rego and no warrant?
Dunno what the LTSA would have to say about max power of 2.3kw, should be 2.0kw max if they want to be 110% legal.

Found out - the rego is about $107 for the first 12 months but then apparently it drops for subsequent registrations. Insurance has been quoted @ around the same ($100 per annum).

Got some interesting running cost stats sent to me by the importing company this morning too:

V8 18L/100k at 1.90 /litre (premium) = 35c/km
Diesel 8L/100km at 1.25/litre = 10c/km but plus RUC
1300cc 8L/100k at 1.77/litre = 14c/km
Motorcycle 5L/100k at 1.90/Litre (premium again) = 9.5c/km
50cc scooter 2L/100k at 1.77/litre plus 3c for 2 stroke oil = 4c/km
EVT 2units electricity = 30c for 60 km = 0.5c/km

[bobsmith]

WTF!!!!

They have a brushed motor and lead acid batteries!!!!!

That's fucking stone age stuff!!!!!

If they wanted to do a proper job of it, they should have gotten lithium polymer batteries with brushless motor. would go shit loads faster and the recharge time would only be about 2 hours max, it will also be lots more efficient.

Stupid idiots living in the 90s..... hell they should be able to make a scooter that does 100km/hr and beats most bikes off the line with li-polys and brushless motors... gay fucks.

[bobsmith]

hey allum, tell the importers to make one with litium poly batteries and brushless controllers and let me know, when I have money i might buy one just for the cool factor and sit in the garage and charge and discharge batteries (in the way of doing burnouts) just for the coolness factor of charging lipolys. might do a rc conversion too....

[bobsmith]

Of course the big downside is current battery technology - size and weight.

We have the techonology.... it's called Lithium polymer batteries! and they're getting cheaper everyday!!!

Of course if they do a cheap job of making it and make shitty charger for it, it will probably explode and take your house down with it......

[The_Dover]

what the fuck are you on coon?

these shitty lektrik scooters are pricey enuff without putty cunting edge teknology in them.

[bobsmith]

yeah... and you'd think that most RC helis are expensive enough without all the carbon fiber and metal upgrades on them.......

[kensuem]

The cost of replaceing the batteries should be added in when working out the cost per Klm

[Edbear]

downside is current battery technology.

If you'll pardon the pun...

[notme]

The cost of replaceing the batteries should be added in when working out the cost per Klm

I did think about that when I got those figures from the guy - but none of the other vehicles include tuneups, oil/fuel/air filter replacement costs and stuff like that, so it's still a fair comparison.

[notme]

If you'll pardon the pun...

I was waiting for that.....

[shafty]

My observations: Good idea, but I understand that the range isn't always as good as claimed, environmental though, - just not using the best technology yet. If the Scoot costs $4000 (Shit!!) and the batteries are $400 - where the heck do you get the other $3600 worth of value from???????

[notme]

Can't comment for sure on the range yet, we are running the demo ones around as much as possible and when we have 10 or 20 charge cycles under our belts we will have a real idea of how they perform rather than the claimed performance. At this stage it looks good though (they are doing the claimed range) but obviously it depends on the terrain you ride on. Someone living at the top of a hill won't get the range of someone who has a flat communting route, but then again that applies to a gas scooter as well.

The $3600 value? Dunno mate..... the main cost will be in someone making back the development costs i guess. The hub motor, batteries, motor controller will be the biggest costs, but the rest of it is all standard scooter parts. Probably costs about $800 to make in Taiwan ......