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Topics - Mike Werner

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General Discussion / Well, I've gone and done it - total electric EVs

« on: October 26, 2018, 12:03:05 PM »

Well, after 6 years riding electric motorcycles (Zero and C-Evolution) we've decided to go total electric in our transportation and bought our first ever Tesla Model S 100D.

We were initially going for the new Jaguar i-pace, but after trying to buy one for 4 months and after severe incompetence and amateur moves by Jaguar France (I presume just France but maybe also UK), we slammed the door at the dealer in Paris. Following day we went to Tesla Paris and within a hour we were at the same stage as 4 months with Jag. 3 days later, after a 2 hour test drive, we signed the papers. The jag had a delivery of 6 months, if lucky, the Tesla 2-3 weeks.

Having driven both, the comfort level is the same, performance ditto, but the technology of the Tesla will put any other car to shame. Add to that the sheer professional attitude and sales process, plus really friendly and knowledgable staff made it a great move. Plus having the Tesla supercharger network is going to make our tour of Europe next year very simple and easy to do.

The Tesla is a tad more expensive at the base price, but when you add one of many many options to the Jag you get close to the Tesla price. But interestingly enough, the lease price is the same.

General Discussion / Charging in Spain - How?

« on: September 10, 2018, 12:41:39 AM »

I'm planning a long trip next year from France to Spain and Portugal. In France I use Chargemap card and 2 other network operators, but none of the three work in Spain (nor Portugal).

Any advice and/or comments how to charge in these countries? It looks like a major headache with different operators...

Electric Motorcycle News / European car manufacturers to roll out fast chargers throughout Europe

« on: November 03, 2017, 02:17:18 PM »

Mostly the German manufacturers, with some others thrown in, will roll out 400 fast chargers within Europe. It's nothing in numbers, but it's a start.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-electricity-autos-charging/carmakers-launch-pan-european-charging-network-idUSKBN1D30GW

Other Electric Motorcycles / Problems with the BMW C-Evolution - Hmmmm

« on: May 03, 2017, 01:57:53 PM »

Funny, or strange. Just a week or two after signing for the new "Long Range" BMW C-Evolution lease, my current C-evolution is acting up.

I had ridden the scoot to some good friends at the local Honda dealer, and 5 minutes after arriving a major hail storm struck. After a cup of coffee and after the storm passed, I decided to go home (before any future storm would strike). Contact on, but nothing happened except every serious warning lights were on and in RED; battery, drive and general warning were all red and blinking and the scoot would not start.

So I want back to the Honda dealer for yet another cup of coffee and to study the manual. According to the docs, if any of the above warning icons appear you need to stop and contact BMW. After an hour, I tried again. And it worked (must have been short or a freeze).... the bike started, except for one thing: the odometer was blinking. But throwing warning in wind, I drove home.

The following day I tried again, and it still works, but the odometer is still blinking. So this time I contacted my local BMW dealer. Their response was curt and simple; we don't know what the blinking means, you will need to bring the scooter here for us to find out. Which of course is difficult since it's outside the range of the scooter and since I need to bring it back in 2 months to receive the new one, I wasn't planning to bring it back.

I just thought it was strange that my manual does not mention the blinking odometer. I know that the bike is more than one year past its annual service, but why suddenly blink now.

Anyway, not happy with BMW that even the most basic diagnostic was not even considered....

General Discussion / Decision time... what to do, what to do

« on: March 31, 2017, 01:00:46 PM »

I'm now facing a tough decision. My lease of the BMW C-Evolution is expiring in July this year, and have to say, I love the electric scoot. I had a great 3 years riding the beast. But now, my choices are:

1. Keep the lease and current e-scooter
2. Get the latest C-Evolution, with more range and power
3. Go back and try to get another Zero (3.5 years ago I bought a press bike but Zero France royally screwed up on that one - their CEO got fired - hence the BMW)

So, option #1 is the easiest. Just keep paying, don't return the 'older' model. But #2 is interesting to have that bit more range (I can't make it to the service centre with the range I've got at this moment).

I would love to go Zero DSR (I loved the older DS when I wrote several articles about it), but am afraid when I read several of the posts here that Zero as a company haven't gotten their act together yet in terms of customer service.

So.... what do I do? Suggestions? (btw, I don't need a long range bike since I just got the Honda Africa Twin).

Pics and Vids / Rat bike electric scooter in Paris

« on: October 10, 2016, 09:59:05 PM »

Looks like electric bikes are becoming so common that I now see rat e-bikes...

I was walking in Paris today and saw this electric scooter, an eMax 110S, with lots of things broken off, dirty and totally fitting the rat bike description... he even had mitts on the handlebars for the cold and wet weather.

Electric Motorcycle News / New BMW C-Evolution coming to the USA

« on: September 12, 2016, 12:08:46 PM »

BMW have improved their electric scooter, the C-Evolution, with the Long Range model (although Long Range is debatable going from 100 km to 160 kms). But the new BMW i3 batteries will deliver more bang for the bucks, and most interesting, they plan to start selling it in the USA.

Here is the press release:
https://www.press.bmwgroup.com/global/article/detail/T0263449EN/the-new-bmw-c-evolution

Electric Motorcycle News / Storm motorcycle on CNBC

« on: June 21, 2016, 03:02:13 PM »

Here's a link to a CNBC Facebook video, looking at the round the world electric motorcycle, Storm. Developed by the Dutch university, the bike is slate to go round the world in 80 days.

https://www.facebook.com/cnbc/videos/vb.97212224368/10154409097154369/?type=2&theater

Electric Motorcycle News / Zeros now rentable in Paris

« on: April 27, 2016, 12:10:39 PM »

The Spanish company eCooltra (Europe's biggest EV rental agency) is expanding their locations. After Barcelona, Spain and Nice, France, they are now offering rent a scooter or Zero per day in Paris. Located at one of the main railway stations (Montparnasse station) in the capital, you can rent a Zero SR for â‚¬85 per day or a Govecs scooter for â‚¬25 per day.

They are targeting business folks but also tourists.

https://www.cooltra.com/en

Source: http://www.avem.fr/actualite-cooltra-loue-a-paris-des-motos-et-scooters-electriques-6022.html

General Discussion / VHS vs Betamax

« on: April 20, 2016, 09:34:10 PM »

It would seem that everyone involved in the electric vehicle industry are making all the beginner mistakes that make it very difficult for the industry to grow at a faster rate.

Here's my case in point. Last week, I needed to bring my BMW C-Evolution to the city of Rouen, living in Le Havre. That's a distance of 105% of the real range of the bike. Riding as low power as possible will still not make it, since there are some very steep hills.

I used Chargemap and found a few charging points towards the end of the itinerary. Great I thought. So I went to check it out by car, doing a scout trip.

Four charge points, each with a different charging/cable standard. So that already makes it much, much, more difficult.

Then the chargers. You need a badge to open them, not a credit card. So after wasting 2 hours looking for a place to get one, I finally fell upon a small office that actually would be able to deliver one. But there I fell upon the 2nd big problem; you need proof of residence of the area.

In other words, all the charge points in and around the city of Rouen requires you to live in that area. The same applies to where I live, only residents can use it (but it's free; the card and the juice).

So here I am, planning to make a "long" trip and find I needed to load up several cables that are useless out of my city.

And that's where it all falls to bits. Different standards for chargers, stupid civil servants/bureaucrats who can think further than their desk.

If there would only be one charger standard and chargers were either all free or at least all allow the use of credit cards, then things would be easier to buy an EV.

What do you think?

Electric Motorcycle News / Paris, France orders 400 electric scooters for municipal employees

« on: February 12, 2016, 01:08:47 AM »

The Paris city hall has ordered 400 electric scooters to replace their aging ICE scoot fleet. Scooters are used by municipal employees for all sorts of business (probably including ticketing badly parked cars).

The company supplying the scoots is French, called Eccity Motocycles. The scooter model ordered is the Artelec 670, a 125 equivalent. It's a 140 kg bike with a top speed limited to 100 kph. The engine develops 6000 watts, with a peak of 10000 watts. The Lit)ion battery has 66.6 volts (72 Ah).

The onboard charger will fully charge on a standard 220V plug within 8 to 10 hours, but with the external charger, that is brought down by 50%.

Paris is also going for rental electric scooters, but that's a different story.

Electric Motorcycle News / Paris SWAT Police get Zeros

« on: September 25, 2015, 11:02:40 PM »

The special unit from the Paris police, the SWAT equivalent, took delivery of their first Zero DS bikes, which according to the info have been extensively modified (but without saying what has been changed).

(faces of the cops have been pixel out)

Electric Motorcycle News / Electric motorcycles sales in France - first 8 months

« on: September 08, 2015, 08:14:28 PM »

Some interesting statistics. For the first 8 months, in France a total of 104173 motorcycles were sold. Of those, 362 were electric.
Of these, 277 were BMW C-Evolution, 23 Zero and 8 Brammo.

That's a very small drop in a big ICE ocean.

http://www.csiam-fr.org/documents/20150908_3.pdf

Pics and Vids / French video of a drag race between a Zero and a Tesla

« on: June 03, 2015, 02:38:48 PM »

here is a short video of a drag race between a Zero and a Tesla. It's a teaser, since they mention more will be on their site shortly.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/CAhkoI6LbKM?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

http://www.youtube.com/embed/CAhkoI6LbKM

Electric Motorcycle News / BMW C-Evolution opens the path for the London Marathon.

« on: May 11, 2015, 10:05:26 PM »

A first...

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153211311908467.1073742243.262447113466&type=1