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[MostlyBonkers]

I wonder who we can complain to? It's a classic case of too much power corrupting the people involved. It took me three attempts over a period spanning three months to get a response from an individual. When I replied to that individual asking for a little more basic information, I received no response. My next step will be to email that person again, pointing out that the last information they gave me was bullshit and asking them who I should complain to. Hopefully that will provoke a response.

The only positive from my point of view is that I can feel a little bit smug about my decision back in January to give up on the illusive subsidy and just jump in anyway. 

That said, my ownership experience has been rubbish because I've only had the bike two months and it's spent almost half of that time off the road! If I wanted to ride around on a Suzuki Gladius, I would have bought one!

Streetbike have been great as always, but I'm sure their goodwill can only go so far. They've definitely made a significant loss on my bike when you consider all the time and miles they've put into it. I doubt that whatever compensation they're getting from Zero will cover all their expenses for the warranty work.

Despite the problems and our incompetent government, I love the bike itself. If you can focus on that, then I'd stick with it. You can only count on about 65 miles range, but if that's more than enough then go for it. I'm confident that once my bike is back I'll get a clear run of reliability for a while. I've been a bit unlucky, that's all. Ride it for what it was built for; commuting and green laning, get it fixed when it breaks and you'll love it!  I miss mine when it's not available and that's as good a test as anything.

[WDavis4692]

Hi all,

Strange you have been waiting a long time to hear back from OLEV.  I've had two correspondences with them, one with Tim, another with John.  Before I even knew this forum existed, I had emailed John, so when I saw this forum I knew they must be getting bugged by a lot of people about this.  Strange how politics moves at such a glacial pace...

21st Mar 2016:

"Dear Will
 
Thanks for your email. The quick answer is that no this has not been abandoned, we are still waiting for approval from Ministers before making an announcement. I appreciate the uncertainty and frustration that this prolonged delay is causing. As my colleague Tim Ward said, you can keep up to date with any announcements by following our Twitter account: @OLEVgovuk or by visiting our website at www.gov.uk/olev
 
Your sincerely,
 
John"

I agree with others here; may be simpler to just buy the damn bike now rather than hold our breath for this thing to come in.  But that's the least of my worries; I fear if they don't bring a grant in, there's a risk zero pulls out of the UK again?

[Testpilot1]

Thanks Will for posting what they've said to you..........they've been spinning the approval line from ministers for quite some time now,its getting ridiculous.
I've put a freedom of information request in,to try and get to the bottom of a possible date something might happen,but I'm not holding my breath
I think your right,if they don't buck their ideas up,Zero could pull out for a second time,there's no accountability with government, especially in these frustrating circumstances, obviously they are in no rush to get this done !

[Testpilot1]

Oh yeah,and if Zero pull out for a second time,I doubt they'll be back ,and that won't be good for everyone.......

[GBEV]

there's no accountability with government, especially in these frustrating circumstances, obviously they are in no rush to get this done !

They are accountable alright but to their financiers, in this case the legacy oil lobby, not to their electorate.
This government has shown no real leadership at all to solve Britain's problems. We choke on fumes.
It is a self serving mouthpeice for lobbying legacy industries and has a nose for following their money from infront.
It is all there in the name OLEV -Office for Low Emission Vehicles. Now OZEV could have been an Office of Zero Emission Vehicles yes? But that would not have allowed the oil lobby to get their feet under the table to disrupt the truly disruptive EV with the oily phEV attempt at maintaining the status quo alternative.
I use lower case for plug in and hybrid as some have such small batteries as to be a joke.
Can I suggest we all call OLEV out in any communications with them on what it has actualy proved to be- OiLEV creating Oily EVs
OiLEV are also resonsible for our national charge network being totally unfit for purpose exactly as you would expect if our PM chancellor, cabinet and MPs and Civil Servants are taking bungs from the oil industry. That party will not end until it is forced upon them, watch for the non executive directorships being handed out to the main culprits once out of office....

[Testpilot1]

Its looking that way GBEV, lets hope we don't have a repeat of this....
http://www.visordown.com/motorcycle-news--general-news/zero-motorcycles-pulls-out-of-uk/23942.html
I'll keep making a nuisance of myself with OLEV, until my luck runs out with Streetbike....

[WDavis4692]

Yeah, it does seem the OLEV is hindered by far too much red tape to do their jobs properly.  As for charging infrastructure, well, soon as we got our i3, we had to sign up for 3-4 different charging networks.  Now got a handful of charging cards for different services.  It is very daft.  I mean, it seems to me the big war is between CCS and Chademo.  We NEED some kind of standardisation, preferably CCS.  We also need a SINGLE card/scheme that works, by law, on all charging points across the country.

By the way, if anyone's in the market for an FXS, Streetbike have an ex-demonstrator FXS going for about 8 grand, and a DSR for just under 11.5 grand.  If you're waiting for the grant, you're taking a gamble.  If the grant doesn't come in, and Zero pull out, chances are you're going to be paying considerably more than 8 grand in the long run.

I would personally wait.  For all we know Zero could be keeping just as keen an eye on the situation as we are.  If they still believe something may yet happen, then  they probably aren't going anywhere.  For all I know they could be selling just fine.  Not only that, but I'm waiting for a look at the 2017 MR.  If the '17 bikes come with stability control, I'm definitely going to wait.  Considering we can get weeks of constant rain I REALLY can't wait for Zero to introduce MSC.

[MostlyBonkers]

I've just had another response from John at OiLEV. Same story as others have reported; a reassurance that the grant is still in the wings and that they're waiting for approval from ministers before they can make an announcement. I've asked him for a steer on who we can chase at this stage and pointed out that the grant is over four years late. Arguably, they should have provided an incentive long before that! A decade ago?

Apparently battery prices dropped by 30% last year overall. With all the development and increased production we should see prices tumble further. At this rate there won't be a need for a subsidy! Even so, I'd still like to see the price of electric bikes sink well below that of ICE bikes. A subsidy would help that happen sooner. We need to get to the point where buying an ICE bike is the more expensive option right from the start, without having to wait for years to recoup expenses due to low maintenance.

[Richard230]

You should inform your politicians that anything they do to encourage the purchase of electric motorcycles by motorcycle enthusiasts will help to make their neighborhoods quiet again.  And that would certainly be worth a pound or two of taxpayer contributions to the cause.   

[GBEV]

The trouble here is our self serving political representatives can't hear motorcycles whilst driving in "their" neighbourhoods in insulated private "his and hers" 4 wheel drive german panzer wagons in the shires.
So the only thing they are interested in is not having more motorcycles of any sort on the road at all, noisy or quiet, to stop them feeling the bump as they drive over us having failed to look out and having mistaken us for a pile of horse shit on their country lanes!
Motorcycles represent freedom in Britain which is dangerous when out political leaders are all oppressors out to oppress us regardless of their colour of political rosette.
I drive a white police Pan European and wear a white helmet and high viz jacket to deliberately look like a cop. It is the fastes thing from A to B for the concious, breathing and sighted who are very curteous to me.

The local village gentry male of female can't work out, when I am coming the other way on a single track road, that their shiny new 4x4 is able to put 2 wheels on the grass without causing it any damage.
I often politely ask them to get their heads out of their anuses before getting behind the wheel of a 3 tonne tank but strangely they don't seem to understand my politeness A cull is long overdue...

[Testpilot1]

Very entertaining GBEV not much hope for the subsidy any time soon then :-)

[Testpilot1]

No time soon then....
https://mobile.twitter.com/testpilot19/status/715648715181199360?p=v

[Testpilot1]

Also got a response to my Freedom of Information request today

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/electric_motorcycle_plug_in_gran

The department doesn't have the information on a known date for the grant .......

[MostlyBonkers]

It's just bullshit at every turn really. How utterly disappointing. Time to act I'd say. Those DSP bikes are still a great deal with the warranty and Streetbike behind them. As a bonus you might just get a week or two riding around on their Gladius while they replace your first charger too! Expect it to fail and you won't be disappointed. ;-)

I hope you go for it. I love mine.

[evmotorcycle]

Just reading through this thread folks.

I am currently in pre-production on a documentary that features a Zero motorcycle in the UK. Production Starts May 25th.

As part of this story I would be happy to look at interviewing some officials with regard to tackling this issue in the documentary.

Any ideas as to who would be worth speaking to?

Andy.