Vectrix electric scooter (100km/h)

Saruman

I read about this recently in Metro or Herald AM
Just did some searching and its available in Terenure.
http://www.greenmachines.cnolan.ie/products/consumer/bikes_mopeds/vectrix.html
No price listed but the article in the indipendent says its about 10.7k
http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/motoring/plugging-into-the-green-world-on-two-wheels-1046286.html

Anyone tried on out?

eoin5

Silent scooters! These things wont survive long in Ireland if noone can hear them coming

An Ri rua

eoin5 wrote: »

Silent scooters! These things wont survive long in Ireland if noone can hear them coming

Motorcycles & scooters are equipped with horns Eoin. You should test ride one some day. With all the noise in the city, you could use the same excuse about a very quiet petrol exec car too. Except you'd be safer when the ejit stepped out. But your argument is a little bit silly. Thousands have sold abroad and that's a minor issue.

More worryingly, re Vectrix however, is this http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/12/03/ccaim103.xml

No guarantee for €10700 that your investment would be safe!! There's other good electric marques out there, notably emax. Others too. And they all have horn buttons !!!

Mellor

electricty is dirty, and the sad part is that most people probably thinks its nice and clean

An Ri rua

Mellor wrote: »

electricty is dirty, and the sad part is that most people probably thinks its nice and clean

Please explain how electricity is dirty? Do you by any chance mean that electric transport isn't 100% emission-free?

1. If you buy renewable energy through the grid and buy enough kw/h to cover your electric vehicle usage, then you've eliminated that argument and are 100% emission-free my friend.
2. There is no oil or fuel in an electric car or moped? Apart from brake fluid which is only changed infrequently. So how then is a electricity dirty in the context of this thread or were you distracted or applying woolly thinking?
3. if you have your own wind-towers and produce your own electricity to run your EV, then you are in no doubt 100% emission-free. I know people in ireland who are doing this. So what part of their set-up is dirty so that I can advise them please?

The 'sad part' in modern life is the amount of people who profess 'truths' with only a smattering of knowledge. I prefer to read posts that are well-linked and provide factual back-up to generalised claims like this one re electricity....

An Ri rua

http://www.enn.com/energy/article/26227

Even if you look at the findings of this UK study, from another post here, it is still possible, with the right location for even a micro-turbine user to effectively reduce CO2 production. To be fair, the study's main thrust is that most urban-based micro-turbines will create more CO2 emissions in their production etc than they'll save over a lifetime.

But.....

If you take your electricity through the grid from a large-scale RE provider, then you will see the bottomline benefits. To your wallet and to our emissions quotas.

But, it must be stated, without going to far off thread at this stage, that even if you have the most emissions-friendly diesel, better than a petrol/electric hybrid, its of no use if you insist on driving high miles and changing your car often. What is needed, to help our pockets, our health and our contribution to global warming (symbolic or numeric contribution), is far reaching policy that tax-incentives companies to move to where commuters now live and tax-punishes those who remain and cause commuting. Instead of tinkering around the edges as the greens are currently doing. But lets face it, the building lobby and the SIMI lobby have ensured that countryfolk commute for 1-2 hours per day and cityfolk similarly, except that they get to enjoy the view as they're not moving.

Point being, hybrids, electric transport, efficient smaller diesels etc, they're all steps along the way. Whats needed is a culture shift away from waste. Of resources, of precious time, of lives.

Whatever happened to teleworking and grants? Most companies balk at the idea. Why couldn't Cowen incentivise that along with the electronic payments move re credit cards etc?

Apologies to the original OP, the usage of electric mopeds has come of age (see Vectrix at www.greenmachines.ie and emax at www.mopeds.ie) Similarly with 100% electric city cars and also commercial vehicles. So the usage is both practical and to be commended (not dirty Mellor????) and is A STEP along the path to living more productive less desperate lives. Who wants to commute now, really? We have no choice today, that's true. But we do have a choice over the next 10 years to build a great country. Look at the size of us! Do you think the Dutch would tolerate our waste of precious time in how we commute and put up with bull****?

Eh, no.

silverharp

A good article here about a fiat 500 conversion and a youtube video of it in action

http://europe.theoildrum.com/node/3275

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee4v7nlUM9M

ircoha

An Ri rua wrote: »

Please explain how electricity is dirty? Do you by any chance mean that electric transport isn't 100% emission-free?

1. If you buy renewable energy through the grid and buy enough kw/h to cover your electric vehicle usage, then you've eliminated that argument and are 100% emission-free my friend.
2. There is no oil or fuel in an electric car or moped? Apart from brake fluid which is only changed infrequently. So how then is a electricity dirty in the context of this thread or were you distracted or applying woolly thinking?
3. if you have your own wind-towers and produce your own electricity to run your EV, then you are in no doubt 100% emission-free. I know people in ireland who are doing this. So what part of their set-up is dirty so that I can advise them please?

4. The 'sad part' in modern life is the amount of people who profess 'truths' with only a smattering of knowledge. I prefer to read posts that are well-linked and provide factual back-up to generalised claims like this one re electricity....

Re 1: AKAIK, the only form of RE that is 100% emissions free is wind, when used to power the sails in a boat or a 100% wooden windmill.
All other RE conversion processes have emissions associated with the origination, transmission and consumption of the energy.
It is facile to say that RE delivered across an existing network should not carry a portion of the emissions associated with the construction of the net work.
RE requires non-RE backup. This is currently excluded from the math so RE looks greener.

The attached graph from www.eirgrid.com shows the typical contribution that wind makes, its not there when you need it. I suppose all employers will be required to have 'green plug-in' spots available so as the EV's can be charged during the working day. You'd be lucky to get enough juice to recharge a fone or a jackrabbit, not to mind an EV.

Re: 2. What about all the emissions associated with the manufacture of the moped?

Re 3: Small wind-turbines have more emissions associated with their manufacture and installation than they 'save' over their useful life. It is a function of the size of the blade, but of course you already know that.

Re 4. The sad part of modern life includes the scale of child abuse, violence towards women, the level of abject poverty and corruption in this country. A post by Mellor is hardly in the sad life dept.

Who's woolly now?

probe

ircoha wrote: »

Re 1: AKAIK, the only form of RE that is 100% emissions free is wind, when used to power the sails in a boat or a 100% wooden windmill.
All other RE conversion processes have emissions associated with the origination, transmission and consumption of the energy.
It is facile to say that RE delivered across an existing network should not carry a portion of the emissions associated with the construction of the net work.
RE requires non-RE backup. This is currently excluded from the math so RE looks greener.

The attached graph from www.eirgrid.com shows the typical contribution that wind makes, its not there when you need it. I suppose all employers will be required to have 'green plug-in' spots available so as the EV's can be charged during the working day. You'd be lucky to get enough juice to recharge a fone or a jackrabbit, not to mind an EV.

Re: 2. What about all the emissions associated with the manufacture of the moped?

Re 3: Small wind-turbines have more emissions associated with their manufacture and installation than they 'save' over their useful life. It is a function of the size of the blade, but of course you already know that.

Re 4. The sad part of modern life includes the scale of child abuse, violence towards women, the level of abject poverty and corruption in this country. A post by Mellor is hardly in the sad life dept.

Who's woolly now?

So what? A country has to take the first steps on the road to reducing pollution. Green electrification of all modes of transport and getting close to eliminating the CO2 produced by property (heating, lighting, air conditioning etc) will get one more than half way there. The creation of the infrastructure to deliver green electricity and deliver green buildings will generate emissions in the production process. One can’t get away from that.

The more people that buy electric mopeds and cars – the better. It will help create a virtuous circle, because they will become less expensive with volume production and the “battery” systems in these vehicles will be able to store surplus electric energy when the wind is blowing – and release it to the grid when green first hand energy is in short supply. The same goes for international grid connectivity. Ireland and its territorial waters is probably the number 1 hotspot in Europe for wind and wave energy potential.

We see similar postings pointing out that the manufacture of windmills or something else causes CO2 emissions, on boards.ie over and over and over. And occasionally one or two journos working for certain newspapers, who should know better, are stupid enough to replicate the message to their readers.

A total CO2 free life is impossible to achieve. Even if you have your own bio farm big enough to feed you and your family and use horses to plough the land and have a cow or two for milking, etc and spend 365/365 on the farm travelling nowhere – except perhaps on your horse and car to the local village, your family and farm animals and your home heating and cooking will create CO2 emissions.

In any event it wouldn’t matter because self-centred insular countries like the US and Australia will continue to spew out zillions of tonnes of emissions into the atmosphere. So the only reason to make the transition to green electric transport and low energy buildings is a self-centred one! Because it is good for your health, good for the economy, and reduces/eliminates a country’s reliance on unstable sources of energy supply – which are finite in any event. And creates a competitive advantage for your country because green energy sources are falling in price while hydrocarbon based energy sources are guaranteed to rise and rise as they become scarcer. First mover advantage...

And of course greenhouse gas emissions are not the sole factor in global climate change.

.probe

An Ri rua

Who's woolly now? Hmmm. Mirror mirror on the wall.....

Re 3 ircoha..........If you read the supplied link from www.enn.ie in above post, you will see that many sites are in fact credited as having potential payback times of a few months (in terms of emissions), if you choose the site correctly. And the same is of course true for large scale turbines. And other sites are simply never going to do so in the lifetime of the equipment.

Tell me, who is woolly now? Have you spent much time in the countryside? The wind blows 2/3 of the time in Midlands, South, southwest, Northwest etc etc. Maybe Eirgrid should decentralise to Skellig Rock and then we might be up to speed with Denmark at this stage?

If you bother to research it, the facts are there. Of course there's an unholy trail of emissions no matter which route we choose. Are you suggesting we ignore better ways? Criticise electric and hybrid because we just like to criticise things?

re 4 Mellor originally described the really sad part as being that nobody knows how disgustingly dirty electricity is. Compared to a petrol 2 or 4 stroke motorbike? Do stay focussed ircoha. And keep the tragedy stuff for another post. This one's about using electric transport to get a step closer to cleaner and more sustainable world. That of course involves, as I've posted, changing our lifestyles / habits with the help of structural changes in society through government enactments.

I feel that generalist and dismissive one-liners like Mellors needed to be addressed for the benefit of anyone pondering their daily commute and what to do about it. Rampant, impulsive dismissal of windpower as being an emissions-baddie is a thoroughly misinformed position. What are you suggesting as an alternative, pray tell? Close our eyes and do nothing? Make a positive statement of how we should proceed from here, don't merely attack well-intentioned parties who are investigating whether we might use electric vehicles and RE to in some way improve our situation. Yes, I was stung by mellor's sideswipe at electric vehicles. Its not good enough to just do that without damning proof, IMHO.

The OP wants to know whether any of us have used EVs? Have you? I have regularly, both here and abroad; and I can say that a significant number are using EVs across EU & USA that are upwards of 15 years old. Yes, batteries are changed over that period ircoha and they are environmental baddies aren't they? Maybe we should stay where we are or maybe we should ditch ALL mechanical transport! Do you suggest we start to use horse & cart again? What about the methane? Have you ever been in a cart? Emissions too, I'm afraid.