In the News Electric ? They are getting close !

[Jaws]

Zero motorcycles have released their latest offering to dealers
A 130bh street fighter bike with 200 mile range
Supplied with a 6kW charger, by the time you get the govt plug in allowance full retail is £17.5k, and I expect dealers to be allowed some movement on that too.
Zero have led the market for years, and with this spec I do not think they are far off producing a genuine replacement for an ic engined bike

 

[Cougar377]

Zero motorcycles have released their latest offering to dealers
A 130bh street fighter bike with 200 mile range
Supplied with a 6kW charger, by the time you get the govt plug in allowance full retail is £17.5k, and I expect dealers to be allowed some movement on that too.
Zero have led the market for years, and with this spec I do not think they are far off producing a genuine replacement for an ic engined bike

Wash yer feckin' mouth out....!

 

[andyBeaker]

And Tesla have taken big steps toward releasing a decent electric car within a $35000 maximum price. Not sure how it will work out as apparently they will be internet sales only.

The current Tesla range is pretty unbelievable but very expensive. Lets hope the quality is maintained for the more affordable model.

 

[eddyace595]

The end is nigh

 

[Lee337]

I think it depends on whether you're keen on saving the planet or not as to whether they're worth it at the moment.

A work colleague recently tested a Zero & was impressed by the ride, handling and usability.

From a cost perspective, even with the Govt. allowance, it worked out cheaper over a 5 year period to buy a petrol engined bike of an equivalent style when taking into account the cost of tax, insurance & fuel, vs no tax, higher insurance, increased electricity consumption at the point of charge and the cost of replacement batteries (based on the average life expectancy of 3-4 years).

I don't think we're there just yet, although I know that some electric car manufacturers give you the option to lease batteries, so you never have to pay stupid money to replace them.

 

[derek kelly]

Saw the title & thought they’d finally got round to getting electricity in Norfolk.

 

[Minkey]

Electric still a long way to go. spoke to someone who works for mini and we figured out to get to my brother's house I would need to have to recharge before I got there, whilst at my brother and on the way home a trip that usually takes 2.3 hours would take much longer

 

[noobie]

Saw the title & thought they’d finally got round to getting electricity in Norfolk.

I used the spanner smiley in error, it looked like a carrot

 

[andyBeaker]

Electric still a long way to go. spoke to someone who works for mini and we figured out to get to my brother's house I would need to have to recharge before I got there, whilst at my brother and on the way home a trip that usually takes 2.3 hours would take much longer

In fairness Mini can't even make a decent car so electric cars are always going to be a challenge.

 

[Jaws]

Electric still a long way to go. spoke to someone who works for mini and we figured out to get to my brother's house I would need to have to recharge before I got there, whilst at my brother and on the way home a trip that usually takes 2.3 hours would take much longer

To get to our winter destination, instead of 2.5 days, it would take close on 6 !

 

[Jaws]

I think it depends on whether you're keen on saving the planet or not as to whether they're worth it at the moment.

A work colleague recently tested a Zero & was impressed by the ride, handling and usability.

From a cost perspective, even with the Govt. allowance, it worked out cheaper over a 5 year period to buy a petrol engined bike of an equivalent style when taking into account the cost of tax, insurance & fuel, vs no tax, higher insurance, increased electricity consumption at the point of charge and the cost of replacement batteries (based on the average life expectancy of 3-4 years).

I don't think we're there just yet, although I know that some electric car manufacturers give you the option to lease batteries, so you never have to pay stupid money to replace them.

My Toyota Auris batteries had an 8 year warranty.
The Zero ones are warranted for 6 years at the moment, and they have said new tech coming in to production this year will mean a warranty period of ten years !

 

[slim63]

I think it depends on whether you're keen on saving the planet or not as to whether they're worth it at the moment..

Saving the planet my arse, they cost more to produce & use more irreplaceable materials a lot of which are extracted from the ground via strip mining & when they are dead (not long) they cost more to recycle & less of it is recyclable so more is dumped

Once they sort that little lot & the problems with battery life they might be worth the effort for someone of a tree hugging nature but until then imho they are nothing more than an expensive gimmick that does nothing for the environment

 

[Pow-Lo]

And Tesla have taken big steps toward releasing a decent electric car within a $35000 maximum price. Not sure how it will work out as apparently they will be internet sales only.

The current Tesla range is pretty unbelievable but very expensive. Lets hope the quality is maintained for the more affordable model.

I know several people, admittedly Americans, who own Teslas. ‘Quality’ and ‘Tesla’ are not synonymous. After sales service is also said to be pretty appalling. Maybe it’s better over here, but I’ll stick to my big grunty diesels until they can make batteries that cause less damage to the environment over the long term than my engine.

 

[Jaws]

The BIG problem as I see it, is if we suddenly all switched over the national grid would simply melt

 

[Cougar377]

I'd be interested to see the relative pollution levels spat out by a large capacity motorbike, a 1.6L petrol car, a 2.0L diesel car, a large truck, a large bus, a diesel engined train, a midsized airliner and a large cargo ship.

Extrapolate that to the number of vehicles used on British roads on any given weekday. Then factor in (for the same day) the number of trains that run, the number of aircraft that fly in, out and around the country and the number of cargo ships that sail in and out British ports and extend that out to the 12 mile offshore limit....and I suspect in the grand scheme of things, bikes are way down the list of pollution generating culprits.

 

[andyBeaker]

Surely the point is that fossil fuel supply is not infinite.

If other forms of propulsion are not developed now you will be walking everywhere.

The internal combustion engine has fundamentally hardly changed in 100+ years ......what is being developed as alternate fuel today will be the norm in fifty years....it doesn’t happen overnight....

 

[Lee]

I had seen a article from what I remember on MCN and Bennetts stating that a synthetic fuel has now been developed (by Bosch and Audi) and is estimated to be commercially viable in 10 years, would also be produced in a closed loop,zero carbon.

 

[slim63]

Surely the point is that fossil fuel supply is not infinite.

Correct but a lot of it is still used to produce electricity & as jaws said if everyone switched to electric cars now the national grid would blow a fuse trying to keep up with demand

 

[Pow-Lo]

I'd be interested to see the relative pollution levels spat out by a large capacity motorbike, a 1.6L petrol car, a 2.0L diesel car, a large truck, a large bus, a diesel engined train, a midsized airliner and a large cargo ship.

Extrapolate that to the number of vehicles used on British roads on any given weekday. Then factor in (for the same day) the number of trains that run, the number of aircraft that fly in, out and around the country and the number of cargo ships that sail in and out British ports and extend that out to the 12 mile offshore limit....and I suspect in the grand scheme of things, bikes are way down the list of pollution generating culprits.

Ships are not so much a problem these days, especially since we now have SECAs covering most of NW Europe and the whole US coastline; some Chinese ports now have them. As far as I understand it, airliners are the biggest culprits because the emissions they chuck out are much closer to the ozone layer.

 

[andyBeaker]

I know several people, admittedly Americans, who own Teslas. ‘Quality’ and ‘Tesla’ are not synonymous. After sales service is also said to be pretty appalling. Maybe it’s better over here, but I’ll stick to my big grunty diesels until they can make batteries that cause less damage to the environment over the long term than my engine.

Ah, the"I know several people"approach....!!

Anyway, it looks like Tesla have found a novel way of closing dealerships ...allegedly....

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-47427311