rental batteries

[sjpt]

Reposted from https://forum.cyclinguk.org/viewtopic.php?t=159360 because I thought it would be of interest.

"Yamaha Motor announced that it has established ENYRING GmbH as a new company that will offer swappable batteries for compact urban electric vehicles via subscription-based services."
https://www.yamaha-motor.eu/gb/en/news/ ... anagement/

How useful it is depends on how many swap sites there are, particularly out in the country where range is more likely to be an issue.
Also of course on rental cost; and how proprietary the batteries are.
Could be useful for cargo bike services.

 

[guerney]

Rental cost is an important consideration. During the train strikes I was almost stuck miles away from home at about 11pm in the pouring rain... I don't drive anymore, no buses, I had to leave the bike at home that time... spotted some rental ebikes...so I calculated how much it'd cost to cycle home in the event my train was cancelled - about half the cost of a taxi to my house would have got me to the next ebike docking station, which was 9 miles away from my home. They charge by the minute, so if I cycled home, it would have cost far more than a taxi, because I would have needed to transport the bike back to the ebike rental facility afterwards on one of my bike trailers. Useless.

Unless these battery rental stations are absolutely everywhere, their batteries can connect with two wires to any compact EV, rental is cheap, and they sell battery mounts, it's greenwashing PR for Yamaha. Useless as rental ebikes.

 

[flecc]

Rental cost is an important consideration. During the train strikes I was almost stuck miles away from home at about 11pm in the pouring rain... I don't drive anymore, no buses, I had to leave the bike at home that time... spotted some rental ebikes...so I calculated how much it'd cost to cycle home in the event my train was cancelled - about half the cost of a taxi to my house would have got me to the next ebike docking station, which was 9 miles away from my home. They charge by the minute, so if I cycled home, it would have cost far more than a taxi, because I would have needed to transport the bike back to the ebike rental facility afterwards on one of my bike trailers. Useless.

Unless these battery rental stations are absolutely everywhere, their batteries can connect with two wires to any compact EV, rental is cheap, and they sell battery mounts, it's greenwashing PR for Yamaha. Useless as rental ebikes.

Agreed in general, but of course this is Yamaha.eu, code for Netherlands where everyone cycles and getting on for half of all bicycle sales are pedelecs. So it could well work there, or in Tokyo where cycling is very popular among its official 14 millions but in truth more like 37 million population.
.

 

[guerney]

Agreed in general, but of course this is Yamaha.eu, code for Netherlands where everyone cycles and getting on for half of all bicycle sales are pedelecs.

I'm sure you're right, but I didn't see many bicycles on the roads when I worked at The Hague in the early 2000s. Mind you, I wasn't there for long and never witnessed rush hour. No I wasn't fired or jailed for war crimes, but I did meet Princess Irene of the Netherlands. She didn't say anything about cycling, but lots about talking to trees. I think all Royals are a bit strange, the ones I've met thus far have been at least. After she reported to my employer that I was easy to work with, I sent her a letter asking for a reference... but she never replied I suspect her butler thoroughly shredded my letter.

Agreed in general, but of course this is Yamaha.eu, code for Netherlands where everyone cycles and getting on for half of all bicycle sales are pedelecs. So it could well work there, or in Tokyo where cycling is very popular among its official 14 millions but in truth more like 37 million population.
.

Are the Japanese ashamed of their cyclists?

Of the two ebikes at that docking facility, one was undocked, situated about 8 inches from the dock, so perhaps the last renter of that ebike was unable to dock for some reason, and was still being charged by the minute? Or was it yanked out of the dock by vandals? I didn't have time for a close look, and it was dark, raining. I really don't think ebike rental or battery rental will work out well here at all. Cycling simply isn't popular enough, ebike/battery rental stations would need to be at least as numerous as petrol stations.

 

[flecc]

Are the Japanese ashamed of their cyclists?

Actually proud of their high cycling rate. The 14 millions versus 37 millions is urban sprawl, in part a boundaries matter, rather like London's but on a much bigger scale.

Our official population is 9.1 million which is false for known reasons, chiefly underreporting a highly mobile population to avoid the loss of the 25% council tax discount for single occupants.

According to the GLC's surveying it is at least 10.2 millions, but that is only within London's map boundaries and London sprawls like all the largest capitals. I routinely cross the border near to where I live and then drive (formerly cycled) over five further miles into Surrey before the buildings really space out.

So both the GLC and the EU regard London as a supercity of over 13 millions. That true London is almost 20% of the entire UK population and nearly 25% of England's 56 millions.
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