Road legal 1000W electric scooter

[superDove]

No I'm not going to take the tube/bus instead, it's slow, crowded and expensive...

Compared to how much you've spent on bikes, scooters, cycling specific clothes, lighting, parts and tools, is it expensive?

My junk Bike was £40 including a lock.

 

[cwah]

CWAH...are you the same Cwah that I remember test riding our Kudos bikes on the Mall,London,some 3 years ago?
KudosDave

Yes I'm probably the same one you saw 3 years ago... When I didn't have an ebike yet

I've always been thinking of getting a cargo or tandem bike. But in london it would be really difficult to park/store. If the tandam is small enough to fit in a lift I'd be glad to hear more about it

 

[cwah]

Compared to how much you've spent on bikes, scooters, cycling specific clothes, lighting, parts and tools, is it expensive?

My junk Bike was £40 including a lock.

Yes, london tube is incredibly expensive. Last year I was living in Zone 4. Which cost about 160GBP/month travel fare with the oyster card. Now I'm in central london Zone 2, and it's still at 120GBP/month.

An expensive ebike can be refunded in 1 or 2 years time. And I save a lot of time too.

 

[Cyclezee]

John,that tandem is a great idea...I can see CWAH getting that into his flat and storing it,hehe.... Off subject I saw a manufacturer in Tianjin who had a very sexy looking e-tandem, with a BPM motor it would potentially be a wonderful machine. Would love to bring a batch over,but is there a market for such a tandem? MOQ would probably be 30 units,storing it,for me,would be a problem
KudosDave
www.kudoscycles.com

The folding tandem was not a serious suggestion, it was designed to be easily transportable inside a medium size car, hatchback or estate car.

We and our customers have successfully converted several tandems to e-power, but I think there would be a very limited market for an "off the peg" e-tandem.

Converting a tandem, recumbent etc., is relatively eZee
http://cyclezee.com/the-kits-and-conversions.html

 

[eHomer]

About 5 years ago, I bought an EVT4000 scooter secondhand.

It was a road legal, UK type approved, 30 mph electric scooter.

That complied with the same legislation as a 50cc moped, but with free road tax. That saved £16, but it it still needed an annual MOT test at £30, and insurance at £95.

It worked really well, giving 30mph in almost complete silence, good handling and stopping with hydraulic disc brakes, and could legally carry a pillion passenger.

The man thing that let it down was the battery technology at the time. The 48volts was achieved with four 12v 50 a/h sealed lead acid batteries that cost nearly £500 for the set. Worse than that was the weight penalty. Those batteries took the unladen weight up to more than my 125cc motorbike. It was impossible to lift the bike at all.

The range was poor too, only about 20 miles. If I still had it, maybe converting it to a big lithium pack would increase the range and dramatically reduce the weight.

 

[Cyclezee]

I've always been thinking of getting a cargo or tandem bike. But in london it would be really difficult to park/store. If the tandam is small enough to fit in a lift I'd be glad to hear more about it

The folding e-tandem is quite unique.......until someone tells me otherwise.
eZee built one only for fun, it is however available for £2,000

Yes it would fit in a lift.........depending on the size of the lift

 

[flecc]

The folding e-tandem is quite unique.......until someone tells me otherwise.
eZee built one only for fun, it is however available for £2,000

That's not expensive compared to the limited competition in e-tandems, I think it's a good price. I recognise the front, it's basically the Quando frame and hinge but with new forks and handlebar stem, the rear grafted on by using a much longer rear main spar.

There have been some socket-joined-frame tandems that break down into two pieces, but I don't remember a hinged one offhand.

 

[Cyclezee]

That's not expensive compared to the limited competition in e-tandems, I think it's a good price. I recognise the front, it's basically the Quando frame and hinge but with new forks and handlebar stem, the rear grafted on by using a much longer rear main spar.

There have been some socket-joined-frame tandems that break down into two pieces, but I don't remember a hinged one offhand.

Well spotted Tony,

The front end is indeed mainly from the Quando.

As you say there are some tandems that do break down e.g. a couple of Co-Motion models break into 3 parts, one of our customers has one and it is a superb bit of engineering. Expensive, but when you consider the cost compared to 2 quality bikes it is not too bad.

 

[jackhandy]

What are the legal weight limits for towing a trailer/trail buggy?

It occurs to me that an adult-size "kids" trailer would do Cwah.

And what's all the concern with legality anyway Cwah - Your bikes have never been legal, anyway

 

[jackhandy]

About 5 years ago, I bought an EVT4000 scooter secondhand....


The range was poor too, only about 20 miles. If I still had it, maybe converting it to a big lithium pack would increase the range and dramatically reduce the weight.View attachment 8119 View attachment 8120

And dramatically reduce your bank balace, I suspect

 

[cwah]

yeah legality on my current bike is not so much an issue because it looks like a normal electric bike.

Apart that it goes a little bit faster.

But carrying a passenger will be a cop magnet... so I have to be more careful.

I did that once in Paris with my bikeseat on a bosch motor. But it was lacking torque with 2 people

 

[Geebee]

And dramatically reduce your bank balace, I suspect

Not really, the lead batteries would be good for less than half their capacity in that usage so 48v 20 amp would probably exceed the rang of the original battery due to weight loss and fully usable capacity and it would cost around 110 gbp if you are into r/c LiPo. Even a 40 ah pack would be cheaper than the original batteries.

 

[MikeyBikey]

Aiolos Duolite folding tandem is from €3,000 apparently:
http://www.aiolos.de/index.php?id=659 . "DL.T 12.5 20" Das Tourenmodel"
19,6kg ,Faltvolumen 55x86x29 cm

Or Bernds, same weight but..
Or Bike Fridays "
Tandem Two'sDay Tour 24
Starting at $2498.00". From 16.3kg? (as if) and easy fold?http://www.bikefriday.com/bicycles/models?page=2&select=17567.
Or Hase Pino Allrounder 25kg dismantles more than folds, so expensive they don't say .. http://hasebikes.com/95-1-Tandem-Pino-Allround.html.
Sorry, probably not what OP was looking for, not electric, too big, too dear, and not over here. ;-) . Cheers, Mikey

 

[eHomer]

And dramatically reduce your bank balace, I suspect

True, I imagine something like 50ah of Lithium at 48v would cost about £600, but it would have made the scooter a really practical proposition. Itr handled and performed just like the 50cc petrol equivalents, and I got it secondhand via Ebay for about £700.

There was plenty of room for a lot of Lithium cells, as it was designed to carry what was effectively four full size car lead acid batteries ( though they were SLA).

I agree it was nothing like the ethos of a modern lightweight ebike, but the principle of that sort of design for commuting all year round and leaving it parked in the open was a good practical solution, apart from those bl**dy SLA batteries !!

 

[Willber G]

About 5 years ago, I bought an EVT4000 scooter secondhand.

It was a road legal, UK type approved, 30 mph electric scooter.

That complied with the same legislation as a 50cc moped, but with free road tax. That saved £16, but it it still needed an annual MOT test at £30, and insurance at £95.

It worked really well, giving 30mph in almost complete silence, good handling and stopping with hydraulic disc brakes, and could legally carry a pillion passenger.

The man thing that let it down was the battery technology at the time. The 48volts was achieved with four 12v 50 a/h sealed lead acid batteries that cost nearly £500 for the set. Worse than that was the weight penalty. Those batteries took the unladen weight up to more than my 125cc motorbike. It was impossible to lift the bike at all.

The range was poor too, only about 20 miles. If I still had it, maybe converting it to a big lithium pack would increase the range and dramatically reduce the weight.

It seems that someone had the same idea:
http://visforvoltage.org/forum/9063-evt4000-testing-lifepo4-lithium-ion-big-upgrade

He reduced the weight by 35kg. The link is four years old, with newer technology it may be even more worthwhile.

 

[eHomer]

It seems that someone had the same idea:
http://visforvoltage.org/forum/9063-evt4000-testing-lifepo4-lithium-ion-big-upgrade

He reduced the weight by 35kg. The link is four years old, with newer technology it may be even more worthwhile.

Thanks for that Wilbur, a very interesting link. I hadn't thought of Googling the possibility of someone having tried fitting lithium into one.

It's a shame that the public image of "electric scooters" in the UK was destroyed by so many of those useless low powered contraptions that were an attempt to stay within the "free" 250watt 15mph regulations.

Quite impractical on range, speed, and looking like something out of Star Trek, they've created a rubbish impression that may never be dislodged.

If that EVT4000 had been originally fitted with a really big lithium pack it could have weighed half as much and had a really useful range. It would have been a real contender against the 50cc petrol scooters.