Vehicles & Servicing Best Posts in Thread: electric motor cycles

Check out Bud Brown and his electric trike. Locally sourced in Duma I believe. It seemed to move out smartly, possibly 45 kph. I did see enough of the video that Bud bought a second battery so I expect that the range at any kind of performance is low. I think that is about the best you are going to get, locally.

Other point is that the electric trike is exempt, according to Bud. It is not a motor vehicle so it doesn't have a title, does not need registration, plates or a license to operate. No VIN number. This is in line with my understanding of the law, unless something has changed.

From past experience researching electric vehicles, you have to take their claims with a grain of salt. Range may be attainable on a perfectly flat test track with a jockey sized guy as the only rider @ the absolute most efficient speed (guaranteed to be far less than a practical speed) on a day with no wind. They may also be pulling over every two minutes to allow the batteries to cool off. Lastly, they could be outright lying, as they do need to sell the things after all. Note that a Honda Click is rated just about the same way, test track and driving at the absolute best most efficient speed to attain the fuel milage that you will not achieve real world.

The now defunct Vectrix company came about as close as I have ever heard to creating a practical electric scooter. The guy reviewing one rode it 50 miles in San Francisco (very hilly for anyone who doesn't know), the last couple miles probably fighting low speed wobble because it wouldn't go any faster until it was recharged. The lead acid batteries on the Vectrix were only rated for 300 recharges. The NiMH batteries (pack not single battery) were rated for 600 charges but were more than twice as expensive. Replacement of a single cell of an NiMH battery cell while in the realm of user service isn't easy, you have to balance all the charges between the old batteries and the new cell to be added or you will burn out one or more of the old batteries before the new battery gets it's first full charge.

The most attractive thing (to me anyway) about an electric trike is "if" they are classed the same as an E-bike which means they have no requirements. On Bud Brown's trike, I can see where the space was not used efficiently in the build and I could probably get 3 batteries in it with a little design and repositioning of the charger. I would probably use welding lead quick disconnects to change from one battery to another. To me, the charger has no business being next to outgassing charging batteries anyway. If one wanted to be a smart @ss I suppose you could get a Yamaha inverter 1.5Kw generator to recharge your battery in use. I have not a clue as to what the law would say if you perhaps forgot you needed a battery and just plugged into a transformer plugged into the generator.

Petrochemicals are still the best (most common anyway) way to store energy and move it around that we know/ have found.

 

Electric bikes are not a joke These vehicles are amazing. Isle of Man TT Zero Emissions Race

 

This is not written in stone but a general rule of thumb when importing what the PI Customs considers "luxury goods" a very liberal definition on case by case basis you can expect approx. 100% duty on those items. That is why electronics and automobiles and motorcycles are so expensive here.

As an example (nothing to do with your search) a charity I was involved with in Luzon was to receive free donation of children's wheelchairs for physically handicapped Filipino children in Luzon. The paperwork and hassle required by PI Customs for a donation to a tax-free charity was outrageous by any standard and especially for a non-profit charity where everyone was volunteering their time for free to assist local children and they still charged the charity in excess of $100USD per chair to receive and give away for free to local handicapped children. F@CK CUSTOMS AND EVERY A$$HOLE WHO WORKS FOR THEM IN MANILA. Needless to say that's the last time we as a charity tried to import free donations from outside the PI to assist local children at that charity.

 

No idea I was recalling where I saw them but I have just Spoken to a neighbour that has one and he said he will look out the Place his Father bought it. Theirs is a Two seater and looks pretty robust

Jack