Homemade Electric Motorcycle Stopped on M25 in Hertfordshire • Hacker News Board

Re: Homemade Electric Motorcycle Stopped on M25 in Hertfordshire

#51

Post by lnsru » Tue, Aug 20, 2019, 10:53 AM UTC

adrianN wrote: post #5

IMHO the future of personal transportation is vehicles like that. We don't have the space in cities to support 2-3 tons of steel per traveler, and plain bicycles are uncomfortable in bad weather, or when you are physically impaired. But small (electric?) velomobiles with three or four wheels are perfect for city commutes when cycling is not an option. They also don't need 15-20kWh/100km like an electric car would.

Sounds good to me, but I am already afraid crossing a street in Munich. People don’t let other people cross the street even during green light phase. It’s much safer to cross street somewhere in the middle between intersections without traffic light and without cars. Aggressive driving with old premium cars like A8, Cayenne, various AMGs is pretty normal. I don’t mind driving electric tricycle or extremely small electric 4-seater, but not in this ancient, made for cars infrastructure. I value my life and life of my family too much: https://m.dw.com/en/berlin-drag-racers-sentenced-to-life-in-...

Re: Homemade Electric Motorcycle Stopped on M25 in Hertfordshire

#52

Post by buffaloo » Tue, Aug 20, 2019, 10:53 AM UTC

In the UK can traffic police stop motorists for no reason? No probable cause required?

Re: Homemade Electric Motorcycle Stopped on M25 in Hertfordshire

#53

Post by sgjohnson » Tue, Aug 20, 2019, 10:54 AM UTC

buffaloo wrote: post #52

In the UK can traffic police stop motorists for no reason? No probable cause required?

Yup. In the UK police can also stop and search you at their liberty.

Airstrip One.

Re: Homemade Electric Motorcycle Stopped on M25 in Hertfordshire

#54

Post by _pmf_ » Tue, Aug 20, 2019, 10:55 AM UTC

arethuza wrote: post #6

adrianN wrote: post #5

IMHO the future of personal transportation is vehicles like that. We don't have the space in cities to support 2-3 tons of steel per traveler, and plain bicycles are uncomfortable in bad weather, or when you are physically impaired. But small (electric?) velomobiles with three or four wheels are perfect for city commutes when cycling is not an option. They also don't need 15-20kWh/100km like an electric car would.

Such as the Renault Twizy? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_Twizy

This one is exactly at the lower acceptability limit for me, but it seems deadly to onramp/offramp with it.

Re: Homemade Electric Motorcycle Stopped on M25 in Hertfordshire

#55

Post by aivisol » Tue, Aug 20, 2019, 10:55 AM UTC

Rumperuu wrote: post #15

Reminds me of the Czechoslovakian Velorex, which had three wheels, a motorcycle engine and a leather body[0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velorex

Or soviet "invalidka": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMZ_cyclecar. (4 wheels though)

Re: Homemade Electric Motorcycle Stopped on M25 in Hertfordshire

#56

Post by klingonopera » Tue, Aug 20, 2019, 10:56 AM UTC

isoprophlex wrote: post #35

thecatspaw wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

is it legal in the uk to drive barefoot?

Is it illegal anywhere? That's good to know as I often drive barefooted, like... Once every ten trips or so?

Yes, in Germany it is illegal. AFAIK, the law states something along the lines of having "proper shoework" in order to operate the vehicle.

EDIT: Whoops, no, it's actually legal [1][2] (in fact, it's perfectly legal to drive a car naked in Germany in public - though you shouldn't leave your car then, because being naked in public is not actually legal, the fine-print is that your car's interior is considered your private space), but you may get into trouble with insurance. While searching, I think I may have read that it actually is illegal in Switzerland, but don't take my word for it...

[1]: https://www.focus.de/auto/praxistipps/barfuss-autofahren-ist...

[2]: https://anwaltauskunft.de/magazin/mobilitaet/auto/ist-es-erl...

Re: Homemade Electric Motorcycle Stopped on M25 in Hertfordshire

#57

Post by conjectures » Tue, Aug 20, 2019, 10:56 AM UTC

buffaloo wrote: post #52

In the UK can traffic police stop motorists for no reason? No probable cause required?

Yup (or at least, some reason could always be found). But they don't shoot you as much. So it's swings and roundabouts really.

Re: Homemade Electric Motorcycle Stopped on M25 in Hertfordshire

#58

Post by ntzm » Tue, Aug 20, 2019, 10:56 AM UTC

sgjohnson wrote: post #53

buffaloo wrote: post #52

In the UK can traffic police stop motorists for no reason? No probable cause required?

Yup. In the UK police can also stop and search you at their liberty. Airstrip One.

They have to have probable cause, but like in most other countries they'll just make something up like they smell drugs or whatever

Re: Homemade Electric Motorcycle Stopped on M25 in Hertfordshire

#59

Post by yoz-y » Tue, Aug 20, 2019, 10:56 AM UTC

prawn wrote: post #49

adrianN wrote: post #5

IMHO the future of personal transportation is vehicles like that. We don't have the space in cities to support 2-3 tons of steel per traveler, and plain bicycles are uncomfortable in bad weather, or when you are physically impaired. But small (electric?) velomobiles with three or four wheels are perfect for city commutes when cycling is not an option. They also don't need 15-20kWh/100km like an electric car would.

Why don't we have more golf carts or similar vehicles on urban streets? I assume they're electric and easily rechargeable? Strikes me as a decent, existing platform upon which to build variants - could have a larger tray at the rear, netted storage at the front, etc. RV parks and campground hosts and some retirees use them for getting about in a very local context. I know they're probably serve a lot of the needs I'd…

Some cities apparently have.

https://jalopnik.com/theres-an-entire-town-in-georgia-design...

Re: Homemade Electric Motorcycle Stopped on M25 in Hertfordshire

#60

Post by bananapear » Tue, Aug 20, 2019, 10:56 AM UTC

VBprogrammer wrote: post #34

adrianN wrote: post #5

IMHO the future of personal transportation is vehicles like that. We don't have the space in cities to support 2-3 tons of steel per traveler, and plain bicycles are uncomfortable in bad weather, or when you are physically impaired. But small (electric?) velomobiles with three or four wheels are perfect for city commutes when cycling is not an option. They also don't need 15-20kWh/100km like an electric car would.

I've expressed the same sentiment before. The problem is that even talking about electric cars gets people's knickers in a twist; they need to be able to drive for 1000 miles straight while towing an apartment on wheels behind them and any vehicle which can't do that just isn't good enough. They'd rather be dead than have to drive one of these.

I’d love an electric car but I also like my caravan (nice cheap (£20 a night) walking holidays in the countryside). I had to settle for a small diesel instead.

Towing isn’t something a lot of electric cars seem to be homologated for. I think the only current exception is the Tesla Model X.

Unfortunately the post-1997 EU licence restrictions (in the UK) mean that lots of people are restricted to a total gross weight of 3500kg for the car and trailer, so towing even a small caravan with a car that has batteries would need the driver to do another driving test.