Fossil Free Friday - Electric Scooters

Since Grizz, Mendi, Fester, the Loi-Yer, Double K, and Melissa are headed to the Texas United Scooter Rally this weekend, it seemed like a great day to throw a few electric scooters up for Fossil Free Friday.

Grizz' red Vespa and the Mesquite Hugger E-Vespa

  

Earlier this week, Derek Markham posted about a new electric German scooter. (Or should that be "German electric scooter"? Where's Noam when I need him.)

Derek Markham article on TreeHugger

I'm always excited when I run across a new electric scooter so I popped on over and found a pretty standard little scooter that

• looks a whole lot like a 2006 Yamaha Vino
• has a 28mph top speed
• 30 miles of range
• is available only in Europe. Snagit.

 But, then I remembered that we have a similar scooter available over here. The Genze 2.0.

And the Genze may not be all retro-Yamaha stylish, but it's got a nice list of virtues:

• It's vastly slightly faster (30mph!)
• It has the same range - 30 miles
• No insane Teutonic import tariff -  it's made, or at least assembled, in Ann Arbor Michigan!
• It has a removable battery pack, too!
• You can buy one (in Texas) for less than $3000!
• And, it's a 2-wheeled pickup truck! (You know me and electric pickups.)

(A pretty small pickup truck)

The pickup bed even inspired a weekly contest!

So there you have it - two emission-free electric scooters to help you get off the gas, keep it in the ground, clear the air, and generally make the world a less stinky place.

May you live in a less stinky place that you helped to create!

PS. In case the Genze 2.0 is not your thing, be sure to check out the Fido (my favorite), the Boxx, and the Monday Motorbike. - three very different approaches to electric scooters.

Fossil Free Friday: Updates on Electric Scooters and Such

In the quest for a vehicle to help us move on...the quest for an oh-so-cool pair of eco-friendly wheels to haul us about!

Fido (An electric scooter built by vintage scooterists)

This one is hard for me. You see, I have loved the Fido since before there was a Fido. And the first photo brought me in even closer.

Yep, it was love at first sight!

 

I love the idea of it -  a very simple and elegant form designed to do what you need it to and to be repaired by the average human being. I love the reality of it - it's a very practical machine that has a realistic range and realistic speed and lots of little perks to make it perfect for lots of jobs. I have never met them in person, but I am a big fan of the people who dreamed it up, invested their lives in it, and have now built it. Jeb Gast, the Fido founder, was a big inspiration to me when I decided to build my electric Vespa and he has continued to impress me since. I even love the old building they restored for the factory and I wish they were a little closer so I could swing by and check out their coffee digs. I can't imagine a cooler scooter company anywhere.

Check out the Fido Useful video

 

But that level of coolness comes at a price. I can't imagine what they have had to invest to get this thing off the ground and I know that a 72 volt, 35 amp-hour battery pack is a big investment in itself.

Check out the cool 'stache! and the teaser video

On the more personal side, I know my own finances and have known all along that I can not afford to buy ANY new electric scooter. But I have held onto a hope of buying a new Fido all through its development. And I held onto that hope until the price was finally announced. The first batch is up for pre-order with a price tag of $10,500. When I found that out, I realized that the Fido is out of my reach and I worry that it will be for many others as well. I wish them great success and hope that they find buyers who are able and willing to make the investment for a very cool and capable machine.

Monday MotorBikes (Formerly the Bolt M-1) (An electric moped built by vintage mopedders)

Love it with the spoked wheels

While I've never looked at the Fido and thought - hey I could build (a reasonably acceptable version of) that, I have done that with the Monday. [If you're ambitious in that way, check this out: 1977 Mopeds Indigan Roller. Just order that without the gas motor, add batteries, a motor, some brackets, a controller, and a throttle. ;-) Everything is so simple on the internet!]

That looks like fun to me!

To be fair, you'd spend a lot of time and money doing it, but a reasonably acceptable version (with a lot fewer cool features) could be built in a garage.

but it's pretty cool with mags too

On the other hand, for $6,000 you can buy this rather cool bike with very few headaches and lots of cool features like Bluetooth this and USB that and keyless other stuff. (You know you love instant gratification.)

The Monday is definitely an interesting machine as far as it capabilities. It's a 20mph e-bike in Economy mode, but it's a 40mph motorcycle in Sport mode. (I believe that Sport mode doubles the voltage from 24-48 volts.)

It is a very cool machine, and $5,995 is an attainable number for some of us.

Motochimp

Now, let's go a little goofy! Double K sent me this link this week and I knew I had to share it with you!

A Video with a lot of photos and a British voice-over

 

48 volt, 350 watt, 19 mph, all the usual stuff

 

Just your friendly neighborhood MotoChimp

 

I haven't found anything to indicate that it's headed to the US any time soon, but goshdarnit, it's adorable!

 

Can't you just see this thing in a Gorillaz video?

 

Other Bits of Related News this week:

 

Piaggio announced that they are finally getting ready to produce an electric Vespa.

 

Zero Motorcycles announced their 2017 line-up.

 

I think that's everything.

 

May you find your gas-free ride and may the air clear.

Good News Everyone: Flykly, Copenhagen Wheel, and Fido

Emails from Fido and Superpedestrian came in this week, and Flykly has a new product and a new kickstarter to kick it off.

Simple and cool: the Fido

I will start with my favorite. Jeb Gast and crew (all of whom I hope to meet someday) are entrepreneurial scooter heroes to me. I have followed Jeb's story for years because I have followed electric scooters in the states, and he has been present throughout my searches. I first discovered him running a shop called Soundspeed Scooters in Seattle. He worked with gas and electric scooters there and even created a conversion kit for turning your old Earth-hating Vespa into a beautiful green machine. If you google "electric Vespa" you can still find lots of info about those Seattle days and scoots.

But Jeb (apparently) discovered the same thing I discovered when I converted an old Vespa to electric - they don't make the ideal electric scooter. I went looking for better candidates to convert; Jeb decided to create a better scooter. So, he designed such a beast and then set off on the daunting task of going from an idea and one machine to a full-fledged manufacturer of a high-quality, user-friendly scooters - the Fido.

And, if you know vintage scooters, you will probably recognize vintage design elements adapted for a modern machine: the simplicity of the old Cushmans, the simple maintenance of the Vespas with their easily removable wheels, and the strength and simplicity of the Lambretta's tubular frames. Did you notice that I used the world "simplicity" too many times? Well, that was part of Gast's plan. He wanted to build a machine that the end user could easily maintain and even repair if need be.  Good shops to service scooters are hard to find and afford, so he wanted to build a scooter for the common human being with simple tools.

I look at lots of electric two-wheeler plans and companies, and I admire this machine and company more than most anything I have seen. I hope they thrive, and I get excited each time I receive an email update from Fido. Which I did this week. There was news of lots of testing, a new employee, and updates to their really cool digs in Kalamazoo. They report that they are heading into pre-production. Yes, I am excited for the Fido team!

Check out the Fido blog here and enjoy the short video of the Fido in action.

Flykly Smart Ped: What a great idea!

Flykly has a new product out, and this one is a scooter, and it makes a lot of sense. I will readily admit that I am not a huge fan of kick-n-go scooters. If I were 37 years younger I would be a big fan, but being the oldfatguy that I am, they just don't hold that much appeal, but the new Flykly scooter might just get me past my oldfatguy prejudices.

Folded Flykly

It's a small, foldable machine that could help you with mid-distance or last-mile travel and replace a bike or electric bike for lots of tasks. It seems a perfect application of the powered wheel, possibly even a better application than the electric bicycle. (It feels a little sacrilegious to type that.) (And I have to say it - Flykly is putting out a second product while the oh-so-long-awaited Copenhagen Wheel is just starting to roll.) Check out the scooter and the kickstarter to learn more.

I hope you like red!

Superpedestrian (Copenhagen Wheel) sent out an email this week. The email communicates that things are heating up for them - they even feature a video of a person in the real world who has actually finally received one: video here. It looks like they may actually get a product out there. (I am still thankful that I did not ask my family to sacrifice the "deposit" money to pre-order a CW two years ago when the opportunity was first put out there. I would have had to do a lot of apologizing and regretting.)

The most exciting part of the email for me is that it also features a Copenhagen Wheel review from Electric Bike Review. It's a very comprehensive review and answers a lot of questions about the CW. Even the comments are worth a read. (If you like e-bikes and you don't yet know EBR, you are in for a treat. Enjoy!) It really should be an amazing product and good enough to get past the bitterness of vastly delayed delivery.

May your week bring lots of good news and may you find the wheels that reward you and and the planet.

Electric Moped: Somebody built our napkin-sketch dream bike!

I drink coffee with the Scooter Workshop Night guys on most days. Over coffee we have built many dream vehicles. Mind you, we don't actually build much, but we do plan lots of builds on napkins and envelopes and tabletops. One of my favorite dream builds has been the unholy marriage of a two-stroke European moped with an electric motorcycle powertrain. And I have gotten close to the dream. I did build a Velosolex with a hubmotor for a good friend. (Hi, JG!) And I did purchase the running gear out of an early Zero motorcycle. (I am terrible at minimalism.) And that running gear has dustily resided in a box since it came into my possession. (The current plan is to install that motor in one of the ElectroPigeons. But there's a lot of tuition and taxes to pay first. So, I will keep designing on napkins.)

Not this Magnum,

nor this Magnum,

this Magnum!

Back to the moped plan. My favorite mopeds are the top-tank models, the ones that look like undergrown motorcycles rather than overgrown bicycles. One of the coolest and most adaptable is the Puch Magnum. I have kept an eye open for a cheap Magnum for years. But I never actually found one nearby.

Yesterday on Autoblog Green, the Bolt Motorbike showed up. And I recognized it from my coffee napkin sketches. Some intelligent and ambitious mopedders (Mopedders seldom get called either of those words.) must have made the same sketch. Lighter than a motorcycle, sturdier than a bike, and powerful enough to climb San Francisco hills with ease - the Bolt is a very cool bike, and it appear to have a Puch Magnum frame.

Check out that ultra-cool bolt logo!

 

Lots of nifty features and a pretty impressive range - 30-50 mile depending on your power setting of choice. I am surprised to see such a low-voltage battery pack, but it looks like the Bolt crew invested their money in amp-hours rather than volts - a good way to increase range. The price is not far away from what it would take for you to build one if you had the time, the tools, the skills, and the ambition.

 

It is definitlely a cool machine, and at $5000 for a turn-key American-built electric moped, you could do a lot worse. (I am now picturing my Mesquite Hugger journalistic dream - the opportunity to have a head-to-head-to-head comparison: Fido vs. Boxx vs.Bolt. I would be in blogger heaven!

 

May your napkin sketches become reality and make the world a better place!

More Mesquite Hugger Greatest Hits: Electric Scooter Posts

In case you are dreaming of green scooting this spring, here are some posts to keep you dreaming:

Making some noise:
http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2013/10/solving-one-electric-vehicle-problem.html

 

A visit to an electric scooter shop:
http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-quick-trip-to-austin-part-1the.html

Somebody's old Vespa on Evalbum:
http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-few-local-lubbock-evs-for-your.html

Just wow:
http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-biggest-dang-electric-moped-i-have.html

Some available options out there:
http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2014/03/petroleum-free-transport-how-willing.html

Hempenscoot:
http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2014/04/a-new-twist-in-green-scootering-hemp.html

(Very popular) collected conversions:
http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2014/04/some-of-mhs-favorite-scooter-moped.html

The Mahindra Genze:
http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2014/05/an-american-built-e-scooter.html

Fido news:
http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2014/05/electric-scooter-news-fido-i-am-excited.html

Daymak Beast:
http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2014/07/kickstarter-your-commute-off-grid-off.html

EVT 168 Custom Conversion:
http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2014/07/a-little-evalbum-inspiration-cure-for.html

A couple of new old Euro scooters:
http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2014/09/another-modern-vintage-electric-scooter.html

Vintage Conversion Candidates:
http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2014/10/electric-pigeons-vintage-scooters-that.html

Fido Update:
http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2014/11/electric-scooter-news-fido-grows-up-and.html

Gas 2 Articles:
http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2014/11/two-wheeler-articles-from-one-of-my.html

Mini's mini-scooter (Yawn):
http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2014/11/disappointment-mini-debuts-another.html

May your spring be green scootastic!

I found my new dream electric vehicle - move over Tesla

See what a Razor MX650 motorcycle can (and should not) do!

Let's be realistic here - I am a middle-age/middle-class guy living in a middle-of-the-road town. I'd love to have a Tesla, a Leaf, a MiEV, an I3...but  the budget at the MH house just doesn't support that kind of dash. Even the Fido (still one of the coolest production vehicles we've seen) is a wee bit out of the budget for a guy paying for this middle-class life. So I am always on the lookout for electric vehicle companies that do fall in the budget.

One of the most successful electrical vehicles around is probably one you give little thought to - Razor. Yep, Razor - the people who put out thousands of little electric scooter and motorcycles into the hands of thousands of little people (and occasional overzealous adults - ask some time about my wife's adventures on a Razor Pocket Mod Scooter).

Well, today I saw a promo video for the Razor Crazy Cart XL. WOWSER!!!!! I want one! I signed up to be on the email list and I am shaking on the inside! Fester, Knippa, Grizz, Swartzy, Peaches, we have found our rides!

 

May we all have that much fun working in a warehouse!

Electric Scooter News: Fido Grows Up and Scoots to Italy

Check this cool canine out at fidomotors.com!

Here at the Mesquite Hugger Hangout, it's always an exciting day when an email rolls in from the Fido Team. So, yesterday was a good day!!!

The email had two pieces of info - that Fido is being unveiled at EICMA - the international motorcycle exposition in Italy - and that the new Fido was unveiled on the new Fido website.

I went straight to the website. (The MH budget doesn't really support paddling over to Italy to see it in person.) I love the new Fido with its obvious improvements over the prototype model. I want mine in blue with the wood rack on the back! I will shut up now and let the photos do the talking.

May you be fortunate enough to have green transport this cool!

Bonus link: The last MH post about the Fido: http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2014/05/electric-scooter-news-fido-i-am-excited.html