TWIKE 560's adventures

WELCOME! The TWIKE, an electric three-wheeler designed in Switzerland. We’re currently driving from Switzerland via France and Spain to southern Portugal and back – dodging all C-19 quarantine hot-spots – read about our trip on this blog TWIKE? Three wheeler designed in Switzerland in 1985 Name is short for “TWI“n-bi”KE“ This TWIKE is number 560, […]

Far too quickly our few days in Porto have gone by and it’s time to leave for Lisbon. As in Lisbon any check-in (and during week-ends also to enter restaurants) has to be either by recently tested or vaccinated persons, my family had to find a place and slot get a test done in Lisbon […]

This entry is not TWIKE-travel related. It serves as a teaser to anyone who hasn’t been to Porto yet to visit ASAP. My first visit to Porto was 1991 – a very long time ago and I was curious as to how the city had changed. (spoiler alert: a lot) But before we start with […]

Another sunny day greets us. We slept very well since our Hotel was far from any road or any other source of noise and the night’s temperatures allowed us to sleep with an open window and enjoy a cool breeze. We’re really looking forward to our drive to Porto today – we’re just 30km from […]

We get up bright an early, unlike our kids, who will sleep another 2 hours. They will drive to Porto directly whilst we have chosen to stay at a very small village a few kilometres from the Portuguese border tonight. As always, I timed the overnight charge to complete around the time we’re leaving and […]

Yet another night of full sleep and no distractions sees me wake up like a freshly born baby. Ahh! My day starts around 0830 – heading out to the square just a few steps away from my hotel I sit at a small bar and order the usual set everybody else around me is also […]

Today, I wake up to the faint sound of one of the peacocks somewhere further away … and, unlike the last few days, I feel great! No pain in my joints, no weird feeling – nothing. Back to 100% and ready to take over (and until that happens, to explore) the world. My hosts have […]

My day starts less then ideal: After yesterday’s cold and rainy marathon drive, I only felt marginally better after a long and hot bath and fell asleep quickly – only to wake up 2 hours later to violent shivering fits and intermittent cold sweating until early morning. I always try to see the upsides of […]

Hurray! Today is the day! TDP2021 finally can start. I was unable to finish off everything still on my plate the evening before work-wise. I also had my second vaccination late yesterday and had already felt some effects during the night. Getting up at 5 was hard – I felt very weird and had some […]

Driving across international borders 2021 has its own challenges. I was made aware of some requirements. PCR tests are required in France for hotels – because I will not be able to cross France in 24 hours. Ah. Then, entering Spain, PCR tests are required – also for Portugal – this means that I will […]

I’ve been very busy for what feels like a very long time. As a result, I’ve been doing less TWIKE-related stuff and less traveling. Quite a few people have been reaching out to me lately to thank me for all the information and TWIKE travel inspirations they found whilst reading my blog. I really like […]

One of the readers of this blog noted that there wasn’t too much going on at emissionless.ch at the moment…which is true. My current job and other things going on right now strongly limit my ability to head-off with my TWIKE on one-day trips / multiple day trips in Switzerland or think about embarking on […]

Two decades, 280,000+km – countless hours of driving bliss and a persistent attribute of my life – Thank you, TW560! Built in Switzerland mid-2000 by the nascent TWIKE AG, it was put into service one month before my eldest daughter was born. My wife and I had just returned from 3+ years of living abroad […]

Since purchasing my new 51Ah pack over four years (as per today 4 years, 7 months and 6 days) ago, I’ve been tracking the degradation of the pack’s capacity over time with periodic long-distance full-cycle trips. With one of the first nice and not freezing days in 2021, I thought it would be nice to […]

Whew, what a year…for all of us anywhere. Hope you’re staying safe wherever you are. Good news is that my family and I have been lucky. Healthy throughout the year, we got to travel outside of Switzerland twice to meet friends and family … with TW560 being part of the trip. This entry is a […]

During the last few days I’ve been publishing ‘old’ entries on my blog and a few readers reached out to me as they were wondering if something was amiss. All is good (…as someone else tweeted regarding something much more serious) – These entries were just overdue and I’m posting them with the correct date […]

At the end of 2019, I look back at a very nice and fun-packed year with my favourite of all vehicles: TWIKE 560. 2019 was a very busy year. It saw me travelling around 80% and being away for weeks at a time. Most notable was November where I enjoyed full two weeks in warm […]

After a gloriously refreshing night of undisturbed sleep thanks to super-fresh air and no noise, I wake super-refreshed even after a boozy night smoking multiple cigars.   Seb and I meet downstairs for breakfast with fresh Zopf and home-made jam and honey which we eat enjoying the same incredible view on his balcony. Life could […]

Given that I slept in a communal space, it was surprising that I woke up refreshed when the rays of the early morning sun filtered into the room. Grabbing my overnight bag I head upstairs to the upper desk passing still-closed bars to get a glimpse of what’s going on around the ferry and find […]

My last day in Spain has come. I have to get to Barcelona early, as I need to get a full charge to be able to get to Seb’s on one charge. Seb is a long-time friend and reader of this blog who lives in lower Valais. There are only a few commercial charging options […]

After not having slept well due to excessive noise levels outside of the hotel, I get up early and look out of my room to check if TW560 is still there. Two things to report … Good news: it’s still there. Bad news: something else TW560-related appeared overnight: a huge new oil leak. I really […]

We get up at 5 am and pack both car and TWIKE. My family is heading to Sète in southern France as they liked the pictures and description I gave them and wanted to experience the place for themselves. I will drive to Valencia today. Instead of taking the same road back along the coast, […]

This entry is a compilation of some thoughts, stuff TW560 or I experienced and some pics of my stay in southern Spain this year. First, in Switzerland in 2019 there is already a massive market penetration rate of electric cars, especially Tesla’s, but also many other brands. When driving the 20km to my office, I […]

After a very relaxing night at our home in Liria, we parents get up early. Today we’re up at 6 am, as we are covering much less distance today. Our kids will sleep late until around 10 am and then have a Spanish breakfast at one of the local Churrerias before leaving towards San Juan […]