Just a few weeks ago, i started to have a special effect when trying to switch TW560 off using the main switch for the controller: it would not react immediately, but slightly later. it was just a minor inconvenience and i meant to write the usual TWIKE-suspects an email regarding their ideas, what could provoke this delay, soon. as always, life is hectic and since dreifels’ controller has an ultra-low consumption sleep mode, which deactivates itself after a definable period of time, i didn’t feel too concerned, when for the first time, i was no longer able to turn off […]
one day trip, part2: exploring beautiful switzerland
since the blog entry for the first part of the day was getting quite long, i’ve added this second entry for reading convenience. we take up the action after having very nice lunch at the silwängi alp hut and are on our way down to the schönisei valley. arriving at schönisei, tw560’s battery is fully charged at 414V and ready to take us over 3 passes in one charge! (about 6000 metres of altitude delta in total) at the top of glaubenberg-pass (a very narrow street where busses and trucks have to take 30-min turns, since they cannot cross) a […]
one day trip, part 1 – exploring beautiful switzerland
i’m very happy to live in switzerland…and humbled by the beauty of this country. that said, as a foreigner, i might be more susceptible to switzerland’s culture and beauty than most locals. whilst risking to repeat myself – if you’ve not yet been to switzerland… you absolutely have to make plans to visit! jc and myself haven’t been travelling too much together lately. a few weeks ago, jc headed off to northern germany with TW231 for a 3-4 week trip crossing bavaria, the czech republic and former eastern germany on his own. he went alone, since i’m currently less mobile […]
seats: replace or repair?
any lightweight construction made of plastic is prone to crack either under high amounts of structural stress or after a certain amount of time has passed and the aging process makes the plastic brittle. TWIKE seats are a very simple, somewhat comfortable and (in their pure form, a thin mat directly on plastic) extremely light. however, check any TWIKE and you’ll find that usually, the shells are cracked and in varying states of disrepair. after a certain amount of wear and tear or time the TWIKE pilot literally sits on the frame without any other support. given enough money, remediating […]
welcome: new here? start with this entry!
emissionless.ch is about the every-day practiabilities of electric motoring, related concepts, diy-solutions and ideas, musings about where our energy comes from, my various longer trips (ev’s in india!) using electric power only and, above all, a special vehicle type called the TWIKE. during the last 8 years, i’ve clocked over 230’000kms driving various ev’s – if you have any comment or question: glad to hear from you! start by reading the latest blog entries, or jump to a TWIKE adventure or just learn more about my TWIKE, TW560.
better than new!
wow, that went fast! was my first thought, when i got maya schnyder’s email. she wrote me that the hood was ready and that everything had gone well and she was happy with the result. as i have written before, maya’s understanding of quality and work satisfaction match my own closely. because of this, i was really looking forward to the new hood. i schedule a friday afternoon with some meetings in berne and tell her that i would like to thank her by having a beer after the work is done. her answer is equally surprising and unsurprising: “i’ve […]
new plexi hood, work in progress
after starting the task of replacing my front windscreen after an act of vandalism – maya sent me a selection of pictures to get an idea of the complexity of the task at hand and the progress she was making. it really feels good to know how things are coming along. i thought this info might be of interest… TW560’s windscreen replacement – the world’s LAST NEW TWIKE plexi windscreen.
not an ideal solution
after a nice weekend in france, i’m back to switzerland driving through bad and cold weather. the trip to france quickly showed that the temporary hood had some shortcomings: furthermore, it’s really hard to open the hood in the first place. because of a misalignment of the hood opening mechanism and the hood itself. to open the hood i have to push down hard and pull on the hood horizontally whilst using the opening mechanism – the process looks rather violent 🙂 but…who am i to complain? i have a hood, i can use my TWIKE. and most important of […]
vogese alps, take 2
my trip to the vogese alps just a few weeks ago was extremely nice. i couldn’t stop talking about the beautiful landscapes, quaint little villages and the very nice chalet jc and i stayed in. my wife and i then decided to retrace the same route during the week-end around may 1st. View two-day trip in a larger map the drive to freiburg was really nice and relaxing, no rain and no feldberg-recharge, beautiful views – the place jc and i chose for recharging the TWIKE last time also “recharges” people in other ways – it hosts a multitude of […]
vandalism damage assessment
after getting TW560 to the garage i usually have it serviced, thomas möckli the owner promised to have a look at it as soon as possible. just a few hours later, he called me and let me know that – except the hood – everything is repairable at a modest cost. even the electronic fault turns out to be one single high power transistor acting up. however, there are no plexi-hood windscreens available anymore (so he thought…) and he was offering me either an old, used complete hood frame with (scratched) plexi windscreen or to mount a modern two-part glass […]