I have been invited to speak about e-mobility and join a podium discussion late January 2025. Besides me two other Swiss EV heavy-weights are going to be presenting – Christoph Erni, CEO of Juice Technologies, a charging solution provider – best known for the Juice Booster portable charging station. Martin Kyburz, CEO of Kyburz Switzerland AG, Maker of the iconic Swiss Post (and others) delivery vehicles and the fun eRod electric minimalist roadster My presentation aims at showing up how far we’ve come in 20 years – I’ll be speaking about how we were the first family far and wide […]
Upgrading TWIKE Charging: My Custom Type2 Box Solution
This project has been a long time in the making – for the last few years, I’ve been encountering more and more charging stations with fixed cables off which I cannot charge with my trusty, 10+ year-old, Type2 cable. There would be a very, very cheap way to solve this problem: the reason why you cannot just plug another Type2 cable into the plug from the charging station, effectively making cable extensions impossible is the shorter CP pin on the ‘plug’/’male’ side of the Type2 specification. The second reason for this is to ensure all other pins are seated before […]
TDI2024 – Day9 – Crossing the Alps & returning back home
Not pushing any further yesterday and a good night’s sleep really did the trick – I’m really looking forward to both the drive today …and returning home. Weather-wise is promising to be a very nice day – blue skies all over central Europe. I wake up early, get some fresh orange juice and some fresh cornetti at the hotel’s bar and pack the TWIKE for the last time. The overnight charge was a full 8h @ 9A – this morning’s battery pack temperature at 35°C is proof that the batteries had to do some work during the night. Nothing extreme: […]
TDI2024 – Day 8 – Back to the oven
Getting up at 5 am after a long good-bye party organised by my friends was hard. I had already packed the day before and with a heavy heart I closed the door to the apartment ready for my long drive back home. As mentioned in my last entry, the drive today will be mostly on motorways and Superstradas in the morning since the forecast for today shows over 38°C in the pianura and I want to get as far as possible before potentially having to slow down due to potential overheating during my drive or quick charges. Packing is easy […]
TDI2024 – Day 3-7 – Digital Nomad in Umbria
Just a short entry on my stay – during the day I work normally, connecting to customers and co-workers via the Internet. Breakfast, lunch and dinner, however, is with friends as are activities during the weekend. Evenings in August are sultry, I spend time either at my friends homes or we go to restaurants. Food has always been a big part of my life. Italy delivers every time! One of the restaurants we went had this incredible view which matched the very good food we all shared. One evening we went to San Gemini to have some late evening drinks […]
TDI2024 – Day2 – Escaping the heat across the Apennine
After a good night’s sleep, I wake up bright and early to start my drive to Terni at 7 am. Since the hotel is closing for remodeling today, there is no breakfast available at the hotel. Hotel breakfasts typically aren’t what I go for … except for Italy where one can be sure to get a good coffee and some cornettos to go with it. Not getting breakfast isn’t a problem either, as there are bars everywhere. The day promises to be another scorcher. Not only do all my weather apps predict 35+°C but just being outside at 7am and […]
TDI2024 – Day 1 – Charging woes in Italy
It’s still nice and cool when I’m packing my TWIKE for its newest adventure. I’m really looking forward to my week in Italy. I haven’t been to Italy for 3 years now since TDI2021. Unlike last time, this trip will involve some long-distance-non-hypermiling travel and recharging en-route. As long-time readers of this blog know, I’ve been driving EV’s since way before public charging stations were a thing and have seen how sloppy IT implementation and ambiguous standardisation documents can make electric travel a real pain. Let’s see how things pan out today. Packing took me around 30 seconds – this […]
Pre-TDI2024 TWIKE TLC
It’s been a while since TW560 was at Ksenotek for servicing. Since I’m planning to travel to Italy in two weeks, I’d like to ensure that all is in order and I’m not going to remain stranded along some bumpy and remote Italian d-class road. Also, I’ve received an upgraded set of brake pins – made of stainless steel instead of the usual aluminium. This should fix the intermittent brake pad sticking all TWIKEs experience from time to time. Here we go! I’m also getting new tyres front and back – even if they aren’t down to to the usual […]
ODT: Escaping the rain – Engadin, here I come
A quick one-day trip (ODT) entry on my trip to Switzerland’s mountainous region to the east: Graubünden, with its famous valley and region, Engadin. Many a trip me and my TWIKE have undertaken during the last 18 years has at a point either crossed this valley or driven along it. It’s a region well worth visiting! Everyone in my family was busy an I didn’t feel like staying inside all day – every weather app I had was forecasting a full day of gray and rain around where I live. The forecast for Graubünden, however, was great. Lucky me a […]
France: welcoming TW560 again…
France has – like Germany – decided to adopt a scheme where certain types of vehicles are prohibited from entering cities or city centres depending on the emissions they produce. Unlike ULEZ or Barcelona’s LEZ (to which TW560 has already (2021) been multiple (2022) times and has an official account) Unlike Germany, these zones can be combined with time-based limitations and – crucially for older cars that aren’t driven a lot, such as old-timers, there are exemptions that can be easily obtained digitally for a number of days per year. The agenda for the reductions is very aggressive: after 2025 […]