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 […]
Not much going on here!
Very true. Everything is OK: The TWIKE is doing great – I’ve been busy again – traveling to Singapore and other countries job-wise whilst in my private life other priorities have been in the way of me exploring Switzerland. Good news is that I’m still planning a longer-distance trip this year: I’ve got some TWIKE-related projects that are on hold for the moment such as the center console restoration or a better Type2 charging solution, among others. Check back soon.
Hello 2024
Time goes by really quickly – especially if you’re absent. Welcome to a quick re-cap of 2023, the usual stats and an outlook into 2024. The good news first: TW560 had no major technical problems during 2023. Only following parts had to be serviced: 2023 started with me heading back to Singapore for another 4 months – extending my total stay there that started late 2022 to a total of 8 months. After some relaxing days back home over Christmas and New Year I headed back to Asia. My wife visited me for 2 weeks of vacation in Malaysia before […]
2023 Battery Pack Balancing
As every year, when the first warm days of pre-summer beckon, I feel the itch of taking TW560 on a long one-day-trip. Part of such an one-day-trip is typically charging the pack to the maximum 4.22V per cell, unlike the usual 3.8V for everyday use, and then drive the pack to the self-imposed minimum cell cut-off voltage of 3.0V. This works very well and is no issue if the pack’s many cells are all well balanced and at the same voltage. Since my TWIKE does not have any active cell balancing or thermal management (for weight and full-pack cut off […]
Hello 2023
As every year, this entry is a longer retro for 2022 with more than just TWIKE-related topics. It has taken long to create this entry as I’ve been mostly living and working in Singapore since October 2022 and at times only travelling back to Switzerland for a few days before returning to Asia again. My days are unfortunately are quite busy and I’ve nothing TWIKE-related to report as my TWIKE and I are separated by continents and the tragedy going on in Ukraine. The good news is that TW560 didn’t have any major technical issues throughout 2022. Following maintenance was […]
emissionslos/emissionless – all new!
A new theme! More focus on photos – plus: finally, a responsive site for mobile devices! This blog has been on the internet for nearly 11 years now. All the details how and why this blog exists can be found here. Even though I had been already blogging in the mid-nineties (!), starting the blog in 2011 meant a full new start, complete with choosing the blog software, which in the 90’s didn’t exist and discovering which features were important to me. The choice fell on WordPress due to its configurability, extensibility and ease of use. After 2 months, I […]
2022 Pack capacity update
As every year, it is time to check the total capacity of TW560’s battery pack. After carefully balancing the pack, which took me the better part of a weekend, I was ready for a full day’s worth of TWIKEing. The pack health is excellent. Most cells are in-sync down to the millivolt – only 3 cells were a fraction off, which was easily fixed with balancing. My trip took me to Basel, the French Jura – all the way to La Chaux de Fonds…and back. The topography in the Jura is very hilly – this will have an impact on […]
Hello 2022
What a year 2021 has been! TWIKE 560 and I have had a great time. Thankful to have been in good health all along. Besides TW560 turning 20 this year and emissionless.ch as a blog existing 10 years, the main event this year was my multi-month trip to Portugal (TDP2021). If you haven’t read about it yet, you can start here. Traveling as a digital nomad, working from wherever, mixing vacation with my traveling life was a revelation. It turned out to be not only doable but very relaxing, productive and just plain liberating. I consider myself to be very […]
Backlog of entries: GONE!
Just 2 months ago, celebrating emissionless.ch’s 10 year anniversary and also here, mid-year, I promised to post all missing TWIKE adventure entries by the end of 2021. A herculean task: 25 entries in total. I am happy to report that this mission has been accomplished today! TDI2020 and TDI2019, my two summer holidays in Italy with my family and TDST2020, plus our recurring yearly trip to Southern Styria now are on the site and I’m looking forward to my readers enjoying the entries and the feedback I’m going to get. I’m listing the entries I’ve just published below: Trip to […]
10 years emissionless.ch
Wow, time flies when you’re having fun! emissionless.ch: 10 years of blogging fun keeping track of adventures documenting how life with one of the world’s most efficient vehicles is like being a go-to resource for TWIKE owners and would-be owners tips for every-day use and care being the go-tp address for people who’ve seen TW560 on the road somewhere far away and want to know more about the weird little spaceship they’ve just seen How did everything get started? By me discovering that traveling with a TWIKE was possible and enjoyable! …and this began even before I had purchased TW560! […]