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! […]
Post-TDP2021 TWIKE TLC
A few days after arriving back from TDP2021, I brought TW560 to Andi from Ksenotek for some post-TDP2021 TLC. I know that there are some things that need urgent attention, such as the breaking system, the tyres and the main axle on the right hand side. Plus, whatever else Portugal’s cobblestone streets haven’t broken yet… Another few days later, Andi sent me following video – (activate subtitles if necessary) Ah. that was the vibration I felt on the motorway! I always want to learn more – this is why I usually take the time to set up my office at […]
3 days to go…Portugal, here I come! (maybe)
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 have to get a test somewhere in Spain. Ah. Thankfully, a PCR test centre with 5-hour results is very close-by – I’ll be taking the test Tuesday afternoon. This will give me freedom of movement and hotel-occupancy until Friday afternoon. I will be fully vaccinated […]
Happy 20th Birthday, TW560!
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 in Asia and southern Europe in June 2000 and had just begun to restart our life in Switzerland. My TWIKE was the 560th in the line, but due to some administrative miscommunication, more than one TW560 exists – my TWIKE’s twin lives close to Munich. […]
2021 Dreifels 51Ah pack capacity update
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 see how the battery was doing. My pack was purchased in March 2016 and installed August 8, 2016. If you’re interested to know more about how this pack was chosen, got its final size and capacity, please head over here to read all about how […]
Hello 2021!
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 long-ish re-cap of 2020 with some selected photos. TW560’s adventures will follow in retroactive entries later. This year was a very busy one – my company’s fully digital setup and myself being used to be remote all the time when traveling coupled with customers transitioning […]
Not quite 2000km on one charge
A world record with a TWIKE? 2000km on one charge…with a 25+ year old electric vehicle? Wishful thinking or validation of a decades-old vehicle concept? Thomas Bechtiger from Bemoto in Zurich has been our trusted TWIKE repair shop from the very beginning and thought that this would be feasible. He wanted to just load as many used electric scooter batteries into a TWIKE as possible and then see how far the TWIKE could go. It took him and a small and dedicated team months to build the blocks, add a lower-voltage 48V motor and controller electronics to go with it. […]
Want to know more? Start here!
WELCOME! The TWIKE, an electric three-wheeler designed in Switzerland. TWIKE? Three wheeler designed in Switzerland in 1985 Name is short for “TWI“n-bi”KE“ This TWIKE is number 560, built in 2000. New ones are still built today. It has done more than 320’000km Electric range 460km / 75kg lithium batteries Top speed 95 km/h Has been to many places Want to know more? Loads of TWIKE information can be found here. PLEASE send us / share the photos you took of TW560 – thanks! Twitter: @TWIKE_560 Email: pix@emissionless.ch
Pre-TDI2020 battery spa
As always, the time until a major trip seems endless until…the trip is just 2 weeks away and the agenda is still full with calls and meetings and weekends are chock-full with other stuff. Equally important is balancing a pack before setting out on 3 weeks of full-cycle discharges during long-distance daily trips. Thanks to the fact that I have multiple battery workstations, balancing the 42 strings takes only about one day in total and – as mentioned previously – this exercise is also a very good indicator for cell ageing and cell health in general. TW560’s pack is nearing […]
Omnibus update 2018/2019/2020
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 for them to show up in the correct order in the timeline as one of my new year resolutions are to post a little more regularly for this blog. Below is a preview of the entries that will be published during the next few weeks. […]