it’s been a while since my last post from tdm2014. TW560 has been clocking lots of kilometers, taking me across switzerland occasionally and taking me to my new office every day. every end of year allows me to check the resetable counter on TW560: Z3 Hand (manual counter) – this year it shows 26830kms – this is quite alot more than switzerland’s average yearly mileage of 12600kms! my average consumption this year is markedly higher than other years because around 85% of the kilometers were driven at high speeds on motorways. the last few days of 2014 were very interesting […]
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.
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 […]
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 […]
charge points – why accept the profane?
ahh. i like our local utilities! charging points are getting more and more interesting! here two of the more interesting ones i’ve encountered lately: one of the best charge points for zurîch city: a charge point fully covered in fake grass! surprise whilst parking at the marriott zurich… wasn’t listed at lemnet.org. i liked the flowers and the plastic lawn carpet! (still, it’s just a copycat installation 🙂 what next?
my commute to work
just wanted to let you know how my everyday trip to work looks like! i’m very happy to live in switzerland! this is the view i am treated to every day. (in case of good weather, that is!)
check your rims, often!
last thursday evening, on my way home, TW560 experienced a major problem: a rim broke whilst going around a corner at about 55 km/h. it was a harrowing experience. first of all, a big bang. then loss of most maneuverability. after that, VERY ugly splintering and scraping sounds coming from behind whilst trying to break and trying not crash into some containers just a few metres away. after what seemed an eternity, TW560 came to a shuddering halt. i stayed in the TWIKE for a few seconds to draw some deep breaths and then got out. what i saw hurt […]
happy new year!
happy new year! thank you for reading this blog! TW560 has been a trusted companion for over 19000kms in 2013. i am looking forward to an exiting 2014 with many happy e-kilometers!
world record attempt in zurich july 6: with TWIKE 560
this weekend louis palmer, organizer of WAVE2011-2013 (TW560 took part in WAVE2011, in india) wanted to end the current WAVE with a challenge: beat the current world record bringing together as many electric cars as possible. the current world record stood at 255 vehicles. after reaching out to his network, louis arranged to have all cars converge in zurich on the morning of july 6. below is a video walking along the cars waiting for the start signal. (i started about half way in!) in any case, we TWIKE pilots were here in force! about 60 TWIKE’s were to be […]