not long ago, a petrol-head friend of mine converted from driving a 550hp bmw alpina to an i3. his first ever ev-drive was one i organized for him to participate at the world record attempt in zurich in 2013 where he was provided with a renault fluence z.e., an ev with one claim to fame: it was the first commercially available ev with a swappable battery that could be exchanged within a minute at designated drop stations. (…which never took off because the company behind this design feature went bankrupt. i wanted to visit their danish headquarters during my TDD2011 […]
TDB2015 – Day10: snow! & an executive decision
time flies when you’re having fun! today is the last day of our epic trans-european tdb2015-trip! weather hasn’t changed since yesterday. torrential rain continues and low-hanging clouds shroud all surrounding mountains. After a hearty breakfast we load our stuff into TW560 and set out to cross the arlberg pass. our optional route via lech / zürs is not an option, since weather radar images show heavy rainfall all the way to the swiss border…and beyond. TW560s interior is still very damp from yesterday’s drive – windscreen fogging is inevitable. we start the defrosters and happily munch additional 500+W just for […]
TDB2015 – Day9: entering the alps
our day starts early again. after a hearty breakfast, we check-out and are personally seen off by the owner of the guest house. as a first, today, heavy rain instead of sunshine awaits us as we get into TW560. one design drawback of a twike is the canopy which opens to the front. during rain, this exposes most of the interior, allowing it to get wet. when it rains, twike pilots are able to get into their vehicles very quickly, thus keeping the rain entering to a minimum. less ideal is our case where we have to pack the twike […]
TDB2015 – Day8: austrian backwaters to a chinese majority
it’s difficult to leave a place like this. after our well-deserved R&R we start early again – today, we go back to our usual very small roads, driving from village to village, from farm to farm, taking in the sights as they come. we say goodbye to my family and with this TDB2015‘s last leg back to switzerland has begun. but first we have to get back to a road with tarmac! our route then takes us direction rohrbach and eventually ried im innkreis. the setting remains very rural and we are happy to report that in austria, even the […]
TDB2015 – Day7: r&r in bad leonfelden, austria
aaah. a day dedicated to relaxation and recreation. after catching-up on family affairs until 2am (and drinking lots of very good austrian wine), i get up about 8.30am and venture outside to take in the landscape. just a mere 2km off the czech border, this place is in midst of a plateau called mühlviertel in austria. as mentioned in earlier posts, part of my family comes from austria. as a child, i spent many summers in austria – most of which were either in close-by linz or, my favourite, here, in bad leonfelden. i have very fond memories of me […]
TDB2015 – Day6: a dash across cz
another day welcomes us with brilliant sunlight. still stunningly large, our rooms seem even bigger when bathed in sunlight. check out the third room of my already large suite: everything in this hotel is large – even the smaller windows in the lobby seem like they were sourced from a church. on checking out, i was asked if i had seen the minibar policy… no, was my answer, until it was pointed out to me. 🙂 we leave legnica and follow small roads towards the czech border. slowly hills move into view and we’re really looking forward to some less […]
TDB2015 – Day5: rural poland
we start out early again – the weather promises to be as perfect as yesterday. TW560 is fully charged and ready – even with a very complicated infrastructure. getting out of bydgoszcz is quite challenging – as the bridge leading over the river brda seems to suggest 🙂 our day is magical. after a few kms on busy roads, we leave everything behind us and cross super-rural poland on single lane roads. we slowly climb towards a plateau and from there onwards we drive from sleepy village to sleepy village. everyone seems happy and content here. unlike russians, polish people […]
TDB2015 – Day4: Poland, here we come!
it’s good to be back in the twike! we start out early and make our way out of kaliningrad city. on very, very bad and bumpy roads which only get better after we leave the city behind us. we drive along the coast and through some old villages which have both old german houses and newer russian additions. this gives the villages a haphazard look – very organic 😉 some last pictures from russian territory: about 30 kms later, we arrive at the smaller of two border crossings into poland. russian formailities (not counting pictures and questions about TW560) are […]
тдб2015 – день3: Калининград
join us discovering kaliningrad on our first drive-free day during TDB2015. those only interested hard-core TWIKE action: there is a parallel universe, where one can use one’s own legs to get around town :o) after sleeping just 3 hours, i get up quite refreshed and head down to have some breakfast. the situation in the breakfast room was thoroughly russian: dozens of people in a room devoid of any interior design, filled with small tables and worn down seats probably from the 80’s. when i finally make it to the buffet, there are no plates and no forks. half the […]
TDB2015 – Day2: pushing the limits of 15.75Ah
today, we shall be – without planning for it – pushing the limits of distances which can be covered with the battery capacity available to TW560 within one day. [spoiler alert: today, we’ll be driving a whopping 542kms.] everything starts out very normal: i get up early and put some finishing touches on an entry for TDB2015. the skylights in my – frankly awesome – hotel room i forgot to close freely let in all sunlight available after sunrise at about 0400. whilst checking-out i see the electrical installations of our hotel. only *real* men could feel safe with this […]