finally: we’re on our way! it’s been a long time we’ve already planned this trip and been talking about it. after getting employed again, i felt it in order to resurrect the plan and during the few weeks before i start working to get TW560 the R&R it deserves 🙂 as usual, jc arrives at around 0620 and we load all our stuff into the TWIKE. although everyone around me was convinced that our first driving day would be grey and rainy, i told everyone to shut up and believe in the sun. well…as we started out, it was dark […]
TDM2014, 8-9 days around the mediteranean
we’re happy to announce another one of our longer TWIKE aventures. the goal this year is to visit the three northernmost points of the mediterranean sea (this quest takes us all the way to croatia, crossing the width of italy to genoa and back to switzerland. (blue lines)) – this is why we call this challenge “Tour De (la) Mediterranée” as usual, we are going to try to stick to the blue lines as closely as possible and see what happens. since this map is somewhat more complex than the usual ones, google can no longer display all waypoints in […]
Repairs: when a TWIKE wants to go on and on
Just a few weeks ago, i started to have a special effect when trying to switch TW560 off using the main switch for the controller: it would not react immediately, but slightly later. it was just a minor inconvenience and i meant to write the usual TWIKE-suspects an email regarding their ideas, what could provoke this delay, soon. as always, life is hectic and since dreifels’ controller has an ultra-low consumption sleep mode, which deactivates itself after a definable period of time, i didn’t feel too concerned, when for the first time, i was no longer able to turn off […]
one day trip, part2: exploring beautiful switzerland
since the blog entry for the first part of the day was getting quite long, i’ve added this second entry for reading convenience. we take up the action after having very nice lunch at the silwängi alp hut and are on our way down to the schönisei valley. arriving at schönisei, tw560’s battery is fully charged at 414V and ready to take us over 3 passes in one charge! (about 6000 metres of altitude delta in total) at the top of glaubenberg-pass (a very narrow street where busses and trucks have to take 30-min turns, since they cannot cross) a […]
one day trip, part 1 – exploring beautiful switzerland
i’m very happy to live in switzerland…and humbled by the beauty of this country. that said, as a foreigner, i might be more susceptible to switzerland’s culture and beauty than most locals. whilst risking to repeat myself – if you’ve not yet been to switzerland… you absolutely have to make plans to visit! jc and myself haven’t been travelling too much together lately. a few weeks ago, jc headed off to northern germany with TW231 for a 3-4 week trip crossing bavaria, the czech republic and former eastern germany on his own. he went alone, since i’m currently less mobile […]
seats: replace or repair?
any lightweight construction made of plastic is prone to crack either under high amounts of structural stress or after a certain amount of time has passed and the aging process makes the plastic brittle. TWIKE seats are a very simple, somewhat comfortable and (in their pure form, a thin mat directly on plastic) extremely light. however, check any TWIKE and you’ll find that usually, the shells are cracked and in varying states of disrepair. after a certain amount of wear and tear or time the TWIKE pilot literally sits on the frame without any other support. given enough money, remediating […]
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.
better than new!
wow, that went fast! was my first thought, when i got maya schnyder’s email. she wrote me that the hood was ready and that everything had gone well and she was happy with the result. as i have written before, maya’s understanding of quality and work satisfaction match my own closely. because of this, i was really looking forward to the new hood. i schedule a friday afternoon with some meetings in berne and tell her that i would like to thank her by having a beer after the work is done. her answer is equally surprising and unsurprising: “i’ve […]
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 […]