‘IS THE ELECTRIC REVOLUTION FULL OF NEGATIVES?’
Vanessa rides a KTM off-road, a Harley-Davidson on it, and is losing sleep over the death of traditional engineering and workshop tinkering
The world seems to have gone mad with people jabbering on about electric vehicles. You can’t even get a McDonalds without bumping into a charging station. And we’re now seeing the first serious motorcycle contenders surfacing. But whilst most are engrossed by the challenges of range and battery lifecycle, I’m left pining for a mechanical connection.
I get it, no one wants to be the laughing stock with a flat battery left stranded on the road side, but for a red-blooded petrolhead, electric bikes leave a hole in my heart. Spending time in the garage as a kid playing with engines, supervised or not, was my brand of
Sunday School. The thumping of pistons, the spark, the twist of the throttle, the exhaust pop surrounding you with the nostalgic smell of freshly burnt hydrocarbons. It’s a passionately assembled chunk of metal imbued with character. What enthusiast doesn’t feel deflated over the thought of servicing a 28v brushless motor?
I agree electric bikes will be the beasts of the future, gorgeously refined, with instantaneous fulltorque on-tap acceleration while keeping polar bears in ice cubes. Even Harley-Davidson are playing the electric card. So, it’s not another Sinclair C5 joker, electric motorbikes are here to stay.
But how are we going to stay calm when these evolutionary bikes stop running? I can’t be the only one who’s been close to throwing my laptop at the wall when faced with the blue screen of death. Thanks to exposure to mechanics growing up, tackling issues or tinkering on combustion engines comes naturally – or with YouTube help. Most problems are nothing four scuffed knuckles won’t fix with a 13mm ring spanner and some WD40. How can we engage the future generations’, or our own, mechanical curiosity without exposure to tinkering? We’ll face ‘sealed for life’ direct drive motors, no gearbox or clutch, and complex modules more akin to a computer. Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of electric and I’ll be at the front of the queue to try one. I just wonder how helpless we may become when the electrics go wrong. No matter how hard you hit it with a spanner it still won’t fix it. Computer science course, anyone?