Get on your electric bike
QUESTION Will the ban on petrol and diesel vehicles include motorcycles? Is any company developing electric models?
THE Prime Minister recently announced the Government’s intention to ban sales of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2035.
The Department for Transport has confirmed that motorcycles are ‘outside the scope of the initial consultation’. The market for zero emission motorcycles is at a less developed stage than cars or vans.
As cars outnumber motorcycles by 25 to one and two-wheeled transport is far more efficient, it’s deemed less urgent.
There are particular problems with electric motorcycles regarding weight (batteries are heavy), range and the need for overnight charging.
One proposed solution is interchangeable batteries, a system whereby a user could drop off one battery at a secure location and replace it with a fully charged one.
There is a long history of electric cycling. At the Stanley Cycle Show in 1896 in London, manufacturer Humber exhibited an electric tandem bicycle.
In 1919, Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies made a prototype electric motorcycle in which the batteries were fitted under the seat of the sidecar. It never went past the trial stage.
In 1996, the first mass-produced electric scooter was the Peugeot Scoot’Elec with a range of just 25 miles.
There are lots of electric scooters coming online which are great for the daily commute.
Eko bikes, NIU, Govecs and E-Rider produce lightweight machines with a range of 50 miles. They cost between £1,000 and £1,500 and there’s a 20 per cent government subsidy on e-scooters up to £1,500.
The more established manufacturers have been slow off the mark in joining the e-scooter market.
BMW’s C Evolution bridges the gap between a scooter and motorcycle, with a range of 100 miles, a cruising speed of 60 mph and a top speed of 80 mph. It also has a reverse gear, which is helpful for parking in tight spaces.
Over the past couple of years, some formidable electric motorcycles have been launched. The Zero SR has a sleek design, a top speed of 124mph and an impressive range of 223 miles in the city on a single charge. It costs £14,000.
The smaller, cheaper Zero FXS costs £8,500, has a 50-mile city range and a top speed of 85 mph.
The Italian Energica Ego is a powerhouse. It can generate up to 145 hp, has a top speed of 150mph and can accelerate to 60mph in three seconds. It has a fastcharging battery, but is limited by its 100mile range. It costs more than £30,000.
A notable British entry is the Brutus V9 with some models offering a groundbreaking range of 280 miles. It has a top speed of 115 mph, but weighs a whopping 780 lb and costs more than £30,000.
Harley-Davidson is the first major motorcycle manufacturer to release an electric bike, the Livewire.
It has a 105 hp engine, 0-60 in three seconds and a range of 146 miles. It costs £28,995 plus on-the-road costs.
Martin Peters, Ryde, Isle of Wight.
QUESTION Did Fidel Castro ban Monopoly?
MONOPOLy was a popular game in Cuba in the Fifties. There was even a local bootleg version called Capitolio (El Capitolio served as the seat of the legislature from February 1931 until the late Fifties).
Castro frowned upon the idea of making a game out of American capitalist ideals and banned it following the 1959 revolution. Other symbols of capitalism, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and KFC, are all banned in Cuba.
J. Foulds, Luton, Beds.
QUESTION In January 1989, a paper in Seattle quipped: ‘[Serial killer Ted] Bundy was going to the chair and Boeing were doing the wiring.’ Did the airline have
technical problems back then?
TED BUNDy was executed in the electric chair at Florida State Prison on January 24, 1989. This was shortly after the Kegworth Air disaster on January 8, where it was reported incorrectly that there had been electrical failures. In 1987, Japan Airlines sent a letter to Boeing complaining that some electrical wiring and plumbing of emergency systems crossed. This could result in a fire in one engine being indicated on the flight station to be a fire in another engine.
British Midland Flight 92, a Boeing 737400, was on a scheduled flight from London Heathrow to Belfast when a fan blade fractured in the left engine, disrupting the air conditioning and filling the flight deck with smoke.
The pilots mistakenly throttled back the good engine, pumping more fuel into the malfunctioning one, which burst into flames. Of the 126 people on board, 47 died and 74 had serious injuries.
Immediately after the accident, it was widely circulated that the emergency systems had been crossed, which was not the case.
A public inquiry — the findings of which were not made public until October 1990 — attributed the blade fracture to metal fatigue, caused by heavy vibration in the newly upgraded engines, which had been tested only in the laboratory and not under flight conditions.
The shutting down of the wrong engine was not caused by crossed wires, but was due to pilot error.
However, the report pointed out mitigating circumstances, highlighting the fact that pilots operate in a complex and changing technical environment.
Airline maintenance is a sophisticated science. A Boeing 737 contains more than 40 miles of electrical wiring while the wider Boeing 747 has 135 miles of wiring.
The Boeing 737 range has a reputation as one of the safest aircraft ever built.
Max Evans, Cardiff.
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