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There's been too many incidents and near accidents for any more risks to be taken with flying large lithum batteries. They are sent all over by ship of course, where any fire is inside a 40' closed steel container. Some years ago I had couriered to me by air a 360 Wh battery and have also sent...

Thanks Trex, yes, Wh. Absent-minded mistake and I've corrected it. .

The IATA regulations have limits which mean your over 160 Wh battery cannot be taken as carry on baggage or checked in separately or checked in fitted to the e-bike. Lithium batteries over 160 Wh can only be flown as cargo in accordance with the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations. I believe this...

Altbough Type Approval appears to be aimed at manufacturers, I'm fairly confident that there is no statement to that effect. I add to that the fact that the DfT have on a various occasions stated online that the equivalent for "Grey" Imports, Home Builds etc is Single Vehicle Approval, also...

There was a temporary dispensation pending the change in the law, that in the form of police forces instructed not to prosecute 250 watt e-bikes. However that made no mention of throttles since the EAPC regulation stated 200 watts with no mention of control methods. The change in the law on...

At least they are relatively quiet, unlike the petrol powered ones of circa 20cc that used to be around. .

Thats good, a definitely much needed improvement, so later ones ok for public charging if the charger can be in a locking cabinet and the lead from that to the bike long enough. .

In case you hadn't understood what I posted about the type of Kalkhoff and Panasonic practice, the batteries cannot be charged on the bikes, they have no connection for that. They have to be lifted out and placed on a stand charger of this type. With the charger being the "adaptor" costing...

The current modern crank drive units are generally very well sealed against rain and rarely suffer. I've actually ridden through a flooded road section with the Panasonic crank unit under water and running perfectly, only my feet and footwear getting a thorough soaking. .

Thus might prompt makers like Kalkhoff and Panasonic to change their practice of using battery-stand chargers, since it would be impossible for charging points to cope with all the variants of these within locking cabinets. .

The adaptor might be protected against theft, but the e-bike charger cannot be, and with some at around £125 a tempting availability. Even worse are the stand type ones like those for the popular Kalkhoffs that need the battery out of the bike and on the stand charger, meaning both battery and...

And the lack of security is a major problem. Anyone could help themselves to one's e-bike charger and adapter during the charging process. .

A yes and no to this though Ken. The DfT's IVS division have ruled that an EAPC with throttle needs to be type approved for use in Great Britain, (somewhat oddly excluding Northern Ireland!), but I agree that enforcement is impractical. However, this ruling isn't likely to be accepted in many...

No, they are not legal. Any form of motorised transport used in public places has to be specifically approved for it to be legal, either by type approval or by exemption from type approval. These have not been ruled upon, which makes public usage automatically illegal. .

Even better is that there is a lower powered Twizy version limited to 45 kph that 14 year olds can drive in France. Our miserable DfT won't entertain it. :( .

Renault, who are a combo with Nissan of course, have done that with the Twizy model, a compact tandem two seater car/scooter vehicle. Under £7000 for the basic model, link here. .

The largest factor in EV depreciation isn't so much progress as the the high proportional cost of the battery and it having a much shorter life than the vehicle. That's an important reason why e-cars aren't selling. Buy outright a Nissan Leaf for circa £32,000 and at five years old it can't be...

The UK government now seem to have indemnified against VED loss, saying these cars will remain in their current band, apparently without requiring proof of conversion. Probably part of keeping Europe sweet ahead of renegotiation. .

Four with the spare! :p .

The proof is in the fact that if the battery is flat or removed, no matter how hard ones spins the pedals, the Mando Footloose will not take off and carry one along the road normally. It therefore depends on some additional current from the battery, even on the flat. It fails because in...