Coming Soon.. A Battery Powered Buddy?

ellen · Post by **ellen** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 12:18 am

Motive Power to Commercialize Lithium/Lead-acid Battery Electric Scooter in Early 2008
Taipei, Oct. 24, 2007 (CENS)--The Motive Power Industry Co. Ltd. (PGO brand), the fifth-largest powered two-wheeler (PTW) manufacturer in Taiwan and a major PTW exporter, recently claimed that it has successfully developed the world`s first electric scooter powered simultaneously by lithium-ion/lead-acid batteries.
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Post by **ericalm** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 6:06 am

Wow. I've been keeping my eye on announcements and concepts being announced or shown at the big auto/motor shows and it seems that the low-emissions technologies are really happening. The problem now seems to be getting enough support and demand for any single technology or standard. So there are various types of batteries, fuel cells, hydrogen, flex fuel clean diesel, all kinds or hybrids...

Still it's pretty exciting!

hcstrider · Post by **hcstrider** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 9:40 pm

It will be interesting to see how many miles the PGO electric scooter can travel on a single charge. When I was researching which type of scooter to purchase I read an article on a battery powered scooter. The specifications looked pretty good in terms of carrying capacity and speed but unfortunately I eliminated this scooter from my candidate list because you could only travel about 50 miles on a single charge and I thought that I might need to occasionally travel farther.

I also hope that they design the PGO electric scooter so that it makes some noise when driven. There was an interesting article in the Washington Post last month about blind people who were opposed to hybrid cars for safety reasons because the hybrid cars were so quiet that the blind people could not hear the cars approaching. The blind people supported how environmentally friendly the hybrid cars were but they just wanted the cars to make some noise so that the blind people could hear if it was save to cross the street or walk through a parking lot. The noise would also make it safer for the driver of the electric scooter because if the electric scooter was too quiet then other drivers may pull out in front of the electric scooter because the other drivers do not hear the scooter approaching.

ranzchic · Post by **ranzchic** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 10:02 pm

I wish they'd use LiFePO4 batteries instead.

It's what I want to get for my electric bicycle.

Post by **ericalm** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 10:38 pm

The plug-in hybrid cars I've read about that can run off the battery only (new ones from VW/Audi) only manage to do about 60 miles on a charge.

And the batteries are big and heavy.

Yamaha has recently shown 2 fuel cell bikes. May be the way to go.

Leeroy Jenkins · Post by **Leeroy Jenkins** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 2:38 pm

The plug-in hybrid cars I've read about that can run off the battery only (new ones from VW/Audi) only manage to do about 60 miles on a charge.

If it runs on battery only its not a Hybrid, it an electric car. Hybrid refers to dual powerplants.

Check out the enertia bike, i would buy one but its too much $$ for me.

http://www.enertiabike.com/

Post by **ericalm** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 2:45 pm

Leeroy Jenkins wrote:
The plug-in hybrid cars I've read about that can run off the battery only (new ones from VW/Audi) only manage to do about 60 miles on a charge.
If it runs on battery only its not a Hybrid, it an electric car. Hybrid refers to dual powerplants.

They're hybrids because they can run on gas + electric and can switch to run on electric only from the battery.

Check out the Audi A1 concept. Damn sexy! The press release towards the bottom explains the engine and running solely off the battery. This is a great option, though. If I commuted by car, it would be 50% surface streets/50% freeway for my 12 mile (one way) commute. I could go all-electric on surface streets, then switch to hybrid for the freeway.