Hi all.
I totalled my Vectrix last week. Well, I stopped for a traffic jam and the man behind me didn't. Laying on the pavement with a broken pelvis I was able to warn the police that I was driving an electric vehicle, so they should not touch it on danger of having a 130 Volt jolt delivered to the happless salvager.
They thanked me and told me that they have no protocol for salvaging an electric car or motorcycle. They asked if the system would not shut itself off and I found my self unable to give them any thoughts of how the VX-1 would behave at an accident. Are there tipping - switch off procedures?
Any thoughts here?
By the way, accident happened in the Netherlands. We have some very strong post-car accident procedures here, so usually it takes ten minuntes to clear the road. Now it took an hour because noone dared to touch the wreck without insulation. Probably very wise)
Has anyone thought about what to do after an electric crash?
PS I am pretty spaced out on opiates here so I do hope my English makes any sense here. :)
Hey Philip,
Hope you're recovering well, at least, you have opiates to soften the pain a bit :-) (and your english is still understandable enough:-))
Anyway, what happened with the remains of the bike? Probably became property of the insurance company, but let us know if you get a chance to recover the wreck. Some pieces will be worth quite a bit of money.
btw, I'm probably your nearest Visforvoltage-registred Vectrix CO-owner. Care to put yourself on this map? http://visforvoltage.org/map/user
"doing nothin = doing nothing wrong" is invalid when the subject is environment
Hi PhiRo!
I hope you get well and healthy.
As for the bike, I believe the best answer will give you Vectrix staff, that check this forum from time to time.
Hallo Dirk, Dank voor uw medeleven :)
Ecini, the importer in the Benelux already wants to get the bike from the insurer. In the Netherlands after being paid for a totalled vehicle, The insurance company owns the bike and then will sell the remains for scrap. The bike was hit twice so the frame is bent. The electronics may be salvageable but the motor is shot. Since it is connected directly to the wheel it broke when the wheel was hit. The batteries are probably damaged with the frame bent around it.
But if you want be in the loop for the wreck let me know there probably be a list.
By the way, Star Trek fan?
Hello Phiro.
Hope you are fine.
I'm interested in the charger.
Thanx
I will make a list of all requests and pass this to the insurance company. They may be able to set up an organ donor ship :)
I'm not in need of pieces at the moment, but it would be a shame if the wreck went directly for scrap.
If nobody shows interest, I would, though.
why star trek fan?
"doing nothin = doing nothing wrong" is invalid when the subject is environment
There was a crew member, in Star Trek: Voyager, named Turok ;-)
And I thought it was because we are all, forever, saying: "(Scotty,) I need more energy!"
This information may be used entirely at your own risk.
There is always a way if there is no other way!
Jarl!
The worlds is full of trekkies...
I'm SW fan, I know, I'm in the dark side....
They should have procedures for dealing with Hybrids, like the Prius, and use them. The voltages are even higher than in the Vectrix.
Generally speaking, don't cut any cables contained in ORANGE conduit.
Shame there is no such conduit on the VX-1...
The motor phase cables are exposed to potential damage at the place where they leave the swing arm and then enter the encoder housing. That chrome cover will not stop any damage to the cables.
I don't know if it is possible at all, but that spot could possibly cause trouble in rare circumstances; if the cables were exposed due to impact with objects, and the VX-1 was still functional but landed in a mangled heap with the throttle pulled, then these cables might be "Hot".
.
I have once seen a lower leg (still inside a high quality motorbike boot) which had been pulled through the narrow space between the rear wheel and the swingarm of a powerful dirtbike. It looked impossible to get the leg into that spot; the gap was barely 2 or 3cm wide. We had to wait for the firetruck with heavy cutting equipment to cut the swingarm off so we could free the riders mangled leg. No doubt the foot and lower leg would have been completely floppy without the boot holding it together, like Harry Potters arm after Gilderoy Lockhart tried to fix it!
Cutting through the VX-1 swingarm like that could maybe cause a nasty spark! But probably not, it all seems fairly well contained. If the bike is so smashed that the battery shorts to the frame or to itself, then the fireworks will probably be over before the rescue workers arrive!
This information may be used entirely at your own risk.
There is always a way if there is no other way!
sorry for going off topic here, but I couldn't resist:
"The Ion-propulsion on my Vectrix has been compromised! Now I can only flee at half-warp speed, and with Klingons on my tail, I order you, Scottie, to beam me up, or send me a Lithium-Polymer-Boost pack!"
Well I didn't know that there was a Turok in Star Trek, I got ik from the pc-game Turok (because "Dirk" is impossible to pronounce in english or french, without giving me the feeling of insulting me:-)
"doing nothin = doing nothing wrong" is invalid when the subject is environment
Hadn't thought about the hybrids, voltage there are up to 1500 volts. But they have circuit breakers. On crash they disconnect. I do not know if the Vectrix has such circuitry.
Makes you wonder how much pounding the batteries can get before the short out. 4kWh in several milli seconds is quite a display. Were there ever crash test done on the VX-1 or am I the crash test?
By the way : Reading about the boot in the back wheel made me appreciate my modest injuries. :)
The character in Voyager was called Tuvok, Turik sounded like a Vulcan name to me as well. :) (I have all day to look up these trivia now )
It's nice to see that you are fine.
If you ever have a chance, and you think it is ok, please post some pictures of your poor "smashed" vectrix.
Sorry for the accident you couldn't avoid. Sorry to see that some heartless people in the forum are only interested in the bike parts.
I'm more human than them.... do you sell any arm, leg or kidney, perhaps?
;0)