Good (Official) News From Vectrix!

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yamez4u
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Re: Good (Official) News From Vectrix!

Well I for one would be happy to buy another Vectrix, as long as it got at least twice the range. But Vectrix better hurry because if Brammo start selling there new bikes first, even though I'm not a crotch rocket kind of guy, I need the extra range. But given a choice between a bike with storage and easy mounting and dismounting, or range. I am going to go for range.

Aircon
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Re: Good (Official) News From Vectrix!

(Incidentally, I'd love to know who the 'Vectrix Australia' service man is, according to documents filed with the Dept of Fair trading (Victoria) vectrix has had no employees for over 15 months!)

well I suspect it's no longer vectrix australia and I doubt he's on the payroll....so how about an ex VA person who subbies to someone? no idea...I didn't ask.

jdh2550_1
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Re: Good (Official) News From Vectrix!

Well I for one would be happy to buy another Vectrix, as long as it got at least twice the range. But Vectrix better hurry because if Brammo start selling there new bikes first, even though I'm not a crotch rocket kind of guy, I need the extra range. But given a choice between a bike with storage and easy mounting and dismounting, or range. I am going to go for range.

So, what range do you consder "twice the range of the Vectrix"? Or perhaps better, what range do you want? This is a sincere question - not meant to deride or to start a debate on the VX-1 range question. Although the Brammo Empulse talks about a 100 mile range I have my doubts - because it only has a 6kWh pack and our 5.75 kWh pack gives a real world range of 50 miles.

However, I am really interested to hear what range you want. Thanks.

John H. Founder of Current Motor Company - opinions on this site belong to me; not to my employer
Remember: " 'lectric for local. diesel for distance" - JTH, Amp Bros || "No Gas.

yamez4u
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Re: Good (Official) News From Vectrix!

I consider my Vectrix to have a 35 mile range at normal road speeds, so really the best you can do is about 15 mile one way and be reasonably sure of getting home. Double that range and the Vectrix would be good for 99% of my travel. If the Brammo gets any where near 80 miles of range it would become my primary ride.

R
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Re: Good (Official) News From Vectrix!

The range I want: 100 km (60 miles) at 100 km/h. 100x100. Around 8-10kwh of battery.

mikemitbike
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Re: Good (Official) News From Vectrix!

The range I want: 100 km (60 miles) at 100 km/h. 100x100. Around 8-10kwh of battery.

For me 100Km @ 80Km/h would be more than enough - I fly low and slow ;-)

marcopolo
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Re: Good (Official) News From Vectrix!

The range I want: 100 km (60 miles) at 100 km/h. 100x100. Around 8-10kwh of battery.

Interestingly, that was the advertized range of the original Vectrix VX1. Very few VX1's ever achieved this performance!

Considering the poor sales nubers of VX1's, the best people to ask would be those who didn't by a VX1.

marcopolo

R
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Re: Good (Official) News From Vectrix!

Marco, you're surprisingly inaccurate in this post. 100x100x100=110x40x40?

Interestingly, that was the advertised range of the original Vectrix VX1.

Original advertised range was 110 km at 40 km/h - however there was some small-print: with a new-well balanced battery, huge downhilling and with strong wind pushing from behind!! :-)
With 100x100 I'd be able to travel 160 km with conservative driving. That's enough for me.
Very interesting, the australian, hi-way capable electric car.

marcopolo
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Re: Good (Official) News From Vectrix!

Marco, you're surprisingly inaccurate in this post. 100x100x100=110x40x40?

Interestingly, that was the advertised range of the original Vectrix VX1.

Original advertised range was 110 km at 40 km/h - however there was some small-print: with a new-well balanced battery, huge downhilling and with strong wind pushing from behind!! :-)
With 100x100 I'd be able to travel 160 km with conservative driving. That's enough for me.
Very interesting, the australian, hi-way capable electric car.

Of-course, you are quite right!(especially with the downhill and the wind!). I stand corrected.

But 100 klm range with a 'maximum' speed of 110 kph, was how it was always publicised in Vectrix press releases etc... this gave a deliberate false impression. I have ridden a VX1 about 70 klm, at an average of 70 kph.

Dis you see the Blade Electron website? I can absolutely guarantee that the descriptions are very authentic and Ross Blade is a very knowledgeable and genuine engineer.

I have driven the iMev, Leaf and Blade. The iMev is expensive and inferior in most respects. The leaf, is a very well executed quality product. (good looking too) . The Blade performs as well, especially since Australia/NZ has 240 volt standard outlets, but the design of the car betrays its more humble, Hyundai glider.

The small Hyundai Getz is a very well made, tough little car and the EV version is an excellent choice. Blade One is based in Melbourne, Aus, a vast city in area, but pretty flat. The Blade handles the roads extremely well, which is not always the case with small cars. Melbourne , (well all Aus)roads can be very harsh, especially as Melbourne has the worlds largest Tram network and poorly maintained tram-tracks and small cars don't mix! The Hyundai bodywork means body repairs and spare-parts are very economical. Our Blade's are over two years old, and we have had absolutely no problems.

Over the last two years, both Blade's have unquestionably lived up to expectations.

marcopolo

jdh2550_1
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Re: Good (Official) News From Vectrix!

Thanks all for the range commentary - I like the "100x100" goal (or the less attractive 62x62 for us old school folks!)

I think that's a great goal to shoot for - I'm not aware of an affordable EV motorbike that can do that today.

If the Brammo gets any where near 80 miles of range it would become my primary ride.

Based on the fact that Brammo are saying it has a 6kWh LiPo pack I think a 50 to 60 mile range with a mix of city and highway use would be a reasonable expectation. I'm sure you could get 80 miles out of it with the right conditions - but you'd be "babying it".

FYI, 10 miles for each kWh of battery pack seems to me to be a reasonable metric to use for range estimation with a mix of riding styles. You need to remember that only 80% of pack capacity is available for use. So, that equates to an energy use of 80 Wh per mile. That number really doesn't change all that much for a motorcycle or scooter regardless of battery technology. Heavily streamlined bikes (e.g. the Vetter Honda Helix) should be able to improve that number, also extremely light weight vehicles can also improve the figure (so an e-bike may do better than a Vectrix - not sure of the aero efficiency differences though)

There's certainly some wiggle room in that number - but if you see claims of 50% or much, much more range then look for the small print.

If you're getting less range than that then things you need to consider (a) riding style - including the number of stop/starts and speed of acceleration & (b) health of your battery pack (try using a Kill-A-Watt meter or similar to measure how much energy you're putting in for each charge - but remember that the power drawn by the charger will be higher than the amount of energy the battery absorbs).

John H. Founder of Current Motor Company - opinions on this site belong to me; not to my employer
Remember: " 'lectric for local. diesel for distance" - JTH, Amp Bros || "No Gas.

yamez4u
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Re: Good (Official) News From Vectrix!

Brammo is claiming a 10kwh pack on the Empulse 10, They start selling them this summer so Vectrix has till then to come out with a better Vectrix, or mine will be on eBay for $3000.00. Again I love my Vectrix and have over 4000 mile on it, but if it had better range I would have over 10,000 miles on it. It is a great ride, and very practical commuter. Unlike the Empulse which I will need to install cargo bags and new handle bars the first day I own it to make it usable. But at the end of the day range is king.

jdh2550_1
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Re: Good (Official) News From Vectrix!

Ahh, I had bad data. A 10kWh pack would do it! :-)

John H. Founder of Current Motor Company - opinions on this site belong to me; not to my employer
Remember: " 'lectric for local. diesel for distance" - JTH, Amp Bros || "No Gas.

oobflyer
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Re: Good (Official) News From Vectrix!

This is getting a bit off-topic, but definitely a favorite subject!

I would be very happy with double the range I get now on the Vectrix, i.e., 50 miles vs. 25. But, the more the better! I went to the Brammo headquarters a couple of months ago and got a tour of the place from a nice lady named Laura. She told me that the Empulse prototype that they are riding now is the 8.0 (8kWh battery/80 mile range). She said that they had so far been getting the hoped-for range of 80 miles/charge consistently.

I also learned that the range capabilities of the Vectrix (and the Brammo) are measured by riding the bikes on the Pomona Loop.

The Loop is supposed to approximate real-world driving, but one cannot help but wonder how Vectrix arrived at their claimed range of 50 miles by driving on the Pomona Loop.

Last year, just to test the thing, I took off and rode my Vectrix at 25 MPH (from Stockton to Sacramento) until the batteries would no longer move the bike. It took two hours, but I got 49 miles... almost 50!

R
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Re: Good (Official) News From Vectrix!

but one cannot help but wonder how Vectrix arrived at their claimed range of 50 miles by driving on the Pomona Loop.

My third battery, when it was 2 weeks old, had a cutoff voltage (with no load) of 116V. All cells except one were in good condition!! By that time the bike easely achieved 50 miles of range. As the cells started to get damage, the cutoff voltage started to rise to 117v, 119v, 120v... At cutoff of 121v I started to notice problems. At 124v the battery was no longer usable.

In summary, in my opinion a well balanced battery should give you around 70-80 km of range at 70 km/h..

ultimate cynic
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Re: Good (Official) News From Vectrix!

Interesting and great blog here !

of our 4 Vectrixes in South Africa, 3 are totally down and absolutely no assistance comes from Poland; so who do we ask for help ??? they no longer even answer our e-mails althought they sent defective chargers ... at great expense to us.
they recalled the original batteries and then did not pay the shipping ! we paid.

then, we have had about 20 failures of the 4 scooters, so about 1000km is achieved between each major breakdown. unreliable is too mild a word. i would give anyone considering buying a Vectrix this simple advice: don't.

more unreliable than anything you have ever even heard of; with uncaring and aloof - now nonexistent - backup. You buy a Vectrix at your peril.

unless someone somewhere from Vectrix wishes to challenge this ? please.

soon we mount a campaign to every possible recipient; we will be happy to send the same "press release" here. If Vectrix does this to us, we will ensure their downfall with simple fact, broadcast to anyone that will listen.

uc

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Re: Good (Official) News From Vectrix!

Hi ultimate cynic,
Wellcome!
As you can imagine, the vast majority of the users inside this forum are vectrix costumers, some of them are very tallented and with great knowledge about the vectrix. If you Explain in detail the symptoms of the 3 broken vectrix, maybe we can help. ;-)

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