Range Anxiety - Day 133

Odo 1390

Well not so much range as falling range. The Molicel lithiums in the pack are rated for 300 full charge/discharge cycles. Zero claims far more cycles from them than that, which seems odd. I wouldn't have expected that they could get more cycles than the manufacturer... Anyway I've put about 250 or so (I haven't counted) part charge cycles on them. I don't know if the range is falling or not as I'm not using anywhere near the maximum range, but the batteries are beginning to behave differently to how they were when new. I know where the first bar disappeared on the way to work, but now it's going one hill earlier. I know that on a round trip to town, even if I rode like my hair was on fire the display never fell below half, but now I'm seeing it go below half even with careful riding. I wouldn't say the pack was stuffed and if there was no voltage display then I'd never be able to tell the difference, but something is changing.

I wrote to the local guy who sells A123 battery packs and he thinks he can build one for the Zero. A123 estimate between 1000 and 6000 full cycles depending on the drain/charge rates and temperature. His first order estimate on cost was lower than a replacement Zero pack so I'm thinking I'll go that way when the time comes. He has a deeply uninspired website but seems like a nice guy. http://www.lightningev.comuf.com/ I actually asked him about building with the 20 Ah pouches but he seems to think the ANR26650 cells would be the ticket.

In unrelated news I just got my car back from the panel beaters who have de-dented, de-rusted and resprayed the whole thing. It looks better than new!

I've also fallen deeply in love

http://www.deusbaliblog.co.id/2010/04/inari-cb100-honda.html

How can a motorcycle be so charming?

Blinded by the Light – Day 123

Odo 1364

Today I tried to adjust the headlight. That's one of the things that is supposed to by done by the predelivery that the government mandates. We're not responsible enough to do that so the bike dealer charged me 900 dollars to take the bike out of the crate, charge the battery and adjust the headlight. Well they managed to take it out of the crate but given the fact that they didn't know where or how to plug it in, I strongly doubt they managed to charge the battery. I know for sure they didn't adjust the headlight as it's aimed for koala spotting...

Anyway I don't often ride at night and as I mentioned before I've pulled the fuse so the headlight is off. However I thought I should adjust it anyway. On the rare occasions I had the light on I could see the drivers in front adjusting their mirrors, even in big raised 4wds. Very little light fell on the road on dipped beam and on high beam it just went up into the trees. So today I attempted it. Well I've managed to adjust it from stupidly way too high to just illegal. I have no idea how this thing got through ADR testing. In 7.5 metres the “cutoff” is 25 cm higher than the headlight on “dipped”. It's supposed to be 5 cm lower, so it's 30 cm too high in the test. Of course in actual use I'll be looking about 10 times further down the road than that, so it's actually going to be 3 metres too high at the distance it will be used. To get it down any further will need cutting and bending. Not good enough Zero (I've used that phrase before...). As winter comes on I'm going to be forced to use the bike at night, so I'll have to fix it.

The pattern is completely symmetrical. It's required to be down on the right and should rise slightly on the left. So the reflector is no good either.

Grrrr. I wonder if I should make a warrantee claim.

I Drive 600 km and forget to put a title on the post.

Odo 1288

Once a month I have to drive 600 km in a day. There's no public transport option, so it's just the price I have to pay to live where I live.

Last weekend was that day. I needed to fill the dinoburner before we went and I needed to fill it again on the way back. The price of fuel went up by 10c/l on the way back (and has stayed up). I took this photo when I filled on the *cheap* price.

The US dollar and the AU dollar are about the same at the moment, so that's about 78 USD for 14.5 gallons. That lasts me for about 500 km. This is the vehicle I would be using if I didn't have the Zero. I think that the battery pack will last about 30 000 km and cost $5000 to replace. (the factory claims some astonishing number of km, but I don't really agree). So what would it cost me to run the car for that distance? $78.45 x 30000 / 500 for fuel. Equals $4707.00 for fuel alone. There would also be 6 services at about 200 each. The car cost me $30 000 new and I think will last 300 000 km after which it will be worthless. (no-one will buy a car in Australia that has over 300 000 km on it. Just seems to be a mental barrier). So driving it 30 000 km uses about 1/10 of it's useful life. That's $3000. That's a total of 8907 dollars (at last week's fuel price and not counting tyres).

So it appears that every 30 000 km of use the Zero will save me 4-5000 dollars compared to the car. I will need to ride 90 000 km just to *break even*. That's ignoring the interest that I'm not getting on that money which could be earning me 6% in a long term deposit. Electric is still not a money saving thing unless you can make it your only vehicle. I think that's still quite a way off as it will depend on better infrastructure.

Ideally I'd like to see fast electric trains that carry vehicles (like the channel tunnel). Have a stop about every 100 km. Ride/drive aboard, plug in for a recharge while you are whisked at great speed to somewhere close to your destination. Then ride/drive the last 50 km under your own power. Hmmm. I can't see that happening in my lifetime. It would cost less than the roads, reduce import of foreign cars and oil. Take the burden off the hospitals and eliminate the welfare for people injured on the roads. Reduce carbon output from trucks and private cars. 

It's never going to happen.

The NRMA estimates 61 billion dollars in raw accident damage costs during the period between the Pacific Highway upgrade expected completion date (1999) and 2009. That would have easily paid for a high speed car/truck carrying train between Sydney and Brisbane. That's ignoring the billions more of foreign exchange sent overseas for cars, trucks and oil just to drive between two major cities. Also ignoring the 18 billion spent on upgrading the road. For goodness sake, the Channel Tunnel only cost about 22 billion dollars (in today's money). All this would need is a track upgrade and some new rolling stock. I can't imagine it would cost more than 10 billion to link Sydney and Brisbane. 61 billion would link Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra, Wollongong, Sydney, Newcastle and Brisbane. That would link all but 1 of the 10 largest population centres in Australia. 15 million out of the 20 million population would be within 100 km of a station. For three quarters of the population almost all road trips would be under 100 km and long distances would be covered at 300 km/h in almost perfect safety. That's Sydney-Brisbane in 3 hours rather than 12.  Sydney to Thredbo door to door in well under 2 hours.  You couldn't fly that fast.   For less than what one road has cost the community in 10 years.

15 minutes – Day 107

Odo 1288

Well I'm getting my fifteen minutes in the spotlight. Something I never expected to see, a double page colour photo of me in a magazine. It feels quite strange. I'm glad I'm not Matt Newton (who has just been driven completely nuts by the media here in Australia).

The write up in Trail Bike Adventure Magazine is quite balanced I think. Interesting that they should do the write up at all as it's not really an Adventure Bike (other than the fact that with the poor state of public charging, it makes any trip beyond 50 km an adventure...)

It is a complete Pun Fest... Almost every line makes a hidden reference to something electrical.

I think anyone who hates the very idea of electric bikes will find things in the article that will speak to their bias. “...doesn't look good in terms of out and out versatility. It would take a lot of 60 minute sessions to cross the Simpson, especially with four-hour recharges factored in.”

The pro-electric brigade will see things in the article that will speak to them too “And there's a huge group of potential buyers who won't be fazed by the battery charge time. For riders living in cities and suburbs, the near silence of the Zero could easily make the difference between riding and not riding.” “On the road the Zero is brilliant...we reckon it rocked”

As I said, it seems well balanced. I'm lucky in that I have a sportbike and an enduro bike as well, so I don't feel the lack of versatility. I don't think the Zero will work as your only vehicle and really neither does TBAM. It's nice to see some coverage from media that is really somewhat outside the electric world. It's *very* nice to see such good honest coverage.

Anyway, it's in newsagent now and it's the Mar/Apr 2011 edition. I'll put in small thumbnails that I think is “fair review” about what you'd glean from flicking through a mag in a shop.   I don't think electristas will learn much from the article, but I think it's worth the cover price, so buy it!

I'm spreading misinformation – Day 100

Odo 1236

In a recent post I blasted Zero. I realise that a lot of what I've said has been based on misreading their website.

The price has only gone up 5% not 25%. I got confused as the website seems to now autodetect my country and gave me local price rather than the US price. Strangely it still gave the US phone number. I used to manually select Australia and it would show local price and local phone number. I thought I was manually selecting the US page to get the US price.

Also there is now a chain option listed for the DS. I don't know if it was there before, but that is a good thing if you're going to be using it on gravel or dirt roads.

On a disturbing note, initial reports are that Neal Saiki has left Zero however blogosphere reports are conflicting. It would be sad if he did. I could see Zero seriously losing their way without him.

I know that the chain has been worrying a few people. Well I cleaned mine last week and adjusted it today. I was careful to get the right size tools 5/16”, 7/32” allen keys and 13 mm open end spanner (thanks Harlan on the electricmotorcycleforum). I also discovered that I needed a 6 mm allen to remove the heel plate and back brake master cylinder to access one of the rear bolts.

Cleaning the chain was horrible as it always is. Used a full can of brake cleaner, but I'm going to try a different lube I've been hearing about. Will report on that when I get some. It was quite sandy (probably due to riding through deep sand I suppose). It's not perfectly clean now but it's better.

Contrary to some internet reports the bolts didn't seem over torqued but I used new tbar allen keys with straight (rather than the ball type) ends and was careful to make sure they were completely home before applying any torque to them. Adjustment was about 20 minutes start to finish and was fiddly but probably easier than adjusting a normal bike as I didn't need to remove a large nut with a huge torque. Didn't even need to wash my hands.  I also got a good look at the front sprocket and I can't see how to change it without removing the motor. It also appears to need a special tool of some sort to hold the motor still while you undo a bolt that retains the sprocket. I guess time (or even a workshop manual should that ever appear) will tell.

2011, Backwards or Forwards? - Day 91

Update See my comments and the later post, there are errors in this one. 

Odo 1142

No news on the bike. It continues to just run and make my life nicer.

I've had time to have a look at the spec sheet for the 2011 version of my DS. There's some good things listed. New brakes, which would be good. The old ones were dismal, but that was cured with a change of the fluid. These new ones could be overkill for what is really a very mild mannered motorcycle. Belt drive which will be good if you never go off road and a disaster if you do. On balance that seems like the wrong direction to go. But then the MX is now road legal so if your heart is in the bush then you'd have bought that one anyway (I would have if I was buying now).

The thing that disturbed me most though was the weight going from 122 to 132 kg. It could be a typo, but it's a worrying trend... When Neil was hands on with every aspect of the design, the weight control was very impressive. You could see that every gram was budgeted. Now it suddenly gains 10 kg. Where? What amazing improvement has caused a 10 kg increase? Yes it's got ~10% more battery power, but it's ~10% heavier as well, so no real gain there. I feel that Neil needs to keep a tight control over what's going on here. Great motorcycles have gone west with weight gain in the past. It's also ~20% more expensive. 9995 to 11895. Again, I'm not seeing much in the way of improvement for the money. The 2.3 hour charge is good, a socket that fits car chargers is good (except there's not one public plug that fits it in Australia), but it's another 700 dollars again pushing the total to 12500! 25% higher than the 2010 bike. Brammo has dropped their prices rather than increased. I expected to pay a premium as an early adopter. Now it's looking like I got in on the cheap ones. Looking at the amount of money that's gone into the company in investment and the amount that's been returned by selling bikes you'd have to say each bike has cost 40-50 000 dollars to build. So either way we're getting a bargain. Still, I was expecting that as production ramped up from prototypes to production line that costs per unit would come down rather than rise.

So to sum up, the new one is slower (heavier and same power equals slower), slower to charge (unless you pay 700 dollars extra) and much more expensive.

I feel like Zero is losing its way. However it may be that they're keeping touch with reality and building these bikes is costing more than they thought it would. I guess time will tell.

Just as an aside, while the SAE J1772 is an attractive standard in some ways and may suit the USA with their dozens of competing standards it's not right for here. We're lucky that our voltage is higher and there are really only 2 sockets most people will ever encounter. The 10 amp 240 volt domestic and the 15 amp “caravan” socket (10 amp plugs go into both 10 and 15 amp sockets, 15 amp plugs only go into 15 amp sockets). Rather than a J1772, for my money, here in Australia I'd want the option of a 15 amp 240 volt plug. That gives 3.6 kW and that would fully recharge my bike in just over an hour. (I wouldn't want to charge faster than that anyway for the battery's health) They're found in *every* caravan park and caravan parks are found in almost every town and along most highways. The equivalent in the USA would be the TT-30, found in every trailer park. The installed base is several orders of magnitude higher than J1772 is even forecast to be this decade, let alone what's currently installed. (nothing and no firm plans to do so). Even just having a charger that takes full advantage of the standard household outlet here (10 amp 240 volt) would mean my bike would be fully charged in well under 2 hours. Those outlets are *everywhere*. I counted 9 in the local shopping centre carpark that were next to parking spots. There are *no* J1772 outlets available here. I would estimate that there are at least 400 million 10 amp 240 volt outlets (there are 16 in my lounge room). Of course that doesn't tell you much on it's own, if all the power points are in one place, you can only recharge in one spot.

The last data I can find is that there are 1600 caravan parks with more than 40 sites and a total of 144 000 powered sites in Australia. (average of 90 powered sites) That dwarfs the confirmed roll out of public charge points (none). EV's need to *start* by taking advantage of what's there already. Use caravan/trailer plugs and leverage from that. J1772 will be good in due course. By all means, prepare for them, but don't wait for them.

Cars to the left of me, cars to the right – Day 87

Odo 1111

Car drivers never cease to amaze and amuse. Sadly it's hard to get pictures of them in action, but you can figure some things out by what they leave behind.

Here's what one car driver left behind. His car, parked across 3 motorcycle only parking bays.

Porn on the Internet! - Day 87

There's more porn happening on the net than I ever realised.  

http://tomszeros.blogspot.com/

Sexy, naked, city girl who's completely unadorned.  Makes my country bumpkin look a bit like she's trying too hard.  Who would have thought that the "fresh out of the shower" look would be so much nicer than lots of red makeup?

I tell a secret - Day

Odo 1111

Nice round number on the Odo. Well no, actually the opposite of round. Anyway that's not the reason for this post.

The secret that I alluded to recently is perhaps not so much of a surprise on reflection

In 2008 KTM announced an electric dirt bike and showed what looked like a slightly modified 125SX with an electric motor.  That's quite common for KTM with their two and fourstroke bikes of various capacities sharing as many parts as possible.  40 minutes at race pace, most details pinned down. Great specs but no actual rides for the press. It looked like a finished production bike and all that was left was integrating the electrics into the existing production line. KTM told us that it would be part of the 2010 model line up. Now in KTM speak a year's models are released in the middle (usually June or July) of the year before. So we expected to see the electric in about 10 months. July 2009 duly saw the 2010 bikes released, but no electric. Then there was an announcement in their annual report that 2010 meant 2010 and we would see it in the 2011 line up released in mid 2010.

Then in March 2010 they announced that it would be spun off as a separate line “freeride” and showed some rather disappointing prototypes that appeared to have grown from their freeride bicycle division rather than their motorcycles.

Much fanfare ensued surrounding these rather dismal offerings. (I'm a big KTM fan BTW and ride an EXC200 and was hoping for an electric version of the bike I already ride)

Unlike the initial offering there are no specs, no performance promises, just fancy graphics on the website (which is still up)

Phone calls to the largest dealer in Australia got little beyond nervous laughter.

Then … Nearly a year of silence.

Now the word has come from the distributors, the project has been shelved indefinitely.

That's it apparently. They say they're “waiting for battery technology to improve”. Which I take to mean they've given up.

So it joins the long list of great motorcycles that were never made. Bikes like the Yamaha RD750LC, Ducati Apollo, Kawasaki 750 square four twostroke and Norton rotary.

Seems a shame, but on the other hand the 2011 Zeros have just been shown and they include a street legal version of the X and MX.  Looks like everything we hoped for from the KTM but didn't get.

Odo 1033

Had to pop into town this morning. There's tonnes of off street parking but no handy poles I could chain the bike to so I parked on the street. When I came back to the bike this is what I saw. It's a bit hard to see in the photo but there are actually only two vehicles parked on this street for about a kilometre in both directions. Can you see them?  Yes, he double parked me in, too close to lift my bike off the side stand without denting his car.

Car drivers: never ceasing to cause amusement and amazement since 1899.

In other news the magazine's blog:

http://www.tbam.com.au/blog

mentions that the issue with my bike in it has been put to bed. No word on when it will hit the shelves. There's a photo of Tom the magazine dude on my bike in the blog and a *very* brief mention in the blog itself. I took the photo, which I am claiming makes me a published Motorcycle Magazine Photographer. Well in my mind anyway.

Twisting the Tiger's tail – Day 74

Odo 953

The DS has a very mild hit off the line. Wheelstands are out. The throttle ramp is just too slow.

So now that the magazine shoot is over I can start to consider customisation. I could see a flash of blue under the yellow of the Delta-Q charger. I think it's an alltrax and if it is I should be able to reprogramme it. http://www.alltraxinc.com/Products_ControllerPro.html

To be sure I need to get a good look at it. There should be an LED near the large electrical connectors that gives a flash code but I can't see it. So time to crawl under the bike with a camera (my eyes aren't that good close up and I'm too lazy/vain to get glasses)

Looks pretty clear that it's an AXE 4855. I don't know what the “R5” means but it comes up on the dash during start up so it must be significant in some way. 4855 means that it's a 48 volt controller that does 500 amps. The throttle response rate is programmable so I should be able to get it wheelstanding. That would make it much more useful off road. Not sure if I want to void my warranty right now, so I'm going to think about it for a while. I haven't actually *needed* to pop the wheel up yet.

15 Minutes of Fame - Day 65

Odo 899

Today was the day. I've been hanging out for the magazine shoot. I didn't feel like the bike was really mine. I needed to keep it standard (and clean!) but I'm a bit of a fiddler. Tom from Trail Bike Adventure Magazine turned up http://www.tbam.com.au/blog and turned out to be the nicest guy. Very rushed but so willing to put himself out to explain just what was going on and the background of what he was doing.

I wheeled out the bike for him while he got his riding gear so he could take it for a quick street ride. Normally I never move a bike without shoes, but of course with all the excitement I did...

Wow that meaty sidestand makes a mess of your foot if you run it through the side. The boss reckons I'm bunging it on again, but it's bloody sore. I don't think I broke any bones because it doesn't flex funny, but it sure feels like I have. I asked if we had any bandages (as I wanted to strap it up before I put it in a boot). “Don't waste a bandage! Put a bloody bandaid on it!”

So 4 bandaids put it back together, I slipped on my riding gear and we were off.

I took him to the local mountainbike track. A little naughty but it was close, it was interesting and it was compact making the shoot easier.

Much photography was committed and then he took it for a ride.

Instant convert.

He must have ridden thousands of different motorcycles but that wide eyed enthusiasm is normally reserved for people on their first ever ride. I'm waiting for the article but the first impression I got from watching him get off the bike was bubbling joy. It's what I've been saying about these electric thingos. Nothing you read and no amount of research (and he's done a lot of both) prepares you for the reality of how damn nice these things are to ride. I'm really hoping that an experienced journo can put that joy, that he so clearly felt, down in words. I've tried but I know I've failed.

I know a seeecret – Day 64

Odo 884

I've just been let in on a secret that will be quite big news in the electric motorcycle world. By the time I can tell it will be common knowledge. But remember, you didn't hear it here first.

20/20 Hindsight – Day 63

Odo 884

I've got the new riding gear as I mentioned before. One of the side effects is that without the bulky jacket I can now see past my arms.

It's meant that I'm now using the mirrors. Unlike every other motorcycle I've ever had, I can actually see things in the mirrors. It's great. A completely clear view of what's happening behind me without turning 'round or looking under my arm.

It's only a little thing but it just makes the bike so much more pleasant to ride than anything else. Even if it cost more for a battery bike (which it might, I'm still not sure), I'd be happy to pay the extra. I couldn't see myself ever going back to petrol except in the most niche situations.

Tyred by the Police – Day 61

Odo 864

I mentioned that I was having trouble finding a front tyre. http://zerods.blogspot.com/2010/12/tyred-and-confused-day-27.html

I saw a picture of the new Zero DS Police Special on the net

http://www.ultimatemotorcycling.com/files/2011-california-police-use-zero-motorcycles%201.jpg

I was well impressed, there is the tyre that I've been looking for. An exact match for the rear. I've emailed Phil from Zero to see if I can get them as a spare part. I'll let you know how I get on.

We don't serve your kind here – Day 60

Odo 849

Got visitors in the house this weekend, nine visitors. The place is a mad house. I have been short on sleep and I don't cope well with that. Last night two of them had a domestic and the kids of various ages were all up and jumping around (5-25 year olds). I tried to go to bed early but it was hopeless so I decided to go for a ride and clear my head.

I wheeled out the Zero and rolled silently into the night. There are no good rider's roads within range of either my wakefulness or my battery so I just rolled along next to the river. The moonlight glistened and my spirits rose.

I realised that I was thirsty. Really thirsty. I resolved to stop at the next available purveyor of beverages. Sadly that turned out to be the 24 hour McDonalds. Oh well. I also had a rather acid stomach and I thought something milky might settle it down.

So I stopped next to the Highway Patrol cars that had met up for a midnight picnic and got them to watch the bike while I slipped into the place. I could see the lights on and customers inside but the auto doors refused to respond to my waving distress. I realised I'd missed them and they were closed. However the drivethrough was open. Saved. I walked around there.

“HELLO” I chirped brightly to the unseeing eye of the microphone.

“I'm sorry we don't serve walkthroughs”. Clearly I was visible to an unseen camera.

Recognising immediately the futility of arguing my case to a 14 year old that was following orders I apologised and retreated.

So, I'm right in front of two Highway Patrol cars... I'm not going to ride in without my helmet. So it's on with the helmet and on with the gloves. I know that I'm not going to be able to carry a drink on the bike (they forgot cup holders) but I figure I'll make do. There's no clutch after all. Nip round to the drivethrough entrance, this time accompanied by my trusty steed.

“HELLO”

“Welcome to McDonalds, what can I get for you tonight”.

So I'm now acceptable. I place my order for a small chocolate thickshake.

“That's a Large then?”

“No, a small”

“Choc Thickshake Med” appears on the screen.

After convincing them that is all I want I'm instructed to advance to the payment window where I'm greeted warmly by said 14 year old. (who actually looks about 20, I suppose 14 year olds aren't allowed to work the night shift). She informs me my purchase is $3.75 which seems a lot for sugary ice slurry. Of course I can't balance the bike while extracting my wallet from my back pocket and I can't extract notes from said wallet with my gloves on. Nor can I carry on a conversation with my helmet on. So I get off the bike (instantly converting myself back into a pedestrian) and take off my helmet and gloves, retrieve my wallet, pay and accept the change. Again I'm thanked warmly and instructed to go to the next window to pick up my meal. I sense a script being followed. I'm briefly struck with sympathy for the prematurely aged 14 year old but that feeling is overwhelmed by embarrassment as I see the line of cars waiting behind me while I re-don my helmet and gloves in readiness for the 20 foot journey to the next window.

There I'm handed the flimsiest plastic cup I've ever seen. Someone has worked out how to save 0.001 cents per cup by making it thinner. It's clear that I'm not going to be able to “make do” and carry it in my left hand. It's flexing alarmingly under the pressure of my simply holding it while standing still. So I balance it on a fencepost and ride the bike back out from the drivethrough then walk back against the flow to recover my drink.

By this time I could have ridden home and had something there, so I wasn't dying of thirst as I'd feared but it was very welcome all the same.

Bike continues to run faultlessly and has restored my sense of balance which is after all, what motorcycles are for.

Ninja Rider – Day 55

Odo 783

Haven't been riding much. It's been a time for family and friends so I've been driving them around in the Dinoburner.

As well it's been hot. Not super hot, but quite unpleasantly hot. I don't ride without some sort of protection and since I haven't commuted by bike for quite some time I had three options drafted from my other motorcycling activities. Full dirtbike gear, which made me look like I'd taken a wrong turn just before the start gate, one piece road race leathers, that made me look like I'd taken a wrong turn at the end of the main straight and touring clobber that made me look like I'd taken a wrong turn in the Hindu Kush.

I really didn't know what else to wear as there's very little on the market for commuters in tropic (well sub tropic) climes. Christmas came to the rescue as we were shopping for a chrissy present for the oldest boy and settled on a pair of Dragin Jeans brand kevlar lined pants. I got on their website http://www.dragginjeans.net/product/k-shirt and stumbled upon their “K” line of clothes. K-shirt, K-gloves and K-pants. Perfect for me! They were a bit eye wateringly expensive. The gloves were ok at 35 dollars but the pants and shirt were over 200 each. They're 100% knitted kevlar. I would have thought they'd be kevlar yellow but they're black and when I put the whole lot on I look like a Ninja. (well in my mind I do anyway). Getting a bit of reality, I think actually it looks like the tracksuit fairy has visited.  I think you're supposed to wear street clothes over them, but it's too hot for that.  My street clothes are shorts and tee shirt.  I can't imagine what a sight I'd be wearing shorts over track pants.

It's fantastic to ride in. Very strange experience to feel the wind flowing over you. So much cooler than either the leathers or the heavy touring jacket.

I'm back at work now and I'm wearing the shirt and gloves to work. Worn that way the shirt looks like a rather nice long sleeve pullover/jumper.

I don't know what they're like when you're sliding down the road and I hope that I don't find out either. Still they should be a lot better than nothing and they're better than passing out from the heat while riding.

Bike continues to run perfectly.

I'm Back – Day 48

Odo 748

Well nothing to report. I've been off work for a couple of weeks and anywhere I've needed to go I've generally been taking one or more passengers. No-one in their right mind would get on the back of a bike with me even if there was a pillion seat (which there isn't). I'm really struggling to think of something exciting or funny, but I've got nothing. Still I never promised that this would be a daily report.

Electric Bill Shock – Day 36

Odo 711

Opened the Electricity Bill. It's a 3 month bill, so bear that in mind when I tell you the horror that I had. I've only been charging the bike on this bill for about a 3rd of the period.

It was... The lowest bill ever.

All I can put it down to is that normally I'd be hanging around home but instead I was out on the bike. So no air-conditioning, no big screen telly running all day.  The aircon draws 3 kW and the telly draws 200 W.  So it's possible...  Who knows.  

Update on Dilbert World – Day 35

Odo 711

Bike running fine. No news there.

I got a response from the Transport Construction Authority. You may remember I was ringing and emailing them as they told the Department for the Environment that they had a guideline that required them to put charging points in all the new and refurbished car parks. I wanted to know if that's the case, where they are? How many are there?

http://zerods.blogspot.com/2010/12/he-shall-give-his-angels-charge-but-not.html 

Well I got the answer today. There's none and no intention of putting any in.

Hi Jason

Thank you for your enquiry. I apologise for the delay in responding.

TCA's Sustainable Design Guidelines policy is applied to all TCA projects and includes a number of different initiatives, each of which has to be assessed on a project-by-project basis for its applicability.

The requirement for EV charging is indicated as a Fundamental initiative in the policy which denotes that in the Design Phase, 80% of Fundamental initiatives should be incorporated in the overall design of the project. The selection by which initiatives from the guideline should be adopted is assessed on the merits of their applicability to the project.

The overall sustainability goal as set out in the policy is achieved for each car park project in the program that TCA is delivering.

EV charging is a new technology in the car industry and there is currently no industry guideline in Australia as to how electric vehicles will be charged in the future. Although EV charging is indicated as a Fundamental initiative, not a Mandatory initiative, TCA has made provisions for 1% of total car spaces in 6 multi-storey facilities to have EV charging. The car parks with EV charging provisions are summarised in the table below:

Project name	Provision for 1% of Electric Vehicle charging bays
St Marys	5
Blacktown	5
Warwick Farm	8
Woy Woy	4
Revesby	6
Wollongong	4
Total	30

These provisions are for one charge point per car space. The location of the electric vehicle charge point is next to the car space. Currently provisions for conduits running to each of EV charging point have been constructed.
  
For refurbished car parks, there are no provisions for installing future EV charging under the current CCPIP.

In relation to preferential parking for fuel efficient vehicles, some of the completed car parks include spaces for small cars.

I trust the above addresses your questions.  If you have any further comments or enquiries, please call 1800 684 490.

Kind regards,

Diane Challenor
Manager | Corporate CommunicationsTransport Construction Authority
T: (02) 9200 0200   D: (02) 9422 0671
F: (02) 9200 0290
E: diane.challenor@tca.nsw.gov.au
W: tca.nsw.gov.au

So I replied with this:

Hi Diane,

Thanks for your reply.

I was just wondering if you could expand on one of your points. You say "For refurbished car parks, there are no provisions for installing future EV charging under the current CCPIP." I don't understand that. I would have assumed that the Commuter Car Park and Interchange Program would have fallen under the TCA Sustainable Design Guidelines. The introduction of the SDG says:

What do the guidelines cover?
The guidelines cover new train stations, major and minor upgrades
to train stations, at-grade and multi storey commuter car parks, and
maintenance facilities.

So do you mean that there are no provisions for installing future EV charging, due to a case by case decision that they wouldn't be one of the 80% of Fundamentals that made it through or do you mean that the SDG doesn't apply to refurbished facilities?

If there has been a case by case decision made to exclude the provision of EV infrastructure the SDG also says "Contractors must supply auditable reasoning if excluded". Is there somewhere I can view the reasoning that has been provided for excluding the Fundamental of providing EV infrastructure for 3% of spots at all of the TCA projects in the current CCPIP?

I've also CC'ed in Leisl as we've been corresponding about this matter.

Cheers Jason =:) 

So if you look past the positive spin that Diane is trying to put on it, they haven't put in the target 3% charge points in any projects, they haven't put infrastructure for future needs in any projects and they're not going to prepare for the future until it arrives... “no industry guideline in Australia as to how electric vehicles will be charged in the future” Well no, perhaps not, but Australia has a 240 volt 10 amp standard for household use and 240 volt 15 amp sockets are quite common (used on caravans and such). You can plug a 240 volt 10 amp plug into a 15 amp socket but not the other way around. So as a first step just putting in 15 amp sockets would be a good start. That would allow for up to 3.6 kW chargers. Seeing as most railway commuters are at work for 9 hours, with travel time the car is going to sit there for 10 hours. Enough to recharge a Leaf from dead flat to full or two thirds charge a Tesla Roadster. There also exists a rather uncommon 20 amp variant that allows both 10 and 15 amp plugs to fit.  When used with the right plug it would allow draws of 4.8 kW.  That means a Tesla Roadster would be 90% recharged from dead flat in 10 hours. At the same time any normal plug would fit straight in.

I wouldn't mind if they just told me to get lost like McDonalds did. What burns me up is their self congratulatory twaddle that they put out in print, followed up with nothing.