
Homemade Electric Motorcycle Stopped on M25 in Hertfordshire - dustinmoris
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-49393998
======
adrianN
IMHO the future of personal transportation is vehicles like that. We don't
have the space in cities to support 2-3 tons of steel per traveler, and plain
bicycles are uncomfortable in bad weather, or when you are physically
impaired. But small (electric?) velomobiles with three or four wheels are
perfect for city commutes when cycling is not an option. They also don't need
15-20kWh/100km like an electric car would.

~~~
VBprogrammer
I've expressed the same sentiment before. The problem is that even talking
about electric cars gets people's knickers in a twist; they need to be able to
drive for 1000 miles straight while towing an apartment on wheels behind them
and any vehicle which can't do that just isn't good enough. They'd rather be
dead than have to drive one of these.

~~~
masklinn
> The problem is that even talking about electric cars gets people's knickers
> in a twist; they need to be able to drive for 1000 miles straight while
> towing an apartment on wheels behind them and any vehicle which can't do
> that just isn't good enough.

I mean that's understandable, if the car you buy can only handle small
commuting that means at the very least the _additional cost_ of using other
transport methods or renting a car or having a second car (all of which may be
problematic or impossible) when you need to see friends, your family, or go on
holidays. And that's not "par" money as the EV is not going to be
significantly cheaper than an equivalent ICE.

A _small and cheap_ comfy-ish EV might actually be a good option there, as it
lets you have a regular car when you need to e.g. go to Ikea (which might be
out of range of an EV depending where you live) or drive to the next country
or go see your sister a few hundred miles away without significant additional
costs, but it needs to be small (so it's not an issue e.g. for people living
in cities who may not have access to a garage at all let alone a multi-car
one) and cheap (so it's not a drain on resources, or at least not a big one,
compared to just using the one car all the time).

Incentives are a thing, and currently EVs mostly incentivise using something
else if you don't have fuck you money and more surface than you can use. As-
is, plug-in hybrids are probably a better option for single people or single-
car households.

~~~
VBprogrammer
I agree with what you are saying. The tradeoffs are complex between an
electric car and something else. In many cases the only reasonable solution is
to have both and use the appropriate vehicle for the appropriate trip. The
downsides of that are many unless you already need two vehicles.

However, you seem to have illustrated exactly my point. An electric car has
some limitations compared to a conventional car. But the gap from an electric
car to an electric velomobile is probably even greater.

~~~
masklinn
> However, you seem to have illustrated exactly my point. An electric car has
> some limitations compared to a conventional car. But the gap from an
> electric car to an electric velomobile is probably even greater.

The difference and point (as noted in the second paragraph) is that it is much
more feasible to have a car and a velomobile than to have two cars.

------
johnbatch
From Twitter [1] It's Cedric Lynch's car. There is a YouTube video [2] of him
showing it off and saying it goes 55mph and gets 150-200 miles on a charge of
its Lithium batteries. And another picture of him with it (and also barefoot)
[3]

1\.
[https://twitter.com/mikel01/status/1163709573984899072?s=21](https://twitter.com/mikel01/status/1163709573984899072?s=21)

2\. [https://youtu.be/KnqoH0YaCsE](https://youtu.be/KnqoH0YaCsE)

3\. [http://www.bikeweb.com/node/2601](http://www.bikeweb.com/node/2601)

~~~
Jazgot
This is truly amazing, thank you for the links!

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jansan
Hmm, no mentioning of his dog Gromit. I hope he is doing well.

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dlub
Driver of the vehicle also invented and built the motor which powers it - The
Lynch Motor - an axial-flux permanent magnet electric motor. See

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynch_motor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynch_motor)

Video of Cedric talking about the 'thingymobile'

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnqoH0YaCsE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnqoH0YaCsE)

------
zik
It's a velomobile. They're somewhat unusual but surely not so unusual that
they're worthy of a newspaper article? There are quite a few manufacturers:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velomobile#Velomobile_manufact...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velomobile#Velomobile_manufacturers)

~~~
arethuza
I think the news story is also that it was spotted on the M25 which is the
orbital motorway round London that is quite busy and that it is, in fact,
perfectly legal.

Edit: Also it is the BBC which has a track record of regarding unusual
vehicles as entertaining:

[https://www.topgear.com/car-reviews/top-gear-technology-
cent...](https://www.topgear.com/car-reviews/top-gear-technology-centre/p45)

From the 'review': "Against: The crash protection is a bit fleshy"

~~~
adwww
Also it's mildy amusing that the police stopped it because OBVIOUSLY that's
not road legal, but it turns out that actually there was nothing they could
cite it for - unlike a good number of cars on the road.

~~~
vanderZwan
To be fair to the police in this situation: most velomobiles would be more
like electric bikes and therefore not be legal on motor highways, wouldn't
they?

It probably wouldn't be the first time someone eccentric created something
cool in their garage and not go through the motions of getting it properly
registered.

~~~
arethuza
Yeah - it seems pretty sensible to me that the police stop and check that
vehicle.

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gcthomas
Also odd, the driver is barefoot while he is stood on the motorway hard
shoulder.

~~~
thecatspaw
is it legal in the uk to drive barefoot?

~~~
jmkni
Yep - [https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/road-safety/driving-
witho...](https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/road-safety/driving-without-
shoes-is-it-illegal/)

~~~
robocat
It's also legal in New Zealand to drive barefoot (or even ride a motorbike
barefoot): [https://i.stuff.co.nz/motoring/99992891/silly-
question-24-ca...](https://i.stuff.co.nz/motoring/99992891/silly-
question-24-can-we-drive-in-jandals-or-barefoot)

------
Rumperuu
Reminds me of the Czechoslovakian Velorex, which had three wheels, a
motorcycle engine and a leather body[0].

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velorex](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velorex)

~~~
aivisol
Or soviet "invalidka":
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMZ_cyclecar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMZ_cyclecar).
(4 wheels though)

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goatinaboat
Far from the shonkiest vehicle I have ever seen on the M25.

------
Reason077
As reported on Twitter, this is Cedric Lynch's vehicle:

[https://greentransportation.info/videos/history/cedric-
lynch...](https://greentransportation.info/videos/history/cedric-
lynch/evmotorcycle-interview.html)

[http://www.bbc.co.uk/isleofman/content/articles/2009/06/15/e...](http://www.bbc.co.uk/isleofman/content/articles/2009/06/15/electric_motor_feature.shtml)

He is something of an electric vehicle innovator, inventing the Lynch motor in
the 1970s/80s:

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynch_motor](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynch_motor)

------
aasasd
Afaik most microcars are pretty much bikes or electric mobility scooters with
bodies. Plenty of fun can be had by googling for ‘microcar.’

Even some beefier things like KTM X-Bow or Polaris Slingshot, which are racing
cars for all practical purposes, are registered as bikes due to having no
safety features.

~~~
m-i-l
One of the "selling points" of the Sinclair C5 was that its electric motor was
built by Hoover and would be serviced at the existing network of vacuum
cleaner service centres[0].

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_C5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_C5)

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buffaloo
In the UK can traffic police stop motorists for no reason? No probable cause
required?

~~~
sgjohnson
Yup. In the UK police can also stop and search you at their liberty.

Airstrip One.

~~~
ntzm
They have to have probable cause, but like in most other countries they'll
just make something up like they smell drugs or whatever

~~~
jmkni
In the UK they don't have to have probable cause.

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faissaloo
I'd love to build my own custom vehicle, I wonder what it would involve in
terms of making it road legal

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senthilnayagam
it rear side resembles like a small boat

