| Author | Message | ||
     Geo0006 |
I wonder if older Police motorcycles will eventually become collectible if all cop bikes become electric?  from the article: The town of Burbank, California, has just bought a fleet of electric motorcycles from Zero Motorcycles for its police force. So now the city can also enjoy the title of having the quietest police force. 8 pictures and full article . | ||
| 86129squids |
I know we've gone back and forth on the BW about E-bikes, but dang if I wouldn't get a kick out of one someday! Lately, the most severe criticism about E-bikes or Tesla's, or E-whatever, has been range- if you're generally living in an urban area, seems like NBD. As long as you can charge easily and kinda quickly, or swap battery packs. Heard an interesting article on NPR the other day about E-assist bicycles in cities, and how they're being adopted well in Europe, not so much here- our "car culture" and infrastructure kinda slows that idea down. I could and should walk/bicycle to work, but I'm in the habit of jumping on one of my MC's and getting there in less than 5 minutes. | ||
| Johnnylunchbox |
Unfortunately, when the siren and lights are on, top speed is reduced to 15 MPH*** ***Not an actual fact but presented as a form of satire | ||
| Teeps |
Follow the money on this one; payola is the only rational reason for this move. | ||
| Strokizator |
Those e-bikes will come in handy at the Big Rock Candy Mountain where "the cops have wooden legs, the bulldogs all have rubber teeth and the hens lay soft boiled eggs". Don't know why that song popped into my head when I saw that picture. | ||
| Sifo |
Do these have the clothes pin option to hold the card in the spokes? | ||
| Blake |
Not so much. 1. The operating and maintenance costs of the electrics will be almost non-existant compared to their old IC predecessors. 2. They're much easier to operate (no clutch or gear-shifting, no starter or startup required) allowing officers to be more attentive to other things. 3. They're much quieter allowing officers to better hear what is going on around them and to patrol more stealthily, a huge advantage in crime detection/prevention. If the range is adequate, the electrics make nothing but complete sense for this application. (Message edited by Blake on November 25, 2014) | ||
| Teeps |
Blake, All very good points. | ||
| Sifo |
I still have serious questions about the battery technology. Some examples... I have a cell phone that I purchased in 2008. It used to hold a charge all week the way I use it. Now, about 36 hours. My GPS used to run for hours on the battery. Now, less than an hour. I have 3 laptop computers with batteries that last a fraction of the time they used to. Well, one of those can't even boot up on the battery. All of these have batteries that are basically the same thing being used in electric vehicles these days. So what happens when a couple of years down the road you start to notice that the range of your EV isn't exactly getting you where you need to go anymore? A new battery is going to be more than the value of the used EV. Also, despite the lack of new ground breaking technology that is constantly promised to be right around the corner, that same promise of new technology puts these in the same class as the laptop computers that I have. If that new technology ever really starts to happen, the value of used EV is going to really tank even worse. I do love the free market though. Feel free to go out and get an EV. Stop asking that I help pay for it though. Let us all know how it works out. | ||
| Hootowl |
I feel the same way Sifo. I like the idea of an EV, but I'm not ready to buy one. They're not there yet. In the mean time, stop making me buy them for other people. (Message edited by hootowl on November 25, 2014) | ||
| Teeps |
People I know, have first hand experience with EVs and other alternative fuel vehicles in a large city motor pool. They surmised that politician pressure is the most likely reason for the purchase. They also concluded that if the motor officers don't like them (e-Bikes), "they" will make the program fail... I think, additionally, that someone in the city of Burbank got some "skin", for the purchase. Sifo, I concur. | ||
| Sifo |
Having said all of what I said, I will admit that there may be rolls that the Zero may fill very well. If it's really money well spent by the city, well that's a whole nother can of worms. Anyone ever make due with the tools they have because the "proper" tool for the job is very expensive, and you just don't do that job very often? | ||
| Hootowl |
"tools they have because the "proper" tool for the job is very expensive, and you just don't do that job very often?" That's Harbor Freight's business model! |
