Euro mini tour

[billi]

Seeing quite a lot of Ebikes on this trip, some really nice bits of kit.

was cycling into Franconian Switzerland for a break , just managed on my pedelec to arrive in the destinated Village, on that 70 km trip up and down in a beautiful landscape , through a lot of great villages , was happy to find a B+B and took my bike withme to bed , to get her charged ( brought charger with me but forgot the key to just take the battery to bed with me )

Many people are on e-bikes there , ok not the Lance Armstrong or Jan Ulrich tour de France guys , but still a lot use bikes now all generations and makes , instead of cars https://www.goingelectric.de/stromtanks ... 1d21/1000/

One could see groups of people on bikes , that usually took their car for a ride to have "the right to party"
One needs per average -over the thumb 0.7 kWh of electicity on an e-bike per 100 km (you translate that for me to miles to the gallon )

So for the simplicity , an electic car needs 15-30 kWh per 100 km to shift 1-4 people from A to B ...

Anyway point of my post is, that so many people just drove ebikes and the two charging station reseved parking for Musk and co cars in that village, were never occupied , and i had a look , i was unable to plug my ebike in, to charge there , on a sunny day, eating ice cream for an hour or two ,

All that infrastructure installed and then no 220 Volt idea for others incorporated ? Feck that !

Billi

[Mr Gus]

I'm with you there billi..
*BUT* "Where's the profit in that" !? attitude again means we are dangling leads through windows & begging electricity to charge what amounts to a 18650 battery (usually)

IF anything happens it will be millions of public cash to set up a government "mates" company to then charge us for charging.

E-charging hubs need to be for more than cars, range anxiety? pah they need to scrutinise "assistance anxiety" where the input is lkely equal to what is got out of the battery ..but not so much of a screaming headline for nasty newspapers who already campaign against cyclists & park vehicles in bike lanes, ..well at least on that front TFL are going to start fining others for that (it was just announced)

now then if some clever dick could come up with a pre pay app that is to recharging ebikes is to water refills for cafe's then we'd be part way there.
2op extra on a coffee & safe parking for your bike while you roam a town for a few hours? ..yes please.

[chris_n]

We do have a free ebike charge point close to me on the Inntal Radweg (cycle path by the river Inn). Many of the mountain huts do have places to charge bikes too.

[Mr Gus]

That's good to hear Chris, ..is it a local initiative to facilitate the local economy by small businesses or part of a national scheme!?
(Also, any restrictions to e bike batteries etc on transport, trains & the like?

[chris_n]

The charge point on the Inntal is provided FOC by the local council, the mountain huts just provide them to keep mainly local customers happy and returning. Tourists don't tend to get too far off the beaten track. No restrictions on transporting ebikes and batteries on trains apart from maybe restricting the number of bikes at busy times but that applies to normal bikes too. Ebikes here are a massive thing as it is so mountainous, trip to the top of a local mountain is 1km vertical over a distance of 10km including a slight down hill / flat section of about 2km.

[ClockmanFRA]

Will aim for it but entirely unsure. Will mssg if not going to be close!

No worries, any time after 14.00hrs. Does not start getting dark here until 22.00hrs.

[billi]

We do have a free ebike charge point close to me on the Inntal Radweg (cycle path by the river Inn). Many of the mountain huts do have places to charge bikes too.

Thats great to hear , but my point was , if in general the automobile industry orientated electric car fuel power station is installed and i suppose that many are funded , why on earth to not as well have a charging connection for other EV s like a bike, scooter , wheelchair etc ... not talking about free of charge btw
billi

[ClockmanFRA]

Here in Normandy France I know the man who is the superintendent of the Electric bikes around our local towns.

I have Known him a good 20 years, he is an ex semi pro bike rider Brit, who has taken a French passport.

He came to see me about a course in solar panels on standalone bike shelters, but they wanted to know the whole science and what was practically possibly for recharging the bikes from Solar panels. Lots of back of the envelope realistic deigns on standard large PV panels and outputs, charging systems etc, bike shelter charging station sizes etc.

Yes it was possible, but and here is the crunch. There is NO French company making or willing to install such a structure or develop the charging system and charging station.

All the guys i met said it is the way the Senior Civil servants here work, " If it don’t come out of a box already to go, then there is not much hope", then he said, "Thinking on, hhmm, I can’t see it happening as there is little profit margin involved and its too simple, few French commercial folk and their buddies will get involved".

Now don’t get me wrong, but the French regional Councils have to allocate budgets some years in advance, so watch this space. When the French do move they shoot forward real quick and implement the latest tech.

10 years ago my Mrs kicked up a fuss about having crap internet connection and so we had to have satellite, she was on the local Council and stirred up a hornets nest, 6 years later we got a fiber optic dug in, 2 men and a min digger 3 months 20kms, and we are 100 meters of copper from the main ending junction box.

At the moment here we are in the middle of rolling country side very rural and just agriculture, no urban folk, and the past month has seen big machines trundling up and down our single track roads laying underground cables for both electric and fibre optic cables. Manholes everywhere in the road with the regional Councils name on them with all utilities sharing. And there is only few houses nearby, der, does this happen in the UK.?

[Joeboy]

Now on our way back North. Staying on a beautiful municipal site. Beaumont sur saude I think?

Incredible value for money at 12 euro for a night. That's 2 people, WiFi, hot showers, immaculate grounds, secure site.

The panel on the Bongo is putting out a mighty 16.9V into the LB, fridge is running and maybe a movie later. No electric hook up needed.

[Bugtownboy]

Beaumont sur Sarthe probably - on the River Sarthe. One of our points on the journey to and from the Corrèze.

Just after Alençon - best thing they did with Alençon, was build a ‘périphérique’.