electric mopeds etc. what's good?

[Throbbing Angel]

Ahoy,

Been thinking about getting one for a while - a proper scooter/moped - be battery powered.

I have a bike licence so am not limited to the 50cc equivalent, so I'm looking at 125cc equiv. and above.
I'd like summat that can keep up with traffic, so not limited to 45kmh/28mph.
It'd mainly be for v.local use so a massive range ain't needed, but being able to do 55-60 miles on one charge would be useful, occasionally.

Trouble is, I've never heard of most of these brands at the lower price end Lexmoto, Vmoto, MGB, BumbleBee etc.

Any suggestions, warnings, stories etc?

 

[T & P]

Get an ilegal e-bike instead! You don’t need to bother with insurance, wear a helmet, or use with lights at night, and you can break as many Highway Code rules as you want, safe in the knowledge the police don’t give the first fuck about you. And as a bonus, you can go through LTNs and use bicycle and bus-only routes, whereas legal electric mopeds are somehow motor vehicles, and therefore evil

 

[T & P]

Seriously though, I haven’t much useful advice to give- not many of them about yet.

I certainly heard of Lexmoto, though. The motorcycle dealer I bought my bike from, who is a thoroughly decent and honest guy in my experience, deals in a lot of Lexmotos as well. If you’re in London I’d recommend visiting them, as they have a good range of brands and models.

 

[Throbbing Angel]

I'm up North and bereft of larger bike dealerships so going to have a look at one isn't as easy as I'd like.

 

[T & P]

Nowadays you can probably have a bike delivered quite easily. They do it with cars anyway.

Out of curiosity, have you researched the price difference between electric mopeds and their petrol equivalent? Bearing in mind that petrol bikes enjoy the same perks as electric ones, such as free parking, no Congestion Charge etc, other than a reduced road tax I can’t think of any financial benefits. And a 50 or 125cc petrol moped consumes such a frugal amount of fuel, I doubt you’d be saving much money there.

Not that I want to put you off. I’m sure there are environmental benefits to an electric bike. But if your main concern was financial, and an electric bike is going to cost you two grand more than a petrol equivalent, you might not recoup the difference over the ownership of the bike.

 

[Throbbing Angel]

Are there though (environmental benefits)? Or is it minimal and dependent upon me using the thing for a decade or more? (unlikely)

The parking and reduced road tax are a pull for me over buying a second car. I wouldn't be going anywhere near a ULEZ or congestion charge area.

The price differences are about +£1k to £1.5k for the electric v. petrol equivalent unless I buy summat pricey because it looks better. I suppose that is a lot of petrol. Approx 870 litres depending on moped & petrol avg. prices.

I know that the batteries won't last forever but am finding it very difficult to find prices for replacements or even leasing them which I believe is an option on some bikes/smaller cars.

I suppose that the ethical thing to do is to go electric or buy a MegaRider for the buses (currently £70 per month, so approx £700 per year as there would be a few gaps here and there. But there's the waiting, and the people, and the delays, and the cancellations etc. Plus I'm CEV so try and avoid the great unwashed if I can, especially for hour-long bus rides, which is what I am looking at on a good day - each way.

A crude example:

I can get a new Piaggio Liberty 125 for £2400ish [rrp £2700] and some places are doing offers like giving you 500 miles worth of petrol on purchase - plus insurance plus OTR charges plus road tax plus a helmet and maybe a top box if I find the under seat storage doesn't suffice for small shopping trips. This moped does 94mpg apparently - less for fat cunts like myself

A Piaggio Active 1 (electric) can be had for £2300-£2500 (rrp £3150 down to £2650 with the govts incentive to go electric) not so many deals to be had as the Govt scheme already does this I suppose. So no free helmets etc unless you're buying an electric model that's £5k+ new.
So that plus leccy bill to charge it plus insurance plus OTR charges plus road tax plus a helmet and maybe a top box if I find the under seat storage doesn't suffice for small shopping trips.
But it's slower (max 28mph), 50cc equivalent, the possible mile range is much lower than a petrol bike and again is affected by weight and things like how cold it is outside etc.

 

[T & P]

If you can get an electric model for effectively just a few more hundred quid than a petrol one thanks to the government subsidy, then it’s a lot more attractive a proposition, and you are more likely to break even and be better off after one or two years’ ownership.

It’s good to hear the price gap between electric and ICE bikes is much more narrow than with cars, where you’re looking at 10k+ extra even for the cheapest car types.

 

[Throbbing Angel]

Aye - this is true RE: cars
We're in a PCP loop with Kia, looking at hybrids in a couple of weekends' time and they are noticeably more expensive than the petrol-only version of the same model.

This deal on the mopeds is what makes it attractive - can I live with a smaller engine/restricted speed/range issues? All these things make it less attractive than the petrol 125cc mopeds can't decide

 

[likesfish]

buy a decent one my work shelled out on some cheapish ones and they were shagged within 6 month but probably weren't built to do 100 miles a day every day.

 

[Throbbing Angel]

Deliveries?

Oh - and what make were they?