About the TWIKE

The Twike is a 3 wheel electric vehicle that is currently built in Germany. for more information, the Wikipedia article is pretty informative and a good place to get some information. I have numerous links on the right column of this site that I update periodically with more information. All together, they get you quite a bit of info.

Browse around the TWIKE website and others for more information. If you would like to contact me or get more information (or a ride) Please visit the contact section on the website and put in the appropriate information and I can get in contact with you via email. For quicker response, please put " TWIKE in KC" so it can be routed to me quickly (few days).

The TWIKE is my daily commuter vehicle. It was Built in 1999 and when I purchased it in 2011 it had ~1000 Miles on it. I was able to salvage the vehicle and revive it with new batteries. I have learned a lot in the process and would be willing to share/help with any EVs if people would like some insight or to demonstrate this to a group for education or discussion of topics.


TWIKE on!

First Months

My goal in purchasing this was to make it my daily commuter, and my goal is complete. I have been driving it to/from work, as well as other activities and clubs. The only reason I've not driven is for extreme range. My favorite story so far is being pulled over to have my registration checked. "Is ..... That..... Street.... Legal?" the officer asked in complete disbelief that it could be street legal ( trust me officer, I spent nearly 4 months figuring out all the legal issues with it). I may start a story section on here for humorous comments. What I've noticed that that most of the people that approach me are very excited about the prospect and form factor of the vehicle. They love how small it is and how efficient it is.My favorite part is when people realize that it is electric. It is Quiet, sleek, and for reasons that escape me, it stands out in traffic.

 I have noticed that the cold weather does affect my range a little bit. I'm excited that the temperature is warming up and that I'll be getting some good testing on range coming up soon.

Driving during the day is SOO much more fun that at night . I then can tell that people can see me as well as the friendly Honks and comments like " HOLY COW! IS THAT THING REAL" as I pull into parking lots.

Driving this is a real learning experience. I have learned more about driving by watching other people watch me. I suggest to you all to pay more attention to other people on the road, see what they do, watch how they accelerate... see how going faster than the speed limit doesn't really get you there sooner? Drivers really need to chill out.

I have broken a few charging station.... I think the Twike likes to take all the current it will be given... or else their Circuit breakers are poorly set. I will investigate this when time permits.

First Drive on New Batteries

New batteries are holding up so far. My estimates give me about 30+ miles per charge, I think it may go farther when the weather warms up.

SUCCESS! It drives.
I ran into a few mechanical hiccups as is expected with an older vehicle, but in general, for a vehicle that has been Idle for 4+ years, it is running fantastic. the vehicle does have a audio system on board , but I've resolved myself to not turn on radio for first month or so of driving; not only to extend range, but also to fully get my attention on the vehicle. Get to know the sounds, the turning, the feel of the vehicle. It really is exhilerating.

Thing that I've noticed and will get accustomed to:

* People like to take pictures of it
* if the person pulls right up to your bumper, it's not them being impolite, it's them getting a better look at the vehicle.
* They aren't honking at you.. more of a "with" you, affirmatively.
* Defensive driving
* Having a crowd around the vehicle


I am planning on getting a ChargePoint account which allow me to use the public Charging Stations. (it's fantastic)

I'd been debating for a while what to expect while driving the vehicle around.What would people do. Would people follow me? What questions will they have? Is it possible to give a ride to Everyone?
It's all happening now and it's going to be exciting.

It really comes down to being honest, giving people facts and bring them out of the "Shock" of seeing it. Everyone goes back to being a little kid when they see it. I've heard multiple people say " it looks like a _____" .... In my mind, it looks like a TWIKE.

Few fun photos of getting it out and about:

Everyone needs to inspect it

Also changed the tires on it because it had been sitting for a while: 

It's a pretty simple task to replace the tires, once again, refer to the TWIKE MANUAL.

Basics: 

*leave the back wheels on, and jack the back side up one at a time. -> Change tire

*Jack the front up, remove the bolt, but make sure to know where the washers are before you take them out(take a pic). 

Battery ReBuild

I took the initial test drive on some old batteries and got about 6 miles. I recharged and tried some some different battery configuration... and all the batteries died. This at least did confirm that components of the system worked.

With a little guidance and some prior knowledge of the technology, I engaged on a journey to put together 2 new battery packs. Each pack has 280 "C" cell batteries and they need to be integrated with the Battery Management System "BMS".

After searching through multiple sites and pricing out my options. I found a price I could manage and decided to rebuild the packs. I hit a few barriers like " How do you assemble 280 batteries into a single solid pack" and " Does the BMS really work" and "How to install thermal fuses... "

I was able to contact a few people my Hacker Space  and they were enthralled to help me in the assembly of the pack (and getting the vehicle back on the road)

Few things in the reassembly that I chose to do to make things easier:
1. Get the batteries "With Tabs" so that I wouldn't have to weld the tabs to the batteries. I do not have the proper tools to do that, but it wouldn't be difficult if I did. It all just takes time.

2. Put COMPLETE new battery packs together. I could have tried and salvaged a few portions of the old packs, but when building Batteries; it is best for them all to be the same chemistry and age. ( preferably the same batch form factory) This helps in the balancing and maintaining pack integrity.

Few important things about Ni-Cads: (specific to Twikes)
-In Winter/ Summer, Never leave them discharged, always charge when the drive is complete.
-do not leave it charging more than 48 hours unless it is in a deep discharge state and hasn't charged for >2 weeks
-Do not Fully charge at the top of a hill. OR if you do, do not use regenerative braking. The batteries are completely full and can't take any more charge.
- See Twike manual for more charging info.
- Batteries are Expensive :-(

Pictures below:

Disassembly:

Batteries Removed from Pack

Old Batteries

Soldering:

"Packing":

Battery Strings

Into the "20-cell" packs

Reassembly:

Got it all assembled and ...

 "THE LIGHT TURNS ON! IT WORKS"

...

...

So with New batteries and operational vehicle. What to Do?

... Range Testing time!

Registering

When I bought TW493, It didn't have a Title and never had been registered.

This created problems. Every state worker that I asked how to work through the problem, they said " DON'T BUY IT WITHOUT A TITLE" ... this wasn't an acceptible answer, for obvious reasons. So I bought it. I did some legwork on the whole problem and knowing that there were twikes registered in California, Oregon, Illinois, and somewhere east coast, They can be registered. The only problem is not having a title. OK, so let's figure this one out. 

1: is it a homebuilt vehicle?

      NO

2. is it stolen? 

      NO

3. is it scrap from another vehicle? 

      NO

4 does it have a VIN?
      sorta... yes.... YES. 

State law says that any vehicle has to have a VIN. The caviet: any Low Production Vehicle doesn't have to have a VIN, but the unique identifier. 

Definition: Low production vechile means it has less than a certain number per year ( something like 1,000). With the limited number of Twikes ever produced, it matched that spec, but it still has a VIN for ease of licensing and identification)

The TWIKE does have a VIN, so this solved those questions. Now does it pass all specs by DOT?

A quick search on the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration) returned a few documents:

ftp://ftp.nhtsa.dot.gov/mfrmail/ORG2308.pdf

ftp://ftp.nhtsa.dot.gov/mfrmail/ORG1969.pdf

ftp://ftp.nhtsa.dot.gov/mfrmail/FAX567.pdf

These basically state that the Highway department  states that they are legitimate motorcycles; good to be driven in the USA. The Highway Patrol and inspectors loved these docs, it is like their bible.

Next issue, Getting the title issued: 

1:VIN inspection

In Kansas, there has to be a VIN inspection by the Highway patrol. This is basically bring in the Title, and the vehicle and they will make sure it's not stolen. My problem being that there is no Title, and it was never Registered. The Trooper was very  cautious. After seeing the documents above, he was like Oh, GOOD!! just needed a Bill of Sale and Drivers License. The trooper issued me the correct paperwork to get a title issued to me.

2. Insurance
Because of the nature of the vehicle, Many of the companies are like "We only take normal motorcycles". When possible, I would go into the office and smile asking with a picture if they would allow me to get insurance through them. It took a few companies (in fact, I was rejected Multiple times... RUDLY by my company at the time). I found State Farm was a little apprehensive, but they emailed off the their underwriters and found that they go "YUP, it's got 3 wheels, It's a motorcycle". So I have since moved to State Farm.

3. Licence Plate
I went into the Motor Vehicle Department... with the paperwork above( Bill of sale, VIN inspection, Insurance) and they have issued a Title, and License Plate.  Of Course, with a vehicle like this, you have to do a vanity plate ( custom license plate). Custom plate will be coming in a few weeks!!

Licence Plate

...Side note, a smiling face and a patient attitude is always nice when trying to figure a problem like this out. Also a note is to know what you are talking about. For example, while getting the insurance, since it is electric it is technically a "0"cc motor, but we put in a 1cc to get it pushed through.

It wasn't an easy task to complete, but it is very nice to know I can drive it legally.

Battery Woes

NEXT STEP: Batteries
I did do an initial drive of the vehicle on Batteries that were borrowed and drove about 6 miles on partially charged batteries... after they sat a little, They have died. I'm currently plotting and planning on resolving this issue. ( perhaps the next post)

As I get the batteries running, I'll need to put new tires on the Twike. Ends up that they are just moped tires. Shouldn't be too hard to change out. ( old tires have been sitting on there for ~ 5years)

SOLD!

For those looking to purchase a Twike, some knowledge is required, but it really is nice to know the right people. And I knew quite a few of them...

Please see the blogs/ websites attached to the right of this page to find more info/ other Twike owners in the USA. I learned... all I know about Twikes from them, either in person, or from links on their pages.

Important things I've learned from these pages:
(TW434)-- the perfect trailer for the Twike is a 5'x9' utility from Uhaul (don't get a covered trailer, Can't open the Canopy inside of it to properly apply the brake). I used a little bit of cardboard for padding, and straps on the tires, and it worked perfect. ( this was my first experience towing, twas a good reason to start). I threw a rope through the canopy bar and tied it under the vehicle to keep it down, but I also threw a tarp over the top to guarantee that  it wouldn't pop open while driving. One thought I had was " Wow, these hard drive magnets REALLY keep the tarp in place (when attached to the trailer). I had minimal flapping of the tarp.

I finalized the purchase of TW493 from the previous own on the afternoon of November 19, It was a bit cool but with your blood pumping you didn't care if there were 20' of snow, you are buying a TWIKE. I trailered it back to my place and parked it in the garage in Kansas. On the way back from purchasing it, I stopped by the owner of TW433 ; said hello and swapped stories. While talking he says " those batteries are dead? clear some room in the car, I've got some batteries for you"

WOW! Purchased a twike, and got working batteries?! in the same day?! GREAT LUCK, I was expecting to spend a few months piecing stuff together with hopes and dreams.

I was very fortunate to have these connections. in the few days that I've had TW493, I've changed out the batteries, charged the batteries, and done some initial testing. It all looks to be in operating shape. I have contacted the manufacturer with a few questions and they are excited to see another twike get back on the road.

Once I get some road testing I'll try to remember to post my results. I'm currently designing a device to automatically track the energy used in the vehicle as well as the miles traveled so that it can  accurately calculate the MPGe ( Miles per Gallon Equivalent, basically this is a way to even the field of measuring efficiency. Other ways to measure are Watt-Hour/ Mile).

~TW493

This goes for all my posts, Please post a comment if you have questions, They will help people learn.

Pre-sale

On the road

Passenger side

Driver's Side

Unloading

All's Good