Vectrix: Maiden Voyage

March 2, 2015

Today was the maiden voyage on the Vectrix electric motorcycle. (Click the video above to see!) I put on my long underwear, grabbed my best thick gloves, and headed over to where I’ve been working on the cycle. I powered it up and took it down to the road to get ready for the first […]

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Vectrix FINALLY Works!

March 2, 2015

Yesterday, after filming the TRANSPORT EVOLVED episode, I headed back over to my Dad’s garage to work on the Vectrix. Unlike the day before, I had my CANBUS adapter with, so I could connect the cycle to the computer. One nice thing was that I let the cycle charge overnight, so I FINALLY had MORE […]

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Notes from TRANSPORT EVOLVED

March 1, 2015

In case you happened to see me on today’s TRANSPORT EVOLVED, I thought I’d share some links to projects mentioned in the broadcast.   Most recent work on fixing up the Vectrix electric motorcycle – LINK Geneva Auto Show Magna Hybrid Car – http://www.autoblog.com/2015/02/26/magna-mila-plus-hybrid-concept-geneva-official/ Blog entry about my trip to Vienna – http://300mpg.org/2012/06/25/adventures-in-austria-part-1-autos-energy-austrians/ Solar Swing-Set – Direct […]

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VECTRIX – Assemble!

February 28, 2015

Today, I spent the afternoon putting the Vectrix electric motorcycle back together. After originally taking it apart, manually charging the batteries, connecting them with jumper-cables, and finally getting the cycle to communicate with a computer, it was time to put it all back together. I started by removing the jumper cables that I used as […]

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Yes we CAN! CANBUS communications

February 21, 2015

Yes we CAN! Not just a presidential election slogan, it’s an enthusiastic exclamation of being able to communicate with the Vectrix electric motorcycle to a laptop using the CAN-BUS system. I finally got the two to talk. All it took was buying the correct (over-priced in my opinion…) adapter and correct drivers. I purchased a […]

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Garages, Block Heaters, and Thermal Cameras

January 9, 2015

In my area, we are now in the depths of winter, with the air temperature hovering right around Zero Fahrenheit, and wind-chills down to near fifty below. Maybe it’s time I put on those snow tires. Just kidding, I already have the snow tires on, although I only got them on about a week ago. […]

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Vectrix Repair Work Continues

December 17, 2014

Last week, I had some time available to work on the Vectrix. It was an hour or so at a time over a number of days, and frankly, I’ve been more excited about the vehicle than actually blogging about it, so here’s a whole bunch of an update all at once! The first step was […]

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Vextrix Electric Maxi-scooter!

December 2, 2014

A few weeks ago, I got a lead on somebody selling a Vectrix electric scooter. I had heard of them before, but didn’t know the details, so I looked them up on the web. A Vectrix is a scooter-styled electric motorcycle. Think of it as the EV version of a Honda Reflex. It does require […]

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Solar is MIND-BLOWINGLY CHEAP!

November 14, 2014

Just the other day, I got the latest copy of HOME POWER magazine in the mail. The cover article was about a DIY 6 Kilowatt system that is about 13 miles from my house. What I wasn’t expecting to learn from the article is how CHEAP solar can be! I live in south-eastern Wisconsin. We […]

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Motorcycle NiMH battery pack upgrade –

October 29, 2014

Two weeks ago, I got started on my electric motorcycle battery pack upgrade by tearing apart a Ford Escape Hybrid battery pack. After that, I was trying to figure out the best way to repack the cells into a size and shape appropriate for the motorcycle. Since I already had the original black plastic battery […]

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