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Elf Enclosed Electric tricycle
Been looking at this little guy for 5-7 years now and my 2005 golf is reaching to point where its check engine light is on more often than its not. We have a Prius for everything else the golf at this point is just there to get me to work on days I can't bike to work because of rain or its too dark which I wont bike on the roads for. This at least provides a little protection from getting hit, much more visible and looks more like a vehicle and I should be safer to ride on the roads with an orange triangle on the back. Can only go a max of 30mph if I'm really peddling.
Still hesitant because there are some limitations and unknowns.
Cons:
Everything takes twice as long to get anywhere.
There are also places I can take my #
... show morehttps://organictransit.com

Elf Enclosed Electric tricycle
Been looking at this little guy for 5-7 years now and my 2005 golf is reaching to point where its check engine light is on more often than its not. We have a Prius for everything else the golf at this point is just there to get me to work on days I can't bike to work because of rain or its too dark which I wont bike on the roads for. This at least provides a little protection from getting hit, much more visible and looks more like a vehicle and I should be safer to ride on the roads with an orange triangle on the back. Can only go a max of 30mph if I'm really peddling.
Still hesitant because there are some limitations and unknowns.
Cons:
Everything takes twice as long to get anywhere.
There are also places I can take my #ebike that I couldn't take this because its too wide, so I'd have to spend more time on roads and less on bike trails.
I also use it to run errands when she has the Prius but since there is no bike infrastructure here I would have nothing to chain it to. Very nervous about theft. Its only 180lb and 4 people can lift a motorcycle into a truck and that's 700lbs. My neighborhood is pretty good but I live in Philly and a $10000 item stolen would be money I couldn't get back. I'd have to figure out some kind of theft insurance.
Pros:
Fully electric
I would be mostly able to repair it myself, if not any ebike specialist can, unlike modern cars there days, I've given up being able to fix cars anymore like I used to.
1800 MPeG vs 25mpg on my current car.
I can take roads and ride in conditions I wouldn't feel safe on a bike here.
I can carry a passenger, and get a pull along cart for errands if we wanted to go together.
I can probably extend the range of it using my ebike battery of we decided to go for trip longer than 20 miles.
The extra time it takes anywhere could be just considered gym time so not a loss, even though it is in my head.
If I can sell the golf for market price $1-2k it would actually be cheaper to buy this new, and I'd save $200-400 a year for the first 5 years, and once its fully paid for itself around $2k every year after that, with much lower insurance, almost zero fuel cost by comparison($14 of electricity per year vs $1k if I only drive it 5k miles a year which I usually do now), and the golf's maintenance bill will just keep getting higher.
One less car on the road and one more light weight e-vehicle made over an ICE vehicle or Electric car who's footprint takes quite a few years of driving to start to offset.
It seems like a complete win but I have to decide if I have the time needed to double my drive time anywhere and if I can figure out a way to make me feel safe enough to drive it or park it in Philly.
Unlike my golf which no one wants to steal except for the catalytic converter, this will stand out big time. I know how to secure parts that could be removed like wheels, and to start the thing requires a key, just worried about it being picked up and carried off, which can be done by 2 people with a truck very easily, as I had $2k vino scooter I loved that got stolen that way the one night I forgot to chain it to something.
It wont happen until next year but hopefully I can figure out those issues. The theft issue being the biggest one. I can probably convince myself double the time anywhere is worth it, but getting stolen and having been robbed before is a huge psychological barrier.