Piaggio MP3 300ie Hybrid - 141 mpg - game changing ?

This is a very interesting development of the 3 wheel - "reverse trike" bikes
http://www.twistngo.com/news/twist-g...3-300ie-hybrid

Q: Would it / is it congestion zone exempt like the Prius ?

This is the sort of tech the government needs to be encouraging.

Forget the scrappage scheme, they should have spent the money on promoting these.

They still could with some form of incentive scheme / subsidy. At £8 k there a bit step for something of questionable reliability (new tech).

I'd really would be tempted - especially if you could make back the cost of vehicle in fuel savings !

No..

Electric vehicles are not environmentally friendly, they are breed from a new battle of control over mines, lithium mines.

the energy still has to come from somewhere, and whilst power / wind stations provide it, they actual use of the vehicles is still 10 years on, ridiculously lacking / over priced.

The only alternative fuel vehicle I will ever drive will be a hydrogen power vehicle, although I am yet to find stats on enegery wastage for extracting hydrogen, so may have to eat my own hat if this appears more environmentally damaging than mining lithium from the bowels of the earth and uprouting villages to get to it.

[pookie]

I think its long overdue . I did check out some electric scooters but concluded the batteries would expire before the warranty on the bike and the cost to replace was around half of the cost of the bike. Also the stranded factor and time to recharge seemed too long for daily use ( 46 mile commute, ranges seem to be 30 - 40 miles on a charge)

There currently isnt congestion charge in london for bikes but it depends if this is based on the lt model. Hybrid is the way to go for the bikes and this actually looks pretty good although I'm sure much like the prius the mpg is going to be very optimistic.

i would never get one of these, not due to moral principals like 454697, but due to the fact I despise these 3 wheeled monstrosities, those who ride them and they way they are ridden

[pookie]

Ive seen a few being used in london by the police

Battery powered vehicles are a stupid idea in my honest opinion,

The environmental cost of producing lithium batteries and transparent them around the world is absolutely huge and then the electrical power has to be generated using fossil fuels any way.

However the driver/riders then choose to completely ignore the above facts and drive around thinking they are saving the planet sitting on their moral high horse.

Lets be honest no one give a **** about global warming thats why people still use oil at such an high rate. We need to face the facts oil will run out in the near future no matter how many daft eco ideas people dream up, if everyone today drove around in a prius oil would still run out, it will just stretch our reserves for a few more years.

The only reason an electric/hybrid vehicle makes sense at the moment is to avoid congestion charge, lets not forget though if every single person in london was in hybrid/electric vehicles, how much money would the government loose from congestion charge............. they wouldn't be exempt for long.

The government needs tax, they make 10s of billions a year from fuel duty do you really think they charge tax on fuel to discourage people to use it... do they bollox they charge tax on it because they want money, so if everyone moves to electric cars, electricity will become taxed like oil.

£8K! I could get a Street Triple R and a folding MTB for that!

[Viney]

I followed one of these in the wet once. Now, i ride like a poof (generally) in the wet but i was able to keep up with this donut on his MP3 under steering all over the place and almost into the path of another vehicle.

Battery powered vehicles are just wrong on soooo many levels

Battery power is wrong. It's a double energy conversion giving double losses during energy production. You need the energy converted within the vehicle not converted, stored and converted again.

[SoulKiss]

Originally Posted by pookie

Ive seen a few being used in london by the police

I think you will find they are PCSO's so not really Police

I feel sorry for them, not good enough to be a policeman OR ride a 2-wheeler