when the tuk-tuk herky-jerk went strangely, smoothly, silent

[orang37]

After realizing that I couldn't say "there's no place like home" because my shoes didn't have heels to click three times with, and pinching myself, hard ...

 

I decided that it was highly probable that I was not dreaming I was gliding through the Night Bazaar on a phantom tuk-tuk bound for some virtuous, or hellish, Xanadu.

 

Yes, I was in Chiang Mai's first electric tuk-tuk, Khun Jon at the helm.

 

How sweet it is, I half- hummed as layer-and-layer of psychic armor peeled off, as my bag of bones and meat surrendered its usual tuk-tuk ride ready-to-die muscular rictus.

 

Khun Jon told me his normal berth is at the Raming Lodge on Loy Kroh.

 

~o:37;

 

[thaibeachlovers]

So we now have to look forward to being knocked down by silent tuk tuks going the wrong way as we can't hear them coming and are looking only at the oncoming traffic.

They should have to make some sort of noise to warn pedestrians.

[JingerBen]

16 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

So we now have to look forward to being knocked down by silent tuk tuks going the wrong way as we can't hear them coming and are looking only at the oncoming traffic.

They should have to make some sort of noise to warn pedestrians.

Good point.

How about outfitting them with jingle bells... or in the vernacular, jinger ben?

I'm available as a consultant, pro bono.

[Dante99]

18 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

So we now have to look forward to being knocked down by silent tuk tuks going the wrong way as we can't hear them coming and are looking only at the oncoming traffic.

They should have to make some sort of noise to warn pedestrians.

Most of us have eyes and have long been well advised to use them.   "Look both ways before crossing the street" remember? Tuktuks are not the only things going the wrong way.

 

Of course if you assume it is just fine for pedestrians to be about without using common sense then you do encounter a variety of issues.

 

 

[Bill97]

Good news Orang. Thought I saw one a few days ago but my truck was making such a racket I did not know if it was quiet or not.

[impulse]

2 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

They should have to make some sort of noise to warn pedestrians.

 

Clip baseball cards in the spokes with clothes pins?  That's how we did it.

 

But I sure wish I hadn't screwed up those Mickey Mantle rookie year cards...

 

[scottiejohn]

1 hour ago, Bill97 said:

but my truck was making such a racket

Do you really mean your 'truck' was making such a racket or is that just a spelling mistake!

Edited July 2, 2017 by scottiejohn

[sfokevin]

I hope this catches on!... and the old ones that beltch out unregulated pollution are put out of business!...

[scottiejohn]

17 minutes ago, sfokevin said:

I hope this catches on!... and the old ones that beltch out unregulated pollution are put out of business!...

And the owner/drivers of the old Tuk Tuks.  What is to happen to them?

Who is going to fund this green Utopia?

 

PS I thought the LPG ones were meant to be cleaner/less polluting than the old two stroke models or was that just a cost saver?

[jonwilly]

As an old Brit  I was brought up to Look Right, Look Left and Look right again before crossing road.

Though I must admit a bit of noise is desirable.

 

john

[orang37]

I forgot to add that Khun Jon told me that the electro-tuk-tuk could do 100 km. on one charge, and that a charge uses 20 baht worth of fai-fa-juice.

 

I'm surprised by these figures, and I suspect that stop-and-go driving in city traffic would reduce the possible mileage per-charge quite a bit. It would be interesting to know what the long-term total costs of use of these are.

 

The rapid acceleration also surprised me: pressed me back against the seat.

 

cheers, ~o:37;

[sfokevin]

1 hour ago, scottiejohn said:

And the owner/drivers of the old Tuk Tuks.  What is to happen to them?

Who is going to fund this green Utopia?

 

PS I thought the LPG ones were meant to be cleaner/less polluting than the old two stroke models or was that just a cost saver?

You have never ridden a motorbike behind one...

[amexpat]

2 hours ago, scottiejohn said:

Who is going to fund this green Utopia?

 

Epitaph for humanity:  It was too expensive to save ourselves. 

[thaibeachlovers]

2 hours ago, amexpat said:

Epitaph for humanity:  It was too expensive to save ourselves. 

True. They can remove CO2 from air, but no government is getting involved, presumably because of the expense.

[orang37]

10 hours ago, amexpat said:

Epitaph for humanity:  It was too expensive to save ourselves. 

Possible variant: The big-brained apes under the influence of the virus, language, who made the gods that destroyed them in their own image.

[canthai55]

13 hours ago, orang37 said:

I forgot to add that Khun Jon told me that the electro-tuk-tuk could do 100 km. on one charge, and that a charge uses 20 baht worth of fai-fa-juice.

 

I'm surprised by these figures, and I suspect that stop-and-go driving in city traffic would reduce the possible mileage per-charge quite a bit. It would be interesting to know what the long-term total costs of use of these are.

 

The rapid acceleration also surprised me: pressed me back against the seat.

 

cheers, ~o:37;

The problem with electric vehicles is that they are a net energy loser. Factor in the cost to produce, the cost of the batteries and their disposal, and the cost of the electric to charge them, and gasoline engines beat them every time.

Until governments around the world get behind this and provide subsidies, and at the same time placing a carbon tax on non renewable resources, this condition will remain.

As to the acceleration, this is something electrics provide in abundance - torque, right now.

[lkn]

On 7/2/2017 at 2:39 PM, orang37 said:

I forgot to add that Khun Jon told me that the electro-tuk-tuk could do 100 km. on one charge, and that a charge uses 20 baht worth of fai-fa-juice.

Did he mention how he handles charging?

 

100 km does sound like a lot, but probably not a full working day for him, so he would either need to do a battery swap or use some sort of supercharger.

[Ruffian Dick]

On 7/2/2017 at 6:43 PM, canthai55 said:

The problem with electric vehicles is that they are a net energy loser. Factor in the cost to produce, the cost of the batteries and their disposal, and the cost of the electric to charge them, and gasoline engines beat them every time.....

A little bit of googling proves that to be wrong, wrong, wrong.

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/are-electric-cars-cheaper-to-run.htm

Electrics are MUCH cheaper to run, mile for mile. Yes, energy must be generated just the same, but since it's centrally located, the economies of scale work in the favor of electrics. And there is a choice on how the electricity is generated.

[Ruffian Dick]

On 7/2/2017 at 5:39 AM, orang37 said:

I forgot to add that Khun Jon told me that the electro-tuk-tuk could do 100 km. on one charge, and that a charge uses 20 baht worth of fai-fa-juice.

 

I'm surprised by these figures, and I suspect that stop-and-go driving in city traffic would reduce the possible mileage per-charge quite a bit. It would be interesting to know what the long-term total costs of use of these are.

 

The rapid acceleration also surprised me: pressed me back against the seat.

 

cheers, ~o:37;

If it's a e-tuk made by these guys in Thailand:

http://tuktourporto.com/wp-content/uploads/catalogo.pdf

Then with the lithium battery option, it can make 100km on a charge. Their lead-acid option doesn't allow more than 80km.

[Ruffian Dick]

http://www.thebigchilli.com/features/thailands-electric-tuk-tuks-set-to-take-on-the-world

"It cost about 30 baht to charge a tuk-tuk in Thailand,” said Dennis."

Wow.

[cnx355]

On 02/07/2017 at 2:42 PM, Dante99 said:

Most of us have eyes and have long been well advised to use them.   "Look both ways before crossing the street" remember? Tuktuks are not the only things going the wrong way.

 

Of course if you assume it is just fine for pedestrians to be about without using common sense then you do encounter a variety of issues.

 

 

 In Canada, we had a few Toyota Prius in the city fleet were I was working 10 year ago.  They were used by city inspector mostly. They told me the car were so quiet that they had many close encounter with pedestrians , especially  in large parking lot of shopping center.

 

I   read later in a newspaper  that it was a know safety concern and that Toyota found a way to make them a little noisy from the exterior so pedestrian can be aware of them.

[mwbrown]

On 7/2/2017 at 7:39 PM, orang37 said:

I forgot to add that Khun Jon told me that the electro-tuk-tuk could do 100 km. on one charge, and that a charge uses 20 baht worth of fai-fa-juice.

 

I'm surprised by these figures, and I suspect that stop-and-go driving in city traffic would reduce the possible mileage per-charge quite a bit. It would be interesting to know what the long-term total costs of use of these are.

 

The rapid acceleration also surprised me: pressed me back against the seat.

 

cheers, ~o:37;

 

Those numbers are realistic.  My electric scooter goes 60 km on a charge that costs 4 baht.  Start and stop is generally not bad as long as he's not always flooring it, especially if the motor and controller use regenerative braking.  High speed is the real range killer due to air resistance.  I'm building a new lithium battery pack that will easily double the range in the same space and be much lighter too.

[mwbrown]

On 7/3/2017 at 0:01 AM, thaibeachlovers said:

True. They can remove CO2 from air, but no government is getting involved, presumably because of the expense.

 

Not true.  I just attended the two-day International Electric Vehicle Technology Conference in Bangkok.  Multiple parts of the Thai government, especially the Ministry of Finance, are very involved in promoting the manufacture of EV parts and whole cars here, also other parts of the infrastructure including charging stations and training centers.

 

If you're interested and have 38 minutes to spare, you can watch my video report on the conference: 

 

 

[mwbrown]

On 7/3/2017 at 8:43 AM, canthai55 said:

The problem with electric vehicles is that they are a net energy loser. Factor in the cost to produce, the cost of the batteries and their disposal, and the cost of the electric to charge them, and gasoline engines beat them every time.

Until governments around the world get behind this and provide subsidies, and at the same time placing a carbon tax on non renewable resources, this condition will remain.

As to the acceleration, this is something electrics provide in abundance - torque, right now.

 

Everything you just said in the first sentence is wrong.  Please check non-biased, up to date sources.

[Tracyb]

On 7/2/2017 at 2:42 PM, Dante99 said:

Most of us have eyes and have long been well advised to use them.   "Look both ways before crossing the street" remember? Tuktuks are not the only things going the wrong way.

 

Of course if you assume it is just fine for pedestrians to be about without using common sense then you do encounter a variety of issues.

 

 

Some of those "quality tourists" in town from our northern bordering country are oblivious to just about everything around them, so...  We may end up with fewer of them walking the streets, standing in the middle of intersections with cameras pointed to some unknown point of interest, if they can't hear the tuk-tuks coming.  Maybe those "boomerangs" their recording can be used to show them repeatedly bouncing their heads off the pavement!

Edited July 6, 2017 by Tracyb

[Suradit69]

On 7/2/2017 at 2:15 PM, thaibeachlovers said:

we can't hear them coming and are looking only at the oncoming traffic.

If you only look in one direction when crossing a street (or sidewalk), it's a miracle you haven't been reduced to roadkill already.

[denby45]

On 02/07/2017 at 2:36 PM, JingerBen said:

Good point.

How about outfitting them with jingle bells... or in the vernacular, jinger ben?

I'm available as a consultant, pro bono.

Yeah then all the kids will run out for their iced creams and get knocked over.

 

Den

[Tofer]

My wife saw some cute looking bubble styled Tuk Tuks on you tube, supposedly made in Kanchanaburi. Does anybody know of these and who makes them?

 

Sorry for hijacking the thread somewhat.

[JingerBen]

1 hour ago, denby45 said:

Yeah then all the kids will run out for their iced creams and get knocked over.

 

Den

I guess you're old enough to remember the Good Humor  trucks with their jingly bells back in the good ol' days.

[Dante99]

9 hours ago, Tracyb said:

Some of those "quality tourists" in town from our northern bordering country are oblivious to just about everything around them, so...  We may end up with fewer of them walking the streets, standing in the middle of intersections with cameras pointed to some unknown point of interest, if they can't hear the tuk-tuks coming.  Maybe those "boomerangs" their recording can be used to show them repeatedly bouncing their heads off the pavement!

Never thought there were any problems like that with Lao tourists, actually never thought there were many Lao tourists.  Laos is the northern bordering country, isn't it?  Or are you in Laos and talking about China?