Vectrix scooter revisited

Canary Wharf Motor Expo was on again this week, and I bumped into the people from Vectrix once again. This company makes an electric scooter called the Maxi Scooter which I rode a couple of years ago and was very impressed with (see my first blog on the subject).
A year on, the scooter hasn’t changed significantly, but the price tag certainly has. Last year they were retailing at over £7,000; now the price is £5,600 OTR. With petrol 15% higher in price and rising I needed to know if it would cope with my commute; so I asked to borrow it for the evening and ride home. They agreed; so on Thursday 2008-06-12 I was to pick up a fully charged scooter.
The economics, surprisingly, still don’t entirely add up, it has to be said. There is no doubt that now the Vectrix would save me money on my commute. If I was to sell my Pan European and go electric only then it would save a significant amount of money. However, that’s not practical – for example I’m riding the National Road Rally in a couple of weeks and that requires 870 km without stopping long enough for a recharge. Limiting the range to 110 km (at best) would not work. So the comparison has to compare the full cost of the Vectrix with the additional cost of riding the Honda to work.
First shock is the lifespan of the Vectrix battery. They are predicting it to go 10 years, or 80,000 km, or 1700 charging cycles. Given that I ride 25,000 km per year, that battery would last little more than 3 years. So the economics have to work on the bike being scrapped after 3 years (at least I don’t have to factor re-sale value into the equation). That means £146 per month in depreciation. Then the cost of borrow that extra money over three years works out at another £25 per month (that’s an optimistic number too). However, that depreciation might be overstated as the battery is supposed to be replaceable at a fraction of the cost of a new bike, so it might be possible to reduce that figure. Again, the cost of tyres is a deciding factor here – it’s by far the highest item on the running costs. I’m assuming maintenance can be mostly done by me, and allowed £50 per year, but these small wheels are going to go through around 3 rear tyres and probably one or more fronts per year. Apparently it’s quite heavy on rear brake pads too. That comes to another £40 per month, fitted. With another assumption on additional insurance costs, that brings the total monthly running to around £60. Adding up the running and financing costs, I reckon the scooter would cost £232 per month if it was used purely for commuting.
Comparing this to the cost of the Pan European, as I said, I have to remove costs that would be incurred if it sat in the garage all year. This includes tax, insurance most of the depreciation and one service per year. Pans keep their value quite well, but they also cover very high distances before they are fit for scrap. So I’ve allowed £40 per month for depreciation, and nothing for the cost of finance. The main costs are servicing, tyres and petrol, which come to around £200 per month. Two thirds of this is petrol, so it’s quite sensitive to rising petrol costs. If I assume a petrol cost of £2/litre then the number rises by £100 per month.

So the bottom line is:

• Vectrix cost per month £232
• Pan Euro cost per month £240
• Total saving per month - £8.

Hardly a convincing case, but I suppose if I could reduce that depreciation number it might make sense.

So I turned up at the Vectrix display on Thursday with my lid and leathers expecting to be given a key. A different salesman was on duty this time, and she was a little less optimistic than the chap I saw on Wednesday. She said they’d looked up my address and thought I’d struggle with the range. In fact they were pretty sure that I wouldn’t make the 55 km home if I went on the motorway. That range 110 km is only available if you use urban roads and keep the speed down to 50 km/h or below for most of your journey. Unfortunately that would leave me with at least a 90 minute commute – something I could have lived with for one evening, but not as a daily grind. They spoke about the new generation of battery that would be out in a year or two that might extend the range; and about the concept sportsbike they’ve got in pre-production already – that does 200 km/h with the same range as the scooter. But currently they have nothing to offer that would do my 55 km commute on the motorways and fast A-roads to Canary Wharf. Luckily the Pan European is still in fine fettle and should last at least another 100,000 km (4 years commuting) before I have to replace it. Perhaps the electric will have become practical by then. Who knows where the price of petrol, or indeed electricity will be by then.

Bike or Train

When I first moved to Bishop’s Stortford in 1996 I was working in the City (of London). The only sane means of transport for getting to work was to use the train. So I bought a house a short walk from the station and bought a season ticket each month. Nothing much changed for about seven years. Then my employer announced an office move to Canary Wharf in the London Docklands. For those who don’t know the anatomy of London, Canary Wharf is an office village about 5 km east of the City, and is attempting to take over the City’s position as the financial centre of the UK – an aspiration which it has so far been quite successful in realising.

The problem for those of us living out to the North of London is that public transport links to the London Docklands are poor, to put it mildly. The only obvious route is to go into the City as normal, and use public transport from there. This adds a further 30 minutes to a journey of about 1 hour, giving a total daily commuting time of 3 hours, not to mention an additional GBP50 per month.

The only real alternative is to use the road system. This is another situation altogether. Bishop’s Stortford is right next to the M11 motorway which takes you down to the north east corner of London and connects with the A12 Eastern Avenue and A406 North Circular roads. These are fast dual carriageways taking you further into London, and, crucially, into Canary Wharf without touching any urban roads. Of course using a car is an option, but has two draw-backs: namely that the roads get very busy during the morning and evening peaks, and the size of a car makes it expensive to park during the day.

So the only viable solution is a motorcycle. On a bike I can jump all the queues and park for free in the office car-park. The journey time is as little as 40 minutes on clear roads and seldom more than 50minutes even in the heaviest traffic. A bike is a completely different experience from a train, but I settled into the different routine well enough for the first year. Then, in the spring of this year, I was told that due to overcrowding of the office, we were being moved back to the City for an unspecified period. I still visit the Canary Wharf office a few times each week, but when I have to go to the City, I use the train. This has got me thinking about the relative merits of the two means of transport which are so different in nature. There are definitely some positive points about using the train – I’m writing this on a train, something I can’t do on a bike – for example. But if I had used the bike today, I would have been home by now and I could type this in the comfort thereof. I’v compiled a list of plus and minus points for each of the two forms of transport.

Train:
Plus points:

• Gives me 1.5 hours of time when I can read or use a laptop
• Requires about 30 minutes of brisk walking per day to keep me fit
• Allows me to relax and even sleep when I’m sleep deprived
• Low risk on the cost front – Cost is fixed (unless I forget to buy a ticket)
• Low risk on the safety front.
• Relatively comfortable, most of the time.
  

Minus Points:

• Takes twice as long as the bike
• Costs about twice as much as the bike
• Timetable is quite inflexible, so if I’m 1 minute late for the train I can be 30 minutes late for work.
• When things go wrong they go badly wrong, and you’re helpless.
  

Bike:
Plus points:

• Much quicker than the train
• About half the price of the train (though costs are harder to quantify)
• I’m not tied to a timetable
• Even when roads are blocked there’s a way through the traffic.
  

Minus Points :

• Takes all concentration, so I can’t read or work in transit
• Can be quite uncomfortable in the rain or in cold weather
• Relatively high risk of death or serious injury
• Relatively high risk of financial loss due to accidents or speeding fines

On balance, an impartial reader might think that train has the upper hand. If you gave all the points equal weight you’d probably come to that conclusion. But the one point that clinches the deal for the bike is that it gives me an excuse to ride the bike every day. For those not familiar with riding, you probably won’t understand that; if you compare it to driving a car you won’t see the connection. There is a saying that if I have to explain it, you won’t understand, and that applies very well to riding a bike. Those who don’t ride, don’t know. It might be chucking down with rain; it might be freezing cold, but I’d rather be on my bike than in a comfy train. Riding into the City I don’t enjoy it so much – the urban traffic is an acquired taste – but whenever I can find an excuse to go into our Canary Wharf office, I’ll be there on my bike.