Care of the environment is an important consideration for us all. Ewizz electric vehicles are zero emission, clean & energy efficient technology and running an electric vehicle is driving a cleaner and healthier future for us all.
Emissions
Although electric vehicles are zero emission technology that doesn’t mean there are not emission from using them. This is because of the way we generate the energy to fill the batteries. If most of the power generation is via dirty sources, such as coal, then emissions are created, but this is still much less than gas (petrol) vehicles. As we move our centralised and local power generation to cleaner, and renewable, technologies then these vehicles automatically get cleaner too. So we can get there with electrics in a way gas vehicles never will.
Electric vehicles can be recharged from solar power, for example with local solar recharging systems tied into a buildings power network. This means that what the solar array produces offsets the building and vehicle charging needs, but there is always power available, via the grid, to power the building and charge the vehicles when the solar array is not delivering power. Whatever the solar panel array produces is an emissions offset.
Solar energy is getting cheaper not more expensive to produce, imagine energy prices going down and not being so reliant on central production, that is the future with solar energy. This is happening all over the world. For an example just take a look at what is happening in Germany! Oil, on the other hand, is getting more and more expensive as demand increases, extraction costs increase and supply diminishes.
Energy efficient technology
The reason electric vehicles are such a good choice is because they are much more efficient than gas (Petrol) vehicles, for the majority of our usage they are around 10 times more efficient on average. EWIZZ electric scooters and electric motorcycles have an equivalent efficiency of 360 km/litre. This is because they are not wasting large amounts of energy in heat and noise. Gearboxes & internal combustion engines have significant energy losses and generate a lot of heat. Water cooling and radiators are specifically designed to waste that heat energy. This is all energy from the fuel that you have paid for but is being wasted because of the inefficiency of gas vehicle technology. Electric vehicles also have the opportunity for energy saving and recapture technologies such as regenerative braking systems (REGEN) like the KERS system in Formula 1 motor racing.
“EWIZZ electric scooters and electric motorcycles have an equivalent efficiency of 360 km/litre.”
EWIZZ electric scooters are much more efficient at lower speed, especially in town driving, whereas petrol scooters only become relatively efficient at a higher speed. This is partly because they waste a lot of energy in braking and in heat and friction when sitting in traffic. For example a Volt 6 F electric motorbike driven at 50-60 km/h with an 85 kg rider can achieve 155 km on one charge with a mix of flat and hill riding. At that speed the electric scooter would use 7% of the fuel, of the gas scooter, and be 14 times more efficient.
Less waste
Electric scooters don’t have many of the wasteful components of gas or diesel engines. This means servicing is at much longer intervals and much cheaper. When you ride electric here are some that you just won’t need anymore:
- Fuel – ewizz electrics don’t use gas (petrol) or diesel. So no more smoke or emissions coming out of the back of your vehicle. This leads to reduced local smog and pollution which is better for our health. Also, we don’t have all the environmental issues associated with the fuel excavation, production and transportation.
- Oils – Our electric scooters and motorbikes don’t have an internal combustion engine, gearbox or differential oils. They need almost no oils or grease except a little for lubrication of the brakes, bearings etc. Almost nothing in comparison.
- Filters – There are no air or fuel filters to replace.
- Gears – Our electric scooters and motorbikes don’t need a gearbox or gears. This reduces weight, servicing and increases efficiency.
- Belts, Chains, Sprockets – Nope don’t need these either, thus saving energy, servicing and oils.
- Brakes – The brake pads last much longer because with the electric you now use regenerative braking to slow down most of the time. So instead of is every 6000 km it’s 10,000 km.
- Exhausts – Electrics don’t have these, so zero emissions coming from your vehicle now and no chance of burning yourself on it!
- Radiators – Only small amounts of heat are produced by the electric motors and controllers so there is no need for large cooling systems. Only some of the higher power scooters and motorbikes have small water cooling systems with antifreeze.
- Starter motors – Electrics don’t need these. So there is less to wear out and no need to worry about starting issues.
- Spark plugs – Don’t need these!
- Clutches – There are no gears, gearboxes or clutches. So no clutch plates or belts to wear out and change. With ewizz electric scooters the rear wheel is the motor and this is brushless which means nothing wears out. They just works on magnetism, magic!
That’s Ewizz clean technology… saving money, time and our environment.
Reuse and recycle
Nearly all of the materials in the electric scooters are reusable or recyclable. Where we can reuse or recycle we do. Below is a list of some of the areas where we can do this.
- Lead acid Batteries – These are pretty much completely recyclable locally. 96% of the materials can be reused.
- LiFeYPO4 Batteries – These are not recyclable here yet but are recyclable, and are being recycled in Europe. However, shipping them there doesn’t make environmental sense. However there is good news, our LiFeYPO4 batteries will last a long time. Lab testing at 0.5C shows they achieve around 1000 cycles at 100% DOD (depth of discharge), 3000 cycles at 90% DOD, 5000 cycles at 80% DOD and 7000 cycles at 70% DOD. For a Volt 6 electric scooter discharged to 80% on each ride and riding at an average speed of 50 km/h (according to the battery manufacturer) the vehicle should do around 500,000 km. (This is lab testing so real world results will vary). This basically means that for most people doing around 10,000 km a year, they should be good for 20 years. New technology in batteries will be coming along quickly so current batteries can be swapped out with newer tech and then the old batteries can be used for energy storage in other applications such as home solar systems. We will store any unwanted Lithium batteries in our facility until there is a viable recycling facility in South Africa.
- Electronics – The electronic components such as the controllers, BMS, Hub motors etc are all recyclable now
- Tyres – These are recyclable now
- Body panels – These plastics are recyclable now
- Frames – These mild steel frames are recyclable now
- Packing crates – The bikes are delivered in a crate that has cardboard and a steel frame. All of this is recyclable.
Living it
- Marketing materials – We try to use no single use marketing materials. Recently we had to succumb to producing business cards. However they do have pictures of the bikes, so are dual use, can be passed along and are recyclable. But that’s it! The rest of our info is distributed electronically via email, pdf and on the web site. We will also endeavor to ensure reusable items such as pop-up banners are completely recyclable. We use electronic communications email, pdf at all times to minimise printing. Where we are legally obligated we will print on FSC certified paper.
- Travel – We use the electric scooters nearly all the time for local journey’s and commuting. Where we need an ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) we are using bio diesel (Craig Waterman at Green Diesel) for some of the vehicles.