BSA Mahindra in the news

[Rocket Racer]

might come with the ability to simulate any BSA engine sound depending on your preference ? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soundaktor

I got a lift in a BMW i3 twice this week, even had a wooden topped dash, didnt drive it but it was smart enough. new world and all that.  I could see an E bike having a place in the shed one day as a runabout.

[Greybeard]

might come with the ability to simulate any BSA engine sound depending on your preference ? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soundaktor

Crazy! Mind you, vehicles running on electrickery should make more noise.

[RDfella]

Picking up on tidal power, the French have been harnessing that for over 40 years on their north coast (river Rance, St Malo). I'd be more concerned about the wind farms being built at sea. I note scientific analysis says life expectancy is around ten years - when each turbine costs millions. And for the greenies, let's not forget the millions of birds those blades kill each year or the considerable amount of concrete used for foundations, when cement manufacture is probably the highest creater of CO2 of any industrial process.

[bsa-bill]

let's not forget the millions of birds those blades kill each year

I'm not sure that one carries much weight RDFella, there are two large wind farms close by and  quite a few singles here and there and I've never seen a dead bird near them, our sitting room has windows each end inline, birds do fly into them (cause they can see right through.

[berger]

bsabill  M-U-R-D-E-R-E-R  open the windows you know it helps get rid of covid  [and saves birdies ] so they say, but a better idea is have a meal with a beer the meal will stop the covid, boris the balloon head says so I am only slightly mad I need the pub I have withdrawal symptoms . OPEN MY PUB!!

[RDfella]

There's plenty of info on it out there, Bill.
Such as: "In 2012, breaking the European omerta on wind farm mortality, the Spanish Ornithological Society (SEO/Birdlife) reviewed actual carcass counts from 136 monitoring studies. They concluded that Spain’s 18,000 wind turbines are killing 6-18 million birds and bats yearly".

[RichardL]

RD,

That is really interesting and shocking (no pun intended) info. I wonder if the birds fly into the blades or get hit by them (or both). I know the blades are moving very fast while looking like they're moving slow.

Richard L.

[RichardL]

Now, back to Mahindra BSAs. In thinking more about this, it occurs to me it may be very wrong to think Mahindra would not make a first-rate motorcycle. They are a serious company with a lot to lose in good will if they give themselves a black eye with a new product.

Richard L.

[Rex]

Doubtless they wouldn't "intend" to make a sub-standard product, but there's many examples of vehicles and designs which were less than satisfactory when in general use.

[Greybeard]

Jawa by Mahindra. You may not enjoy the bobber styling but to me the bike looks well done.

[berger]

built by electric classic cars England using an India made royal enfield

[Black Sheep]

There are some situations where an electric trike is the best answer - complete with heated grips and seat. Note the trials tyres!

[Rocket Racer]

Do any of our brits living near Banbury have any insider gossip on the new research centre?

[Joolstacho]

it's been reckoned there's almost a thousand year's of coal left,

Sorry Rd, but that's a joke... "it's been reckoned that..."  (There are plenty of tossers out there who "reckon that..." - absolutely meaningless and potentially dangerous) The statement is that we've got a thousand years of coal left. Hah! What 'we' need to realise that we don't have a thousand years of atmosphere left! I agree, there's no easy answer, while electric power is brilliant and solves lots of the problems (and Yes, I have ridden an electric motorbike), it's probably not the silver bullet.

Imagine a short street of, say, 40 houses. The electric vehicle owners pull in after work and all plug in to recharge. Imagine the power draw on the supply system, -enormous, now imagine a street of 200 houses, or 2000. Our power supply systems just aren't going to be able to cope. And where are we going to get the generation capacity for the re-charges?

So whilst electric looks good on the surface, the problems build. Now imagine the costs and disposal issues when the first lot of Lithium batteries need replacing. The cost is a complete killer, they can't be recycled, so what... landfill? Lithium batteries are toxic and dangerous - I speak from personal experience.

I wouldn't be surprised if that answer doesn't turn out to be super-efficient diesel/two-stroke engines optimised to run on vegetable oil or similar. Hydrogen? -Pipe dreams.

[BSA_54A10]

Yep,
Like a lot of things electric vehicles as a method of carbon reduction is a myth
But like Amazon's delivery by drones , Musk has captured the imagination of the uninformed.
Roughly every 100 km of range in a battery has the carbon equivalent of driving a USA ( so we will assume it is a 6 litre V 6 ) family saloon 10000 km .
This is the embedded carbon used to produce the battery and then we have to add the carbon in transportation and recharging , let alone the disposal .
Hydrogen powered vehicles are far more atmosphere friendly and I would expect to see hydrogen powered trucks on the market shortly .
Or even hydrogen powered turbine generators hooked up to electric motors similar to diesel electric locomotives .
There was an analysis of the carbon equivalance between the current Teslas and some of the standard hybrids.
The tesla will need to get over 500,000 km out of the batteries before they break even on total CO2 ( embedded & produced )
Electric cars are a quick & cheap way for governments to make a country carbon neutral, provided the manufacture is done elsewhere.
The net global CO2 production will go up , but it will be happening in China , India, Brazil etc so we will stroll around pounding our chests while we demonize those "dirty " countries .
Then there is the slight problem of Cobalt , not enough known reserves to convert all the existing cars to electric cars let alone the ones required for the 5 billion more people who will be born before 2050 .
Pollution is a bad thing and we have been allowing big companies to pollute endlessly so we can have things we don't need a a price we can easily afford.
Leaf blowers are a product which instantly comes to mind.