MrGrumpy wrote:No idea where the other components come from.

Bet it's mostly not Germany.
The engines are delivered ready built.
Built in Taiwan, not Germany.
The problem with the TGS is that BMW are falsely representing it as a European branded premium product which it plainly is not.
Honda, Triumph et al are perfectly open about where their machines are produced, BMW is not.
BMW's UK website has no mention of Kymco or Taiwan.

MrGrumpy wrote:Is your Vauxhall car British, even its assembled in Germany?

You'll find the Astra is made up in Ellesmere Port.

mottza wrote:

MrGrumpy wrote:Is your Vauxhall car British, even its assembled in Germany?

You'll find the Astra is made up in Ellesmere Port.

OK, but thanks to the wonders of Google, I found this list of origins of 'Vauxhalls' - though I think its several years old, so probably out of date. So a Vauxhall could be British, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, or even South Korean.

The new Antara SUV is made by GM Daewoo in Bupyeong, South Korea.
The Vivaro van is made my IBC in Luton, UK
The Astravan in made by Vauxhall at Ellesmere Port, UK
The Astra is made by Vauxhall at Ellesmere Port, and by Opel at Antwerp, Belgium and Bochum, Germany.
The Vectra is currently made by Opel at Rüsselsheim, Germany, although some were produced by Vauxhall at Ellesmere Port, and the previous version was produced at Luton.
The Signum is made by Opel at Rüsselsheim, Germany
The Corsa is made by Opel at Eisenach, Germany and Zaragoza, Spain.
The Meriva is made by Opel at Zaragoza, Spain, as is the Corsavan.
The Movano van is built by Renault at Batilly in France
The Tigra is made by Heuliez at Cerizay
The Combo van is made by Opel at Azambuja in Portugal, although that plant is scehduled for closure soon, and production is likely to move to Zaragoza.

I did have a car that was manufactured in Turin...... Ford badge, but built by Pininfarina

I think the Honda S-Wings were designed and built in Spain specifically for the european market, never been available in Japan

MCN have just posted a short piece on the BMW leccy scooter. My conclusion: I WANT ONE AND I WANT IT NOW!


The BMW C Evolution is BMW's fully electric scooter which the company hopes will go in to production within the next few years.

The C Evolution makes a claimed 14bhp of continuous output and 46bhp peak output. BMW say the range is 100km during normal city riding, with a top speed of 120kph (74mph).

MCN senior road tester Adam Child rode one of the prototype machines in London and had this to say: "At first BMW’s prototype C evolution appears like any other scooter, very similar to their C600 Sport and 650GT. It’s only when you get close do you realise it’s electric

"The throttle is like a conventional twist grip, power comes in relatively steady at first then kicks hard if you wind the throttle to the stop.

"You can trickle along at walking speed - it just takes a few seconds to get used to. There’s no delay or lag, no gears, just one instant kick of torque from the electric motor. Make no mistake in scooter terms it's quick off the mark. You’d have to be a little careful in the wet in winter as there’s that much instant torque."

Cost?

Not much different to the Vectrix that could 100km and about 110kph. And the Vectrix could reverse.

StephenC wrote:BMW say the range is 100km during normal city riding, with a top speed of 120kph (74mph)

How far will it go at a steady 65-75mph though?
How long will the batteries retain the ability to store that 100 city kms worth of energy?
Electric scooters are still novelty town posing tools for sandal wearing lentil munching treehuggers and a complete irrelevance to those of us with long-ish commutes.

mottza wrote:Cost?

Not much different to the Vectrix that could 100km and about 110kph. And the Vectrix could reverse.

Cost? - Dunno, but somewhere in the region of "too much"?
Like Vectrix? - Yes, but with BMW dealer network.

I still like the Vectrix but this one has a top speed of more than 10mph more, which makes it more useful for me.

GN2 - this is an ever evolving area. For example, The Register just reported that the slow charge time for batteries has now been overcome. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/15 ... ck_charge/

True it is ever evolving but by the time they make one which can get me from home to work and back on a single charge at a reasonable enough speed I will be long retired.

I bet at 74 mph you won't get the 62 miles range quoted. The vectrix would only do 35-45 miles if flat out.

Great scoot though when I had one for the day, I wrote a review in the review section.