5 ms·

Africa's own electric motorcycle, the $1,500 Roam Air

9 points by harambae 4y ago

King-Aaron 4y ago
I really, really like the look of that!
Kukumber 4y ago
That's indeed a good project Few notes though - Why market it for an english audience? - Why use USD as currency? Red flags everywhere, will that really promote in-house economy? or will that benefit foreign investors?
- harambae 4y ago
  Well the official languages of Kenya are English and Swahili, and for all I know they have Swahili ads too. I've never been to Kenya but US dollars were widely in use in Zimbabwe when I was there.
  - Kukumber 4y ago
    So they haven't moved past the colonial era, that's sad
timonoko 4y ago
In which way Newton-meter is interesting parameter in these. Torque but where? At motor? At wheel? Torque is only interesting at wheel, if you have slow tractor dragging heavy objects. Must come from petrol engines, where torque is mentioned, because you need less gear-shifting with higher torque at large variety of motor speed.
tengwar2 4y ago
I would love to believe this, but the price seems too low in comparison with simpler electric bicycles with 1kW motors. They will do about 35mph and say 60 miles. While the design of the Roam Air seems simple compared to most small motorcycles, I would expect the cost to be dominated by the batteries. Now compare for instance [this](https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/c3strom-astro-class-3-cyber-electric-bike/x/17966374#/ https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/c3strom-astro-class-3-cyb...) project on Indiegogo, which has a 1kWh battery and a 0.75kW motor, with a price of $2400. The Roam Air has one or two 3.24kWH batteries (price for an additional battery is $550), and the motor appears to be about 2.5x the power of the C3STROM on the basis of comparing the speed. I just don't see how they could get that much price advantage while depending on materials which have to be imported. Again, I would love this to be true, but I'd wait for an independent review.
- timonoko 4y ago
  As you can see from the video, they have some $50 industrial washing machine motor and chain drive, instead of fancy hub motor. Rest is just manual labor, which is cheap in Zanzibar.

9 points by harambae 4y ago

I really, really like the look of that!

That's indeed a good project Few notes though - Why market it for an english audience? - Why use USD as currency? Red flags everywhere, will that really promote in-house economy? or will that benefit foreign investors?

harambae 4y ago
Well the official languages of Kenya are English and Swahili, and for all I know they have Swahili ads too. I've never been to Kenya but US dollars were widely in use in Zimbabwe when I was there.
- Kukumber 4y ago
  So they haven't moved past the colonial era, that's sad

timonoko 4y ago

In which way Newton-meter is interesting parameter in these. Torque but where? At motor? At wheel? Torque is only interesting at wheel, if you have slow tractor dragging heavy objects. Must come from petrol engines, where torque is mentioned, because you need less gear-shifting with higher torque at large variety of motor speed.

tengwar2 4y ago

I would love to believe this, but the price seems too low in comparison with simpler electric bicycles with 1kW motors. They will do about 35mph and say 60 miles. While the design of the Roam Air seems simple compared to most small motorcycles, I would expect the cost to be dominated by the batteries. Now compare for instance [this](https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/c3strom-astro-class-3-cyber-electric-bike/x/17966374#/ https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/c3strom-astro-class-3-cyb...) project on Indiegogo, which has a 1kWh battery and a 0.75kW motor, with a price of $2400. The Roam Air has one or two 3.24kWH batteries (price for an additional battery is $550), and the motor appears to be about 2.5x the power of the C3STROM on the basis of comparing the speed. I just don't see how they could get that much price advantage while depending on materials which have to be imported. Again, I would love this to be true, but I'd wait for an independent review.

timonoko 4y ago
As you can see from the video, they have some $50 industrial washing machine motor and chain drive, instead of fancy hub motor. Rest is just manual labor, which is cheap in Zanzibar.