Hi All,
Starting this to catch all good ideas and info for people seeking alternative forms of transport.
My personal interest at the moment is in finding a no license required, 3 wheel scooter/moped for my husband. He loved riding his bicycle and is now to weak for that, and after a fall from his 50cc scooter (ending in broken arm + need for artificial hip) I’m thinking 3 wheels would be good.
Some great suggestions from Jeanette Leuers (moved to avoid hijacking Roger’s thread looking for electric velo for camper car)
Hello Pam, Can imagine how happy youd both be if your husband could trip around and be free to enjoy the locality a bit more!
A new thread on small alternative transport could be good!
(I got a pavement kick scooter, from Amazon - but as OAP, feel a bit conspicuous zooming about on it, I imagined the cops being alerted!).
I know 3 wheeler electric vehicles as you describe, do exist,
I will let you know when I find anything useful. I love investigating alternative vehicles. Im sure you & your husband can find something really nice, maybe a two seater? if you look around the internet for a while. ( ALMOST bought a quad bike 2 seater last week, on EBAY.but it was over 1000e)
The biggest, (and cheapest) collection on offer which includes road useable ‘golf cart’ kind of vehicles, seems to me (from research) to be in China, lots of companies there are already set up to export to Europe, but I dont know what kind of difficulty/charges there might be in importing vehicles from China… yet…
Have you tried just Googling (or Youtube-ing) ‘50cc electric tricycle’ or ‘50cc mobility aids’ or ‘golf vehicles’,(and their translations into German and French …) yet? Babelfish will translate the words you need. ****** googled 50cc electric trike and a ton!! came up on alibaba. Thx. Don’t know if any can actually get here at a good price for a one off, but you don’t know if you don’t try. ******
Anything that suggests the kind of thing you are thinking about - and Google can usually come up with lots of interesting info. Add something like ‘buy online’ or you’ll get lots of blogs or opinions - & not things you can purchase.
I think there’s a much bigger variety of all kinds of 3 wheelers in USA, too, (and I have bought things from Canada and USA before, via PAYPAL. when the carriage hasnt cost too much, eg my huge ‘toilette seche’ from Canada & the delivery was free!)
There are some excellent varieties of no strain, 3 wheeler non electric tricycles too - ‘reclining’ ie - you sit in a comfy position, leaning back, like an armchair, and pedal, but theres no strain to balance or pedal push as with an ordinary bike.
***** thought at one time this would work, but he has ME/CFS so anything requiring effort just won’t work anymore, thus the need to sell our expensive, and beautiful electric velo *******
Ive been waiting to see recling bikes in local stores, for a long time - but nuthin arrived although they were expected/promised!
They’d be perfect for lazy riverside trips via voies vertes.
Germany and Holland seem to be very enthusiastic bikers/trikers of all kinds with a wonderful variety of different small electric, or human powered vehicles, with 2 or three wheels.
Good luck, Pam, let me know how you get on?
I am looking around too.
(There was a nice 3 wheeler with motor on offer on Angloinfo Bretagne but it was a while ago, probably sold now)…
I suspect you might already be going faster than 11 km on your kick scooter Jeanette. I hear they are lots of fun. Very trendy in New York right now.
Well Roger, I never would have dreamed up the word ‘triporteur’ to search with.
And thanks for the info offered on legal questions. That sounds vaguely familiar, so gives me hope it might be true. I do remember reading somewhere how these things are defined. But of course, this is France, so not only does one have to question a source, as always, but one must pray that what was true last month is still true this month {smile}.
Anyway, between you and Jeannette, lots of new avenues to explore for sure. Thanks. And very good idea Jeannette to make this a whole thread as I can imagine many more bright ideas will pop up in here over time.
Here are some French models of ‘Triporteurs’ still about the same price €1800 but already “legal” in France.
Twinga ‘Triporteur’
(some of my Canadian Cousin must have rubbed off?)
PS My understanding is that Homologation is only necessary if:
- The vehicle is purely electric powered ie will only work without pedalling (but I’ve noticed that some of the ones above, in the link, are ‘switchable’)
- The motor exceeds 250W
3)Top speed is in excess of 25km/h.
When it becomes an electric scooter which is treated as a 50cc Moto. Oblig Assurance, plates, helmet etc.
Perhaps someone here knows the rules for the mobile wheel chairs perhaps they are restricted to an even lower speed?
Well, son of a gun, look at that. Brilliant find Roger.
And I learned a new word today ‘homologation’. Oh, what a dreaded thought. I have this sinking feeling that as soon as it has three wheels you can call it a bike anymore. At max speed of 15 miles per hour it would certainly be under the 50km limit for the no license 50cc (49 actually I think) scooter. It did need a license plate though, whereas the electric bike did not.
hmmmmmm. No money to buy one just at the moment (but if I sold the electric velo and 50cc scooter I would - sigh) but I’ll start researching what the heck it needs to be legal here.
There is a UK supplier of electric Tricycles the web site is here:-
Powatryke looks as if they are little/no pedal systems so not sure if they would need to be homologated for use in France, but I’m sure there are some brainey B…s out there to tell us!