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A bike / scooter to carry in the back of the plane (including electric ones)?

it’s not really safely possible to contain/control a battery that decides to burn. As a single pilot in an SEP, you either get burnt, the plane burns down, or you get unconscious by the smoke. If you make a box that’s so tight the gas can’t escape, you have a bomb.

Not quite. As model flyers will tell you, it depends in the battery. A small battery can be contained in the LIPO bag, though a lot of smoke will come out. The risk then depends on the cockpit ventilation capability. I suggest the “you get unconscious by the smoke” came from somebody who spends all day online

It’s a serious situation but you should hopefully have time to land somewhere.

A 5kg battery probably cannot be contained in anything that you want to carry in the plane. So if that goes off, you have probably had it unless you can get down quick. So if I was doing this I would secure the bike well so the battery (or any part of the bike) cannot get damaged.

Of course, no airline on the planet allows these batteries on their planes, but that’s commercial ops, not single engine.

All airlines allow laptops etc… the idea seems to be that if one of these goes off, the cabin crew can access it and deal with it. And if it is checked baggage, the risk of it going off is very low (not charging, not discharging, and unlikely to get perforated).

Batteries of all sizes are routinely carried as cargo. Some nice fires did happen there (on youtube etc).

Lithium battery fire thread

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

I would say that in a small plane, keep the battery in accessible range so that you can throw it out if it starts to burn. But if you don’t touch it, very little chance to happen.

LFMD, France

I didn’t mean laptop batteries. I meant scooter and ebike batteries and the like. Strong, high energy density, intense fire and smoke production.

I stick to my opinion: you cannot contain it once it’s on fire. It will either burn the inside of the plane, or there will be so much smoke coming out of whatever “safe containment” that you won’t be able to control the plane.

Good luck with trying to touch, grasp and throw a blistering hot burning battery out a window (what window – the small one on the pilots side ?) or the door – as if we could open the door wide enough cruise flight. And if it’s in a container – even less chance to do that.

The only mitigation is to accept that risk, along with so many others.

I wouldn’t carry such a battery unless I knew for sure it hasn’t been damaged sometime before.

Last Edited by EuroFlyer at 04 Aug 12:23
Safe landings !
EDLN, Germany

I agree with you. Big batteries cannot be dealt with in flight in GA.

Just been looking at some electric bikes in a shop. Difficult to be sure of no damage unless bought new.

Not exactly lightweight, either.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Electric bikes (not the folding type) seem to be taking over the bike shops…

The problem is the weight. I was talking to another pilot who uses folding bikes with a chinese electric conversion bolt-on kit and even that is about 20kg. That’s not only hard to get in/out of a TB20 unless one is pretty strong, but really hard to lift over stiles

where you have to lift the bike to head level. I have a French Sunn Shaman S1 bike which is about 12kg and that is ok.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Here is the resolution w/o electric and for the small baggage compartment doors of a TB20
KWIGGLE bike

Not related, no interest, just interested myself, since i do not dare taking my scooter anymore…

...
EDM_, Germany

I’m glad to report that I bought the Xiaomi Mi 1S e-scooter and am totally happy with it after some slight firmware updates.
They have a larger, more powerful, longer range version called the ‘Pro 2’, but I didn’t care about the range as much as the weight.

I’ve modded it to do 30kmh and I find this speed to be perfect for making tracks (slang for going fast in the US).

I’ve been staying in a hotel about 10km away from the airfield for the past week, and have made the trek every day there and back.
It is great! Pneumatic tires alleviate most of the shock of small bumps, there’s a kickstand, and the handle folds down.
Also, due to the natural weight and balance, hanging a grocery bag off of the handelbars is no problem. Unlike a bike where turning causes a severe rotational moment of the bag and it swings out, affecting steering control, this isn’t the case with the very narrow scooter handlebar riser. It just works great.

Getting the scooter out of a vehicle and going somewhere with it takes about 16 seconds. I’ve timed it multiple times, and I just keep hitting the same mark.
16 seconds from opening the door to getting on the scooter and riding away. Brilliant.

I can pick it up and carry it with one hand, no problem, and the only thing I am still trying to find a solution to, is eating while riding.
With only one hand on the handlebars, the front wheel starts shimmying at 30kmh…
The only fix I’ve found so far is to press my right foot against the front wheel well, forcing it to stay straight. This works really well, and leaning in to a curve makes the scooter turn at that speed.

With the firmware mods, I do about 12-15kmh up a 10% grade hill.
It will go up long steep hills as well.
S curves make the uphill experience better, although t’m not convinced they make the journey any faster…

The range is stated as 30km, but on flat roads, I think I will reach about 18km max range at 30kmh speed. At 20kmh, it will probably reach 30km, but who wants to ride for an hour and a half that far?

I got it for 379 EUR at MediaMarkt on sale. They’re normally 429EUR just checked, they’re now 399EUR.
They’re approved for use by the strict German scooter regulatory authority.

They have 3 speeds and a headlight, which is not that great while doing 30kmh in the dark, but at 20kmh (the German firmware limit) it is adequate.
With custom tuning, I’ve set the speeds to 6/20/30 kmh
I find 6kmh is a touch slow, but not bad for pedestrian areas. I will probably increase this to 8kmh, as this is still quite pedestrian friendly.
20kmh is quite good for mixed urban areas where full speed is too much, and pedestrian speed is too slow.
30kmh is great for rural areas, or going longer distances.

I used the scooter on the Edersee, and went from one side to the other and back which was great. Truly effortless, and in the end, it saves so much time.
Locking it up isn’t a big affair, as the motor is in the front wheel, so stealing the scooter without the front wheel is pointless.

Finally, The only other drawback is that it is is a touch long and the handlebars don’t collapse (they fold straight down onto the back wheel, but still stick out to the sides). The length is great for foot placement (you can actually put both feet on the scooter in a comfortable way) but fitting it into a plane sideways wont’ work in most aircraft. You’ll have to put it in at an angle, or a vertical angle.

Last Edited by AF at 20 Aug 22:42

Very nice, thanks for the report!

EHTE, Netherlands

@ch.ess wrote:

Here is the resolution w/o electric and for the small baggage compartment doors of a TB20
KWIGGLE bike

Thank you for the link. I called the guy this morning and ordered two of them. Seems to be a good solution and the two weeks he offers for a serious trial are great. It should be delivered in beginning of October, so I will report about how it feels, when riding this special kind of bike.

EDDS , Germany

Thanks @eddsPeter. I am also quite interested.

Not many real life evaluations to be found on the internet, strangely.
Would like to know how well people get along with the free swinging seat, short wheelbase and narrow handlebar.
Is gearshift available yet? A bagholder? And the promised 100kg version?

Let us know once you have tried it.

Mainz (EDFZ) & Egelsbach (EDFE), Germany
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