Honestly having lived in Germany for a while I know how Germans Are about following the laws and stuff (unironically unhealthily dedicated to it) so I was very (un)surprised by that bit
you build with the space you have. And the US has just more. I'm always amazed how much space is between things in US towns. Big (and maybe older) cities aside.
@@5AndysaliveIt's also made sure they NEED to use cars. I can get by here in relatively countryside Hungary by walking, cycling, taking a train... none of that is a valid option in the US.
Just curious... Switzerland? Did I miss one video? Last one was in Holland, flat country with no mountains, hardly any hills... (Amazing video about future flying cars) What about Switzerland???
It's *extremely cool* that TWIKE did *not* let you ride in their TWIKE 5 in action despite obviously you *not* being able to show us it (because they did *not* demonstrate it to you), that kind of stuff really shows how *not* open the company is and how much passion they *don't* have for what they do. A bit of a shame though because the footage of *not* doing 100 on the road would've been hilarious
I once drove a twike and I decided that those pedals are a joke. It's not meant to be used. But if they are really working 10 years on it, I give them some credit. Just don't know where to place the twik. It's not a bike, unless you like to destroy your knees bathing in sweat. It certainly is not a car. It probably is not road legal in the Netherlands. What I want to see work are both the aptera and the velotilt. The velotilt has a lot of promise for human power and it seems good enough to get road legal with electrical assistance up to 45km/h in the Netherlands. You only need assistance to drive away from one too many traffic lights, because biking 50km/h in a velotilt should be peanuts. Getting it up to that speed will take some kms of accelerating, or a lot of training. (I used to be able to get my quest over 30km/h from traffic light start to other side of the road. There is a lot of high rpm pedaling training involved in that.)
To be clear: despite my nagging, we can't have enough of these kind of developers. They should never ever stop developing, and maybe somewhere the future will come.
As a frenchman I appreciate that when you're in the USA you use the imperial system and overlay the equivalent in metric system. And I especially appreciate that you use the metric system and then overlay the equivalent in imperial when in Europe.
@@dustysanchez-hm6bn the US uses the metric system plenty and the UK has never landed a man on the moon despite using the imperial system for many things :) heck, NASA uses metric now.
@@JohnRunyon why are all footage and telemetry tapes from the moon landings deleted? why does nasa not have the technological capability to reach the moon any more? why can"t nasa get through the van allen belts with a manned vehicle nowadays? why did the fabric space suits used on the moon not show any signs of being pressurized?
yeah, such a bummer he absolutely didn't get to experience the 150 mph speeds it may or may not be capable of and admire the stability it does or doesn't have, because he definitely didn't drive it, because if he did, which he didn't, it would be illegal
Because you can actually get some leverage from them. The tiller is great as long as you're turning to the left, but turning to the right must be painful after a while. I'm sure it's fine on the open road, but in city traffic that'd get annoying really quickly.
Also, rather than relying on side to side movement, now you use forward and back movement which is arguably less straining, probably more fun, and definitely less discomforting.
Not in Germany. Here that speed limit means "You better not drive slower than that. And even if you drive the speed limit someone will -tailgate- overtake you".
Well in the US many roads had their speed limits lowered not for safety but for fuel savings. It was more one of those political boondoggles where they say "hey we're trying". It's why you can seemingly go 50% faster on most roads just fine or how the backroads in some cases have the same speed limits as highways. I know many back roads with speed limits of 60-65mph here yet there are highways nearby with a limit of 55mph.
Even in the UK (well, all the UK except Wales 😉) our rural single-carriageway roads are mostly 60mph maximum. Though officially they're unrestricted beyond the national speed limit, which happens to be 60mph for cars without trailers on single-carriageway roads. That's not to say that driving at 60mph is a sensible thing to do, it just isn't technically illegal.
@@Jehty_ Are you sure about that? Half the time the sign seems to mean "You should drive half the speed limit and hold up literally everyone". People also don't go faster than 100/110kmh on the highway despite the speed limit being 130, or even unrestricted. Germans are very slow drivers. Painfully slow at times.
17:17 that rear axle is called De Dion suspension, essentially a live axle with a remote differential mounted on the frame with CV joints to the wheels. Makes a lot of sense for this car, allows for independent wheel alignment that a traditional live axle couldn't achieve, lighter and more simplistic than traditional independent suspension, and reduces a whole lot of unsprung weight. its pretty uncommon to see in (what hopefully will be) a production car, the only other manufacturer who used it frequently is Alfa Romeo.
That’s a Norwegian Defa Termini car interior heater, very common accessory in the nordics where the vast majority of cars (ICE) have pre-heating, usually electric. You plug your car in at night, on a timer, and it’ll be defrosted and ready the next morning when it’s time to go to work. The Termini is compact but makes a terrible high-pitched noise, this is not an issue normally since you aren’t in the car. If anything it’s handy to be able to hear that it’s working from outside the car. There are cheaper and bulkier models with a slower less noisy fan in them. Oh, and car interior heaters all have a self-regulating PTC heating element in them, so it might not be the best if it’s warm and raining and you’re trying to get some warm air to the windshield to defog. They’re designed to bring the temp up from freezing to lukewarm and keep it there. Not sure how hot the air coming from it is going to be on a summers day.
@@hillppari The company that’s known for electric pre-heaters for cars and nowadays also makes EV charging products is most certainly Norwegian. You must be thinking of a different Defa.
@@hillppari Ah, yes, our defunct East German DEFA movie studios were definitely producing heaters for cars 😂 Greetings from Berlin, where they were located!
Thanks to Twike for inviting Rob over! I think its amazing that we get to see all these interesting EVs through you, Rob. I never knew Twike even existed, or that Via built these weird electric pickups and so on and so on.... there is SO MUCH interesting, intriguing and frankly cool stuff i want out there, that is never mentioned in the glossy car press. Thanks a million!
If the 5 does get put into production I'd love for you to give it an actual test drive (that you definitely didn't have already) , it seems like such a fun yet terrifying car.
He sometimes just ups and sells things without our knowledge or consent. It may even qualify as a form of abuse, actually. I'm still feeling a little betrayed by the sale of the bus.
It's not a dumb idea if it works. They seem to have fun building it, and people seem to have fun driving it. I definitely had fun watching it. The previous episodes were already very good, but this episode was a blast. Thank you very much. Greetings from Germany
Twike does remind of how the Reliant motor company started. The first Reliant was quite literally a niche product made in a garage by only a few people besides the owner of the company in the 1930s. Reliant did eventually start following car trends and once the production pace and numbers of cars made a week skyrocketed, even regular car owners would buy a Robin. This Twike 5 reminds me a lot of the Bond Bug which Reliant launched in 1970. Very well received but it was very expensive and therefore unsuccessful in the end. I think they should follow the same path as the inventor of the Microlino.
i hope the 5 makes it to the light to day. Such a neat concept, even if i'll never own one. Also really enjoyin the National aging wheels' European Vacation vids.
There was a Twike (scheisse ge)parked :) at work today. First time I've seen this one. Now your video. Crazy coincidence, or not? Those twikes never rust out. I bet people are upgrading them with modern batteries, electronics, and modern wheels
This is the ultimate Frankenstein EV. It’s a spare parts bin masterpiece of automotive engineering and design. Some years ago on vacation in Winter Park, CO, our family enjoyed a whole day of taking the lift up the mountain and then taking the wheeled bobsled down the metal bobsled course down the mountain. My daughter was middle school aged and the three of us had an absolute blast repeatedly taking the lift up and riding the bobsled down. This thing looks like it drives about like that bobsled. 😳 I am both excited and terrified by this and I’d love to drive it. 😂 Jeepers that was fun. 🤩
Thank you so much! I have seen the Twike 3 about 20 (?) years ago on the Maimarkt Mannheim (Germany), where I have also seen the Hotzenblitz (another old electric car you should test). It was a dream for me. Now, I mostly ride my bike and try to avoid using my car, but a Twike 5 would be amazing. You won't hear much about them lately, so your video is really important. And, if you can get one: Make a video of the LoReMo! They don't exist anymore, but the idea was cool.
I love it when you can tell a car was designed the way they feel a car should be designed. Besides lower volume manufacturers like Twike i think Citroen was probably one of the last big manufacturers that kept to that concept. Even they, sadly, succumbed to utter homogenization eventually.
Awesome! I went to school in a town not very far from Rosenthal. There are indeed some very nice driving roads in the area, I guess their "demo loop" is rather fun :) Really looking forward to the 5 hitting production at some point.
Bloody hell ageing wheels (almost) visits my home village. If you had turned right on that street in the video you would have enderd in Willersdorf. Unfortunately I don't live there anymore.
I love that you said the head of twice is confident that it's okay and they've had no issues... Whilst on the screen showing your failed, leaking pack... 😂 What a great video and a super cool company, love it 👍🏻
The TWIKE 3 has also had a BMS since the beginning of its construction period (since 1995). It just didn't have an automated balancing system. However, such a system would not have prevented the water damage to Robert's restoration object. Of course, the battery must be safely integrated mechanically and electrically, no question. And checking the tightness of the battery box during servicing is standard. But let's give Robert credit for the ironic film editing 😉
This is miles ahead of the Twike 3, it looks and feels so much more complete. I know they were disappointed, but the body looks really cool. Its like a big mouse. Seeing the chassis is very, very cool. Love those huge front suspension castings. And that trick differential is so cool.
you are my fave transport channel. some years ago i bought an item from twike uk. they sent it to me BEFORE they had received my cheque. these guys are THE BEST. i know and now you know.
I've also totally not been in a Twike5, but I'd imagine it's very fun, and I would totally have been convinced to buy once they hit production one had I been in one.
Wow, Martin is absolutely whipping that thing around! I aspire to have that level of confidence as a driver, especially in something so light and unstable.
Would have loved to give you a high-five when you were in Germany. Also looking forward to the customary "american on the german autobahn" and Nürburgring-ride-along video. :D
I remember hoping in the last video you'd at least share some of your modifications, oh no you get the full VIP treatment and to talk to the people who built the thing. I love it!
UK National speed limit is 60mph on single carriageway too 🙌... only unfortunately most of our country lanes are full of land rover Discoverys being driven very badly
The national speed limit roads don't have a 60mph speed limit because it's safe or recommended to drive at 60 on them, they just don't individually assess the roads, and had to set a limit somewhere which wasn't too slow. If you're driving at 60 on every national speed limit road, you're the bad driver. It's a limit, not the speed you should be traveling at - you should travel at the speed sensible for your car and the conditions at the time, which most of the time will not be 60. This is particularly true on narrow roads or roads with blind bends, you're not a hero driver, you're endangering other road users.
@@Jehty_ Or they could just do what they do in America where sharp bends have distinct speed limits of their own. I know many back roads here with 55-65mph limits that have turns with 15-25mph limits.
this is a very cool video. i hope you get the opportunity to visit more small vehicle companies like this. I want to see the cinderella stories out there.
I wish I could buy a tiny electric car here in the US. I commute less than 3 miles a day and honestly one just makes sense to me. I can't ride my bicycle since the majority of my commute is on highway.
It's just small rather than tiny, but a Mitsubishi i-MiEV is about $5000 at the lower end of the used market, and would be pretty much ideal for that. My commute is about twice yours, also mostly highway, and I love mine. It charges overnight on the 110V charger, so you don't even need to install a charging station.
Amazing presentation 😄. You should have made a meet & greet while you were herr, you could have driven SO many EVs that are rare to nonexistent in the US (mine included) 😉👍
"This tiny road has a speed limit of 60 miles per hour" 1. This is a HUGE Road for german standarts 2. A lot of germans still drive 140km/h or 90mph on them
My area of rural Britain also has many narrow roads with 50-60 mph limits. These have two fun options: People in giant, expensive SUVs - that have never been off-road an never will - driving towards you in the middle of the road to avoid getting the paintwork scratched by the hedges. Or, summer, tourists driving at less than half the speed limit while they gawp at the scenery. Parking and getting into the scenery doesn't seem to occur to them. I'll say this much; driving around here is not dull.
@@enisra_bowman nah bro, on that road you can still at least fit 2 cars side by side, I drive on one every morning to work where I have to drive on the grass next to the road if someone else is coming and it's a main road.
Power to weight ratio is a funny thing. I went kart racing, and that had 5.5 horsepower. And I'm 6 foot 3, roughly 300 pounds. And that was a rocketship. So this Twike 5 has the potential to be a reaaaaaaaaally fast three-wheeler.
I spent my first year of elementary school in the next large-ish town to Rosenthal, so it's kinda strange seeing you in an area that looks really familiar to me. Also, to add to your impression of Rosenthal, not only does it look picturesque, its name literally translates as "valley of roses", which is delightful.
If the Twike 5 does make it to production, and hopefully it's not an Aptera situation where it's dev model after dev model after dev model, I'd rather have an option with no bike pedals with traditional gas and brake pedals along with a traditional steering wheel. Twin stick might be cool for a more traditional velomobile that doesn't get up to speeds cars will get at, but I think a traditional wheel will end up being easier to drive with long-term; plus steer by wire is getting good enough that it makes sense for something like this. I really want to see more vehicles like this, Vanderhalls, etc., but with how the roads are here in the US, thanks lack of regulations on grill and bumper height, I don't think anything can actually go smaller than an Aptera and have any amount of shared road safety.
Just go to Wyoming. There's nobody there to stop you and many roads have no labeled speed limit at all. Plus there's not many towns either so there's no cops roaming to stop you. The roads are also fairly straight with a large portion of the state being open plains. Been through there a few times. I'm always suprised when I actually see construction zones there, like where do these people even live?
@Skylancer727 I've been only once. I can vouch for the very straight and cop free roads. I did. 85+ from Denver to Casper on I25 in the snow at like 2am without any issue. I seen like 6-8 cars the entire time, and not one police officer. I didn't say I was smart, either. Just saying it is doable.
Also that trip was from basically OKC to Cody, wyo. Fun trip, beautiful part of the country. Ps: hello Oklahoma neighbor haha. Yall got those short ass on ramps too compared to ours. Gives me an excuse to punch it lol I don't mind
The pedals only working a generator is so daft. At least if you ran out of battery in the old one you could still move. That "automotive expert" clearly wanted them to create a typical car. My biggest hang up with them though is their crash performance. No crumple zones, no pillars - while you may not crash, others may crash into you. All of that impact force is going into the softest thing in the vehicle. Your body. Plus, it doesn't solve any of the other issues that cars cause, like traffic. It's such a shame that this is such a miss. I'll stick with bikes, trams, and trains.
There must be more to it than that 😉 It doesn't turn, but in extreme situations (the X-PRIZE had a circuit set up for this) it pushes outwards over all 3 wheels at the same time. Everything remains controllable.
That "automotive expert" was absolutely correct...but yeah by all means keep selling single units if that's the plan. Weird plan tho because the pedal thing actually makes it less appealing because they're pointless - or worse: imagine the effect on steering at 120kph😮.
You think that someone who would want to buy a vehicle like this would not buy it because of the pedals? This is already such a niche product, anyone interested in it would most likely not be opposed to the pedals.
Did you miss the battery being in the floor? The center of gravity is very low, unlike with a bike, where the rider usually weighs more than the bike itself.
I am from Switzerland. But I don't feel the Twike at all. It ridiculously expensive, unsafe, unstable and damn ugly. It's a Reliant Robbin 2.0. The world don't need another Reliant Robbin. Twike won't go into any mass production. It's already hard for Aptera to achieve mass production if they ever achieve that. But it's big fun watching you in these kind of rolling buckets. But please don't die in one.
If they can get the Twike 5 imported into the US, I am definitely going to buy one. I am then going to immediately cut all the peddle stuff out, set up a proper break system, and have my dream of a small, zippy electric Miata alternative that drives with the control scheme of a Gundam/Zoid.
I love that you have become the magnet for everyone to show their weird or obscure automotive company products
Just be careful, France, Italy likes this.
And Belgium. You forgot Belgium.
@@mr_voron nooit ga ik belgie vergeeten.. at this point his best bet is a 1 euro house in italy tho
It's like Doug DeMuro, with quirks and facts, instead of quirks and features 🤣
@@glob-o-techyeah we have to drive through Belgium too 😂 for the rest we forget them 😂
18:26 Im so glad that you went all the way to Germany just to not ride in that twike prototype, because that would be illegal.
Zat vud be illegal.
@@davisev5225 that comes up with a "Translate to English" link 🤣
@@TimTamsLOLand the translation is identical...
I'm glad he definitely didn't go 150 KMH I'm the prototype chassis.
Honestly having lived in Germany for a while I know how Germans Are about following the laws and stuff (unironically unhealthily dedicated to it) so I was very (un)surprised by that bit
"It looks like this town was made up by a movie set designer."
Which is exactly how American towns look to us Germans
But one is for comedy, one for a horror... which is which?
you build with the space you have. And the US has just more. I'm always amazed how much space is between things in US towns. Big (and maybe older) cities aside.
@@5AndysaliveIt's also made sure they NEED to use cars. I can get by here in relatively countryside Hungary by walking, cycling, taking a train... none of that is a valid option in the US.
Cities in Europe were established long before the motor car, so did not consider it. American cities did account for cars.
as an american that lived in germany for a while, yes, both directions haha. i prefer the german setup myself.
Thank you Twike for inviting our favorite GoofBall to your factory! Nice job Robert!
When I saw Robert in Switzerland I knew he had to visit Germany to see Twike. There's no way he would pass that opportunity.
Just curious...
Switzerland?
Did I miss one video?
Last one was in Holland, flat country with no mountains, hardly any hills...
(Amazing video about future flying cars)
What about Switzerland???
@@fhorst02 In his recent video of the blue Microlino car, he said he was in Switzerland. Switzerland is right next to Germany.
It's *extremely cool* that TWIKE did *not* let you ride in their TWIKE 5 in action despite obviously you *not* being able to show us it (because they did *not* demonstrate it to you), that kind of stuff really shows how *not* open the company is and how much passion they *don't* have for what they do. A bit of a shame though because the footage of *not* doing 100 on the road would've been hilarious
TWIKE 5 is not yet ready … since over 10 years
Ahhhhhh I would not have enjoyed seeing that footage very much. What a shame they were unable to give a ride in the prototype :-D
I once drove a twike and I decided that those pedals are a joke. It's not meant to be used. But if they are really working 10 years on it, I give them some credit. Just don't know where to place the twik. It's not a bike, unless you like to destroy your knees bathing in sweat. It certainly is not a car. It probably is not road legal in the Netherlands.
What I want to see work are both the aptera and the velotilt. The velotilt has a lot of promise for human power and it seems good enough to get road legal with electrical assistance up to 45km/h in the Netherlands. You only need assistance to drive away from one too many traffic lights, because biking 50km/h in a velotilt should be peanuts. Getting it up to that speed will take some kms of accelerating, or a lot of training. (I used to be able to get my quest over 30km/h from traffic light start to other side of the road. There is a lot of high rpm pedaling training involved in that.)
Hmmm, they have still a single wheel in front and no tilting... Nice going around corners with 15km/h to prevent tipping
To be clear: despite my nagging, we can't have enough of these kind of developers. They should never ever stop developing, and maybe somewhere the future will come.
As a frenchman I appreciate that when you're in the USA you use the imperial system and overlay the equivalent in metric system. And I especially appreciate that you use the metric system and then overlay the equivalent in imperial when in Europe.
practically, it’s likely easiest to produce: just use whatever numbers you’re given and look up what they mean later during editing
As an American, metric is the superior system and I hate every day that I must use both for work because we’re stuck in the 19th century.
@@daveedwards6727my car gets five rods to the hogshead and that's the way I likes it!
@@dustysanchez-hm6bn the US uses the metric system plenty and the UK has never landed a man on the moon despite using the imperial system for many things :) heck, NASA uses metric now.
@@JohnRunyon why are all footage and telemetry tapes from the moon landings deleted?
why does nasa not have the technological capability to reach the moon any more?
why can"t nasa get through the van allen belts with a manned vehicle nowadays?
why did the fabric space suits used on the moon not show any signs of being pressurized?
It's a shame they couldn't let Robert ride in the prototype. That sounds like it could have been really fun.
I think there was a lot of *wink wink, nudge nudge* going on in that regard...
Oh he absolutely didn't have a blast in it. ahem...
yeah, such a bummer he absolutely didn't get to experience the 150 mph speeds it may or may not be capable of and admire the stability it does or doesn't have, because he definitely didn't drive it, because if he did, which he didn't, it would be illegal
Yes, he must have been devasted to not have experinced it so thoroughly because of those, cough, devilish laws.
The twin sticks seems like a MASSIVE upgrade from the stupid tiller, way more controllable.
Because you can actually get some leverage from them. The tiller is great as long as you're turning to the left, but turning to the right must be painful after a while. I'm sure it's fine on the open road, but in city traffic that'd get annoying really quickly.
Also, rather than relying on side to side movement, now you use forward and back movement which is arguably less straining, probably more fun, and definitely less discomforting.
You know what would be an even bigger upgrade? A steering wheel. Or at the very least, a yoke
@@kevinsammut7246 But then they couldn't put useless pedals on it, and then what's the point of building the car at all?
@@kevinsammut7246 I think this ca ris meant to be a quirky fun car, not a daily.
My god, the way you said "Wo jeder deutsch spricht, aber ich nicht" was 100/10
*jemand
@@CantankerousDave Sicher das er net "jeder" gesagt hat?
@@CantankerousDave 100% hat er Jeder gesagt.
@@CantankerousDavehe definitely said "jeder" here...
I can only imagine how much fun riding around in a prototype roadster thing would be, you know, if you had done it.
That has to be the prettiest looking automobile factory in the world!
The speed limit on these smaller roads especially is more like "Please don't ever drive faster than this" and not "You should be driving this"
Depends on your car and time of day
*sunday morning is rally time*
Not in Germany.
Here that speed limit means "You better not drive slower than that. And even if you drive the speed limit someone will -tailgate- overtake you".
Well in the US many roads had their speed limits lowered not for safety but for fuel savings. It was more one of those political boondoggles where they say "hey we're trying". It's why you can seemingly go 50% faster on most roads just fine or how the backroads in some cases have the same speed limits as highways. I know many back roads with speed limits of 60-65mph here yet there are highways nearby with a limit of 55mph.
Even in the UK (well, all the UK except Wales 😉) our rural single-carriageway roads are mostly 60mph maximum. Though officially they're unrestricted beyond the national speed limit, which happens to be 60mph for cars without trailers on single-carriageway roads. That's not to say that driving at 60mph is a sensible thing to do, it just isn't technically illegal.
@@Jehty_ Are you sure about that? Half the time the sign seems to mean "You should drive half the speed limit and hold up literally everyone".
People also don't go faster than 100/110kmh on the highway despite the speed limit being 130, or even unrestricted.
Germans are very slow drivers. Painfully slow at times.
17:17 that rear axle is called De Dion suspension, essentially a live axle with a remote differential mounted on the frame with CV joints to the wheels. Makes a lot of sense for this car, allows for independent wheel alignment that a traditional live axle couldn't achieve, lighter and more simplistic than traditional independent suspension, and reduces a whole lot of unsprung weight. its pretty uncommon to see in (what hopefully will be) a production car, the only other manufacturer who used it frequently is Alfa Romeo.
The Aging Wheels World Tour continues!
That’s a Norwegian Defa Termini car interior heater, very common accessory in the nordics where the vast majority of cars (ICE) have pre-heating, usually electric. You plug your car in at night, on a timer, and it’ll be defrosted and ready the next morning when it’s time to go to work.
The Termini is compact but makes a terrible high-pitched noise, this is not an issue normally since you aren’t in the car. If anything it’s handy to be able to hear that it’s working from outside the car. There are cheaper and bulkier models with a slower less noisy fan in them.
Oh, and car interior heaters all have a self-regulating PTC heating element in them, so it might not be the best if it’s warm and raining and you’re trying to get some warm air to the windshield to defog. They’re designed to bring the temp up from freezing to lukewarm and keep it there. Not sure how hot the air coming from it is going to be on a summers day.
There is nothing norwegian with defa. its a german company lol.
@@hillppari The company that’s known for electric pre-heaters for cars and nowadays also makes EV charging products is most certainly Norwegian. You must be thinking of a different Defa.
@@hillppari Ah, yes, our defunct East German DEFA movie studios were definitely producing heaters for cars 😂 Greetings from Berlin, where they were located!
Oh my. The Twike not 4 is a lovely looking thing!
More than a bit of Smart Crossblade in it
Thanks to Twike for inviting Rob over! I think its amazing that we get to see all these interesting EVs through you, Rob. I never knew Twike even existed, or that Via built these weird electric pickups and so on and so on.... there is SO MUCH interesting, intriguing and frankly cool stuff i want out there, that is never mentioned in the glossy car press. Thanks a million!
Ah, I see BMW i3 wheels on the back of the Twike 5. Nice!
Oh so that's what BMW is going to do with the unused stock from their crappy hybrid car.
@@jwalster9412there was me thinking bullshit came from bulls … clearly not 🤷♂️
@@SusieSmart I thought that said i8. Not i3. But thanks for the insult either way, appreciate it very much.
@@jwalster9412You are wrong about this but I'll at least be more polite about it
@@Xatzimi opinion is opinion. The i8 and i3 both look and perform bad.
I’m glad you didn’t take a test drive, it’s so important to feel it rather than just numbers on a sheet.
i recently had a twike behind me in my very small german hometown. instantly had to laugh and think about your vids about it
If the 5 does get put into production I'd love for you to give it an actual test drive (that you definitely didn't have already) , it seems like such a fun yet terrifying car.
Even if he did have an illegal test drive, it was of a partial prototype, so it wouldn't reflect the final car's driving experience very well.
Twike you "used to own" - you sold it?
Yeah it was on Cars & Bids recently
He's referring to "The Twike I Used to Own" -- one of Gotye's lesser known tunes.
@@parasharkchari”The TWIIIEEEEEEKE”
‘that I used to own’
He sometimes just ups and sells things without our knowledge or consent. It may even qualify as a form of abuse, actually.
I'm still feeling a little betrayed by the sale of the bus.
Good video, thanks for sharing 👍.
"because that would be illegal." I love that.
Awesome! I really hope that they have the funds to get the Twike 5 to the production stage.
It's not a dumb idea if it works.
They seem to have fun building it, and people seem to have fun driving it.
I definitely had fun watching it.
The previous episodes were already very good, but this episode was a blast. Thank you very much.
Greetings from Germany
Lovely little poem that you did there in the intro ❤
Also: Speed limits on German back roads are definitely nuts, yeah. But you're getting used to it.
5:14 This is what losing 1HP looks like
Do you mean HP as "health point" or "horsepower"? 💀
@@NatiiixLPHearing point 😂
@@mrb692 Hewlett Packard.
@@NatiiixLP Yes.
Robert slipping in some strong language at 15:25 like it didn't happen.
Reminds me of Edison Motors.
Have you considered our northern neighbor who is building electric logging trucks.
he should get an Edison truck and convert it into a motorhome/travelling garage
Twike does remind of how the Reliant motor company started. The first Reliant was quite literally a niche product made in a garage by only a few people besides the owner of the company in the 1930s. Reliant did eventually start following car trends and once the production pace and numbers of cars made a week skyrocketed, even regular car owners would buy a Robin.
This Twike 5 reminds me a lot of the Bond Bug which Reliant launched in 1970. Very well received but it was very expensive and therefore unsuccessful in the end.
I think they should follow the same path as the inventor of the Microlino.
The microlino is too expensive. Twenty thousand plus euros for one of the tiniest cars in the world? It doesn't make sense.
I love the idea of visiting a car company with 10 employees that can make a car in a rush 14 years ago and still use it.
Love these vids
i hope the 5 makes it to the light to day. Such a neat concept, even if i'll never own one. Also really enjoyin the National aging wheels' European Vacation vids.
There was a Twike (scheisse ge)parked :) at work today. First time I've seen this one. Now your video. Crazy coincidence, or not?
Those twikes never rust out. I bet people are upgrading them with modern batteries, electronics, and modern wheels
This is the ultimate Frankenstein EV. It’s a spare parts bin masterpiece of automotive engineering and design.
Some years ago on vacation in Winter Park, CO, our family enjoyed a whole day of taking the lift up the mountain and then taking the wheeled bobsled down the metal bobsled course down the mountain. My daughter was middle school aged and the three of us had an absolute blast repeatedly taking the lift up and riding the bobsled down. This thing looks like it drives about like that bobsled. 😳 I am both excited and terrified by this and I’d love to drive it. 😂 Jeepers that was fun. 🤩
The HOTAS concept is brilliant! I'm a stick guy, and would love to have even just wiper controls on the gear shifter would be _amazing_
Thank you so much! I have seen the Twike 3 about 20 (?) years ago on the Maimarkt Mannheim (Germany), where I have also seen the Hotzenblitz (another old electric car you should test). It was a dream for me. Now, I mostly ride my bike and try to avoid using my car, but a Twike 5 would be amazing. You won't hear much about them lately, so your video is really important.
And, if you can get one: Make a video of the LoReMo! They don't exist anymore, but the idea was cool.
I love it when you can tell a car was designed the way they feel a car should be designed. Besides lower volume manufacturers like Twike i think Citroen was probably one of the last big manufacturers that kept to that concept. Even they, sadly, succumbed to utter homogenization eventually.
Blame Peugeot for that, for consistently trying to sink them because god forbid Citroën may make better-selling cars than them.
3 wheels, a friend had a Robin, he got great joy in tipping it over with low speed turns in the neighborhood
Awesome! I went to school in a town not very far from Rosenthal. There are indeed some very nice driving roads in the area, I guess their "demo loop" is rather fun :) Really looking forward to the 5 hitting production at some point.
Dude, you are like serotonin personified! I love your enthusiasm
Bloody hell ageing wheels (almost) visits my home village.
If you had turned right on that street in the video you would have enderd in Willersdorf. Unfortunately I don't live there anymore.
This was the best late-night Sunday entertainment imaginable. Fucking love your work man. Three thumbs up
👌
Twike that you...had? Did I miss something?
He sold it on Cars and Bids a few months ago
Robert wants to live.
@@The_Sprinklez which vid exactly?
@@tomhsia4354but he still got a Trabi…….
@@expatmoose And a Reliant Robin, both of which are probably less safe.
I love that you said the head of twice is confident that it's okay and they've had no issues... Whilst on the screen showing your failed, leaking pack... 😂 What a great video and a super cool company, love it 👍🏻
The TWIKE 3 has also had a BMS since the beginning of its construction period (since 1995). It just didn't have an automated balancing system. However, such a system would not have prevented the water damage to Robert's restoration object. Of course, the battery must be safely integrated mechanically and electrically, no question. And checking the tightness of the battery box during servicing is standard. But let's give Robert credit for the ironic film editing 😉
This is miles ahead of the Twike 3, it looks and feels so much more complete. I know they were disappointed, but the body looks really cool. Its like a big mouse. Seeing the chassis is very, very cool. Love those huge front suspension castings. And that trick differential is so cool.
you are my fave transport channel.
some years ago i bought an item from twike uk.
they sent it to me BEFORE they had received my cheque.
these guys are THE BEST. i know and now you know.
I`ve absolutely not enjoyed you absolutely not experiencing that twike!! haha great content as usual.
I've also totally not been in a Twike5, but I'd imagine it's very fun, and I would totally have been convinced to buy once they hit production one had I been in one.
Wow, Martin is absolutely whipping that thing around! I aspire to have that level of confidence as a driver, especially in something so light and unstable.
The passenger tires (and wheels) on the back of the Twike are off a Smart Fortwo, by the way.
I noticed that straight away :)
Why does the Twike 4XP remind me of the Pertwee-era "Whomobile" in the front three-quarter view? Great video, loved it!
Days later after you upload your first twike video i saw one in the autoban at 90kph+- i i could not belive it XD
Totally cool Rob, thank you for sharing MORE Twike - love it :)
Would have loved to give you a high-five when you were in Germany. Also looking forward to the customary "american on the german autobahn" and Nürburgring-ride-along video. :D
I remember hoping in the last video you'd at least share some of your modifications, oh no you get the full VIP treatment and to talk to the people who built the thing. I love it!
You're an amazing person Robert, never change. Thanks for sharing your enthusiasm with the world.
UK National speed limit is 60mph on single carriageway too 🙌... only unfortunately most of our country lanes are full of land rover Discoverys being driven very badly
Not a problem when you have to be an adult to start driving and you have to pass a proper test to get a licence.
The national speed limit roads don't have a 60mph speed limit because it's safe or recommended to drive at 60 on them, they just don't individually assess the roads, and had to set a limit somewhere which wasn't too slow.
If you're driving at 60 on every national speed limit road, you're the bad driver. It's a limit, not the speed you should be traveling at - you should travel at the speed sensible for your car and the conditions at the time, which most of the time will not be 60. This is particularly true on narrow roads or roads with blind bends, you're not a hero driver, you're endangering other road users.
@@Phiyedoughnope.
Almost 2/3 of the people who die on roads in Germany die on country roads.
A lower speed limit would definitely reduce that number.
@@Jehty_ Or they could just do what they do in America where sharp bends have distinct speed limits of their own. I know many back roads here with 55-65mph limits that have turns with 15-25mph limits.
@@Skylancer727 of course that also exists in Germany...
Exzellentes Deutsch und willkommen in Deutschland! Great to have you over here :)
OMG it's the Twike again.
That was so much fun! Thanks Robert!
*OH MY GOD - THAT MK4* that thing really moves, it must be SO much fun EDIT - OH I would love one so much. THIS IS ME, these were designed for me
this is a very cool video. i hope you get the opportunity to visit more small vehicle companies like this. I want to see the cinderella stories out there.
Always love a new video!
Such a cool company. Such a cool video. Thanks for sharing.
I wish I could buy a tiny electric car here in the US. I commute less than 3 miles a day and honestly one just makes sense to me. I can't ride my bicycle since the majority of my commute is on highway.
It's just small rather than tiny, but a Mitsubishi i-MiEV is about $5000 at the lower end of the used market, and would be pretty much ideal for that. My commute is about twice yours, also mostly highway, and I love mine. It charges overnight on the 110V charger, so you don't even need to install a charging station.
Amazing presentation 😄. You should have made a meet & greet while you were herr, you could have driven SO many EVs that are rare to nonexistent in the US (mine included) 😉👍
"This tiny road has a speed limit of 60 miles per hour"
1. This is a HUGE Road for german standarts
2. A lot of germans still drive 140km/h or 90mph on them
I think he doesn't know about the unpaved gravel roads yet...
Which is very annoying tbh, that would explain why I see many driving way too fast on tiny roads in the Netherlands, so dangerous
*cough* only that it's completly wrong and that is a small german road since it's missing the centre line road marking
My area of rural Britain also has many narrow roads with 50-60 mph limits. These have two fun options: People in giant, expensive SUVs - that have never been off-road an never will - driving towards you in the middle of the road to avoid getting the paintwork scratched by the hedges. Or, summer, tourists driving at less than half the speed limit while they gawp at the scenery. Parking and getting into the scenery doesn't seem to occur to them. I'll say this much; driving around here is not dull.
@@enisra_bowman nah bro, on that road you can still at least fit 2 cars side by side, I drive on one every morning to work where I have to drive on the grass next to the road if someone else is coming and it's a main road.
Another outstanding video sir. Your humour and editing are so enjoy.
This man was in my country. I’m fangirling just because of that hahaha
That heat exchanger with the reversible fan is brilliant!
1:56 used to own?????
What a wonderful channel you have built. Always a pleasure spending time learning with you.
You left both takes in at 8:30, so we learned about the diff in a hollow rotor twice.
yeah, so we can learn the difference between both takes, of course ;)
The German blood in me gets so excited seeing/reading about things like this. Thank you and keep up the great work with your channel, sir.
Power to weight ratio is a funny thing. I went kart racing, and that had 5.5 horsepower. And I'm 6 foot 3, roughly 300 pounds.
And that was a rocketship. So this Twike 5 has the potential to be a reaaaaaaaaally fast three-wheeler.
some said "floor rocket" 🤫
I spent my first year of elementary school in the next large-ish town to Rosenthal, so it's kinda strange seeing you in an area that looks really familiar to me.
Also, to add to your impression of Rosenthal, not only does it look picturesque, its name literally translates as "valley of roses", which is delightful.
I really hope they go live with the Twike 5. Small teams developing sound ideas is important to EV production
I like how this channel is the embodiment of " this is silly, I love it "
18:28 For legal reasons:
If the Twike 5 does make it to production, and hopefully it's not an Aptera situation where it's dev model after dev model after dev model, I'd rather have an option with no bike pedals with traditional gas and brake pedals along with a traditional steering wheel. Twin stick might be cool for a more traditional velomobile that doesn't get up to speeds cars will get at, but I think a traditional wheel will end up being easier to drive with long-term; plus steer by wire is getting good enough that it makes sense for something like this.
I really want to see more vehicles like this, Vanderhalls, etc., but with how the roads are here in the US, thanks lack of regulations on grill and bumper height, I don't think anything can actually go smaller than an Aptera and have any amount of shared road safety.
Those Twike 3 rear steel wheels are from a smart fortwo.
Great job on the video! Thanks for making it.
Green Machine..
What a great episode, the never ending grins on your face when driving, i'm sure you weren't grinning when you "didn't get to drive in the 5".
"tiny little road w a 65mph speed limit" Sir you need to see the limits in Oklahoma, granted the roads are utter garbage but 65mph.....suggested
Just go to Wyoming. There's nobody there to stop you and many roads have no labeled speed limit at all. Plus there's not many towns either so there's no cops roaming to stop you. The roads are also fairly straight with a large portion of the state being open plains.
Been through there a few times. I'm always suprised when I actually see construction zones there, like where do these people even live?
@Skylancer727 I've been only once. I can vouch for the very straight and cop free roads. I did. 85+ from Denver to Casper on I25 in the snow at like 2am without any issue. I seen like 6-8 cars the entire time, and not one police officer.
I didn't say I was smart, either. Just saying it is doable.
Also that trip was from basically OKC to Cody, wyo. Fun trip, beautiful part of the country.
Ps: hello Oklahoma neighbor haha. Yall got those short ass on ramps too compared to ours. Gives me an excuse to punch it lol I don't mind
I love it, when somebody as crazy as those guys come along and show us what could have been, it sad that so often it goes unnoticed.
The pedals only working a generator is so daft. At least if you ran out of battery in the old one you could still move. That "automotive expert" clearly wanted them to create a typical car.
My biggest hang up with them though is their crash performance. No crumple zones, no pillars - while you may not crash, others may crash into you. All of that impact force is going into the softest thing in the vehicle. Your body. Plus, it doesn't solve any of the other issues that cars cause, like traffic. It's such a shame that this is such a miss. I'll stick with bikes, trams, and trains.
At least it shelters you from the rain... and it's better than Elon's milkfloats!
100% getting a twike after my masters degree. As a soon to be engineer in germany, i need this thing !
0:28 For those curious, he said he can't speak German. Es ist over für er. 😔
5:47 Did I just watch a Twike pop a drift? I reckon I did!
There must be more to it than that 😉 It doesn't turn, but in extreme situations (the X-PRIZE had a circuit set up for this) it pushes outwards over all 3 wheels at the same time. Everything remains controllable.
That "automotive expert" was absolutely correct...but yeah by all means keep selling single units if that's the plan. Weird plan tho because the pedal thing actually makes it less appealing because they're pointless - or worse: imagine the effect on steering at 120kph😮.
You think that someone who would want to buy a vehicle like this would not buy it because of the pedals?
This is already such a niche product, anyone interested in it would most likely not be opposed to the pedals.
Absolutely spot on with the "I have no idea.... because that would be illegal." Made me laugh!
The two wheels go in the front, not the back. I have cycled recuments of all types and this model will flip.
Even Twike 2 doesn't flip, and the new one has a so much lower centre of mass, it will be perfectly fine.
Did you miss the battery being in the floor? The center of gravity is very low, unlike with a bike, where the rider usually weighs more than the bike itself.
@@no1DdC true, but steering with two front wheels will still give more stability
Morgan figured it out in 1909.
TWIKE can take my money, I want a TWIKE 5. this has to be one of the coolest vehicles I have ever seen.
I am from Switzerland. But I don't feel the Twike at all. It ridiculously expensive, unsafe, unstable and damn ugly. It's a Reliant Robbin 2.0. The world don't need another Reliant Robbin. Twike won't go into any mass production. It's already hard for Aptera to achieve mass production if they ever achieve that. But it's big fun watching you in these kind of rolling buckets. But please don't die in one.
Dude youre absolutely killing it with this content! Your Eurotrip must have been SO cool
Not experience 150km/h in the trike 5 mustn't have been a sit gripping experience
I'm really in love with Twike..
If they can get the Twike 5 imported into the US, I am definitely going to buy one. I am then going to immediately cut all the peddle stuff out, set up a proper break system, and have my dream of a small, zippy electric Miata alternative that drives with the control scheme of a Gundam/Zoid.
*brake system
@@frankandstein8618 He said it right the first time- Break! As in "broken" or in disrepair.
@@ModelA I think you're being disingenuous, you know what a "brake system" in a car means.
@@frankandstein8618 In your haste to correct someone else and have to be right all the time, you overlooked the humor and sarcasm in the comment
@@ModelA Oh. I guess I did. I see it now. Sorry.