Retrospective Scooters Electric classic conversions | FEATURE

 

Electric probably doesn’t have much appeal for the majority of our classic scooter readers and riders (especially those of us who ride long distance for pleasure) but in the next decade, it will become more and more relevant – even if it is through force rather than choice. We’re very likely to be forced off the roads on anything other than what is deemed suitable by the evil dictators who milk us dry on the pretence of saving the world. Anybody who thinks it’s far-fetched will probably remember the days when you could still smoke on aeroplanes and in pubs.

 

 

Retrospective Scooters are already ahead of the game though. Foreseeing a time when many of our favourite scooters will be outlawed, or priced off the road around the world. They’ve turned their attention to conversion kits for the most popular models. If you were at Newark last weekend you may well have seen (or even ridden) the electric Lambretta GP, smallframe Vespa or their Vespa Sprint. In fact, Retrospective can already convert Lambrettas from Series 1 to 3, large frame Vespas (including the PX) and they’re working on some of the rarer classics like the NSU for instance.

 

 

All the conversions look original and standard at first glance. Looks can be deceptive though, our plastic man Nigel has been helping with development on these scooters. Nigel created the dummy engine casings for them, he’s also made the battery boxes and battery trays. Helping to hide the ugly modern tech beneath a plastic facade.

 

 

 

 

Aside from the initial purchase price of an electric vehicle (the batteries are the expensive bit), the biggest barrier is range anxiety. Will you get stuck on it in the middle of nowhere? What if it runs out of charge unexpectedly on my way to work? I’m sure we’ve all had a mobile phone with 30% charge that suddenly dies when you least expect it? What happens if your scooter charge dies on a cold morning?

 

Niall McCart, owner of Retrospective Scooters and driving force behind this project had the following to say…

 

“I know the typical scooterist will always want more speed and more range and that may come someday soon with better technology as this electrical vehicle revolution descends upon us. I think faster charging is what will happen next, which needs stronger batteries. For now, most people will find it hard to switch their way of thinking from combustion engine to battery power and until they get on them and start using them it’s hard to explain it, but I would say the following. If a typical scooter rider was to do a diary for a week on the journeys they made on their scooter, in that time they would see that each journey would be no more than 10 or 20 miles. 30 miles at most before they reached some sort of destination point where there would, of course, be a rechargeable energy source (a socket) where they could ‘refuel’. Even if that’s only for one hour (or longer) it would be enough to go to the next point of rechargeable energy and so on and so on. A large majority of our typical journeys are like that, and we will no longer need to be seeking out petrol stations because we will be constantly able to refuel (with removable batteries) at any given point of our journeys. At home, work, a friend’s house, McDonalds, the shopping centre, even in the street, they’ll all provide power for your battery (some at a fee of course) but that is where it is heading. So this range anxiety can only be put into perspective whenever we get on with using the damn things.