Weight limit.

Faults and Technical chat for the Honda E
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rickwookie
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Post by rickwookie »

It's been suggested that the reason there are only two rear seats is nothing at all to do with size or passenger comfort, and everything to do with the vehicles weight limit preventing the car from carrying 5 adults.

Well, looking at the new accessories page on the German site, that RAL7004 kindly highlighted, there's a towbar! BUT - you aren't allowed to actually tow anything AND the weight limit is so strict that you can only use it with one approved bike carrier - the Thule easyfold 931 (which I thought had been discontinued tbh) AND you can only carry two bikes AND they can only be up to 18 kg each (36 kg total load) even though that carrier is designed to take up to 60 kg AND looking at the weight of that particular carrier itself https://www.decathlon.co.uk/easyfold-93 ... 93228.html it seems it's just over 17 kg which gives a combined load on the "towbar" of 53 kg which is exactly what Honda state is the max load AND...

...NO ONE CAN SIT IN THE BACK SEATS IF IT'S FITTED! :lol:

I wonder what's making this hard weight limit. I know EVs are heavy due to the battery weight (although surely an electric motor should weigh significantly less than an ICE, no?) but still, the overall gross weight of the vehicle is not that crazy. This isn't only a Honda thing - the new VW ID.3 can only carry two passengers in the rear if you go for the largest battery version (and I think you can't have the sunroof on that version either). It's even more restricted for the Honda e I think because the wheelbase and track are smaller, so the weight is concentrated on a smaller patch of road. But, is this a limit imposed by governments on max weight per square meter of road or something?!

Perhaps battery designers should be focusing less on improving energy density more on reducing actual density for a given energy density.

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ChesterUK
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Post by ChesterUK »

Thanks for the insight here! We are/were very interested in getting the official bike carrier that's in the brochure (page 20) but hadn't read about the weight restrictions. That shouldn't really be a problem, but surprising all the same. We're not ready yet but will investigate further closer to the time.
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rickwookie
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Post by rickwookie »

ChesterUK wrote: Sat Jul 25, 2020 8:57 am Thanks for the insight here! We are/were very interested in getting the official bike carrier that's in the brochure (page 20) but hadn't read about the weight restrictions. That shouldn't really be a problem, but surprising all the same. We're not ready yet but will investigate further closer to the time.
Well to be fair, if it’s only two of you travelling, as someone who owns a towbar mounted Thule bike carrier, I can highly recommend them. In reality I also doubt anyone owns bikes that weigh more than 18 kg in this day and age anyway.

I assume it’s a removable tow bar though, otherwise that would be terrible.
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ChesterUK
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Post by ChesterUK »

Cool! Pretty sure we’ll be getting one.
pburgess
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Post by pburgess »

Bike weights: Almost every electric bike weighs at least 20kg. I have a 14kg Ribble ALe, but low weights like these are a rarity.
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rickwookie
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Post by rickwookie »

pburgess wrote: Sun Jul 26, 2020 3:54 pm Bike weights: Almost every electric bike weighs at least 20kg. I have a 14kg Ribble ALe, but low weights like these are a rarity.
Then... ...you'd have to carry just the one. :lol:
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