Scooter range anxiety

Updated: 251209 – I added in a trip I did to Loupiac. It didn’t stretch the range further, but it was a nice trip

I’ve had my electric scooter, a Rider 3000W, for nearly a year now. I still have some range anxiety for longer trips – it afflicts me more than a car owner with a 250 km range, because I have less than half of that. This summer, I have decided to push my range envelope. I do carry my charger with me, so if I do run dry I just need to find a friendly plug socket somewhere and given that refilling my ~115 km “tank” completely costs between 30-50 cents, hopefully it won’t be a problem. The only issue is that it’s not fast to do at about five hours. I figure that if I reduce my speed, it will reduce the expenditure of energy a little, but I’ve also found that it’s not the speed that drains the battery, but changing speed.

My first outing to Andernos was surprising because I had so much battery left when I got home, with over 41 % remaining. My thinking is that the long stretch of road with no traffic lights or roundabouts meant that I stayed at my top speed of 45 kph all the time and the only change to my speed was down to the undulations of the road. Changing speed from 0-45 kph requires a lot more energy than from 42-45 kph.

My sorties are also an exercise in not spending money. I went out with a book, some water and food. I am not going to spend money, if I can avoid it.

The line across my wrists where the tan turns pale is not because of a watch, but my gloves

Andernos-les-bains

• Distance: 78 km 
• Started fully charged 250714
• Left at 1223
• Odometer at 2631km
• Going to the Lidl at st Jean d’Illac uses 5% of battery 250714
• Going to Andernos-les-Bains used 30% of battery
• Arrived at 1330
• 2671 km on the odometer
• 70% battery left
• Left at 1620
• Arrived at 1720
• 41% battery left

The tide was out when I got to Andernos and I parked on the seafront, where a bandstand was being erected for a concert (14 July being a national holiday in France).

My green scooter in front of a bandstand being constructed

I went out into the low tide, but the water didn’t even cover my feet; I saw there was a pontoon over an area of deeper water, so I thought I could wade over and just dangle my feet in the water while I read my book for a bit. I took one pace toward the pontoon and realised that my foot sunk deep – I was up to near my knees in water, but also a thick black mud that was sucking my feet deeper! I had to get out quickly while I could. Fortunately, I managed it, but it drained the pleasure of paddling.

Le Grand Crohot

• Distance: 96 km
• Started fully charged 250728
• Left at 1130
• Odometer at 2882km
• Going to post office of Saint Jean d’illac. Arrived at 94%
• Arrived at 1340
• 2929 km on the odometer
• 65% battery left
• Left at 1420
• Arrived at 1600
• 2979 km on the odometer 
• 23% battery left

My trip to the Grand Crohot was uneventful although I had to stop to post a letter. The road ends in a big car park, with a bit nearer the beach for cyclists and motorbikes. There’s quite a walk through a forest and scratchy beach grass before you get to a 10-metre dune that takes a while and effort to climb. I walked down the other side to a pristine deserted beach.

Getting to the top of the dune looking down onto the deserted beach

I only encountered one person while I was there and I went over to comment on how deserted the beach was. It was only as I approached I realised he was wearing a hat, a cropped t-shirt and… nothing else. 

Arcachon

• Distance: 98 km
• Started fully charged 250729
• Left at 1100
• Odometer at 2985km
• Arrived at 1226
• 3035 km on the odometer
• 62% battery left
• Left at 1425
• Arrived at 1604
• 3088 km on the odometer 
• 17% battery left

Typically, Google Maps didn’t track my outward journey, so I’ve just doubled the return distance, which exaggerates the total a little. For my third range test, I wanted to push this further. The distance according to Waze was 52 km each way, although Google maps reports a different total. I made the mistake of trying to navigate without using the GPS to improve my memory on my way back and had a little detour, but still got back okay, as you can see. 

Poster for all you can eat mussels and chips

One thing I noticed while there was a poster for a restaurant at La Teste that had a moules-frites all-you-can-eat offer for €14.50 in the week, which is great. If I hadn’t been too late for lunch service and my range limited, I might never have left.

Sanguinet

• Distance: 105 km
• Started fully charged 250805
• Left at 0950
• Odometer at 3120 km
• Arrived at 1112
• 3168 km on the odometer
• 61 % battery left
• Left at 1241
• Arrived at 1418
• 3223 km on the odometer 
• 14 % battery left

The trick with this one, apart from the extended distance, is wanting to go for a swim. I’m going to need to keep a key for my scooter’s top box on me and keep the rest of the stuff – other keys, telephone, wallet, ID, food, etc. – in the scooter. I’ll be stuffed if someone nicks it. In the end, swimming wasn’t a problem, but I did walk to the Musée archéologique municipal de Sanguinet. It was closed. Typically French to close a museum for lunch (for two hours!) at the height of summertime. Anyway, Sanguinet is lovely. With its beach and caffs, etc. it really feels like being at the seaside. It’s only when you taste the water, you realise that it’s not salty.

The (closed) museum

It’s a lovely walk through a forest that feels prehistoric to get to the museum

Pedalos with slides!

The route back was more complicated. I got to Sanguinet with 61 % battery left, but I’m still nervous about running out of battery in the middle of nowhere and there aren’t many houses on the route. Once my battery hit 35 % with 21.9 km to go, I dropped my speed to about 30 km/h. It got me home with 14 % battery left, so I won’t start decelerating until I drop below 30% next time.

Loupiac

• Distance: 89 km
• Started fully charged 2500813
• Left at 1045
• Odometer at 3200km
• Arrived at 1158
• 3245 km on the odometer
• 65% battery left
• Left at 1351
• Arrived at 1457
• 3287 km on the odometer 
• 20% battery left

As something of an amateur archaeology fan, I was keen to see the Gallo-Roman villa in Loupiac. It wasn’t exactly a demanding test of my scooter’s range. Going there was a beautiful drive on a sunny day.

Once I parked up at my destination, I found a closed gate and was initially worried the villa was closed, but reading the notice attached to the gate gave me my next task:

The villa was open, I needed to call the guide who showed up on a bike a couple of minutes after I called the number on the gate. It turns out that the chap on the bicycle is actually a wine maker called monsieur Bernède, who owns the property on which the villa was discovered, back in the 1970s and he’s been showing people around the discoveries the archaeologists have made ever since. It’s a lovely visit with someone who is intimately connected with the history of the place and I’d recommend it to anyone who likes a bit of ancient history. At the end of an extensive tour, there was – of course – a visit to the gift shop wherein I bought an excellent bottle of his wine to give to a good friend who adores sweet wine.

This last photo is actually of a heated swimming pool and I was shown the remains of the hypocaust below. The family that originally lived in the villa were very well-off.