A brand-new, Aussie-made EV for just $4350, range anxiety standard equipment  | Opinion

I’ve experienced range anxiety at various levels, from Mildly Panicked through My Sphincter is Eating The Seat Cushion and My Palms Are Viscous and out the other side to Stuff It, It’s Not My Car I’ll Just Leave It Here, but nothing prepared me for the full visceral horror of entirely running out of battery on an electric moped.

Yes, it was partly the shame and embarrassment of potentially being stranded beside such a slight and slim-hipped machine in the Lane Cove Tunnel, but it was also the more frightening thoughts I was having about what might happen when the power expired entirely – would the rear wheel just lock up and throw me off?

No, I don’t know why I keep agreeing to test electric motorcycles, because I know they are inherently flawed – like buying a battery-powered projector that won’t make it through a whole movie – and will remain so until technology takes some giant leap into miniaturisation. 

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I think perhaps this time I was tempted by the fact that mopeds might be the one end of the two-wheeled spectrum that makes sense as an EV, because it’s too terrifying to ride them long distances anyway, and because I am often temped by the promise of machines like this Roll’N Moped, which claims to be “Peak Hour Proof” (I was also much fascinated by the fact that you can buy any kind of vehicle today, brand new, for just $4350).

Weirdly and unexpectedly I enjoyed my first week of Roll’N around, and between, Sydney traffic enormously. I was on the Freedom model, which offers a top “speed” of 80km/h, because I had laughed uproariously at the very idea of the entry-level Cruise Moped, which can’t get over 50km/h.

Even more strangely, my teenage daughter, who is 14 and thus infinitely cooler than me, also loved taking the Roll’N road, despite the fact that putting both of us on it meant it couldn’t actually get anywhere near that 80km/h speed, particularly up hills, when we were often annoying hell out of everyone by barely puffing up to 35km/h.

She didn’t mind the fact that she was on an ersatz motorcycle that made no sound at all, and she made a fair point about this, which was that no one likes the sound that real mopeds make anyway (we went to Vietnam recently and she was forced to spend a scarifying evening there on a moped food tour of Ho Chi Minh, which was loud, lurid and not far off a Near Death Experience).

It’s true that as the world’s great engine noises gradually fall silent over the coming decades, exactly no-one will mourn the loss of the angry bees sound made my mopeds (we’ll probably miss the sound of actual bees a lot more).

It should have been impossible for me to draw any joy from a machine making THREE kilowatts and just 110Nm of torque, because I am very manly and obsessed with speed, but perhaps it is merely a reminder of the desperately keen and long-lost motorcyclist at the core of my being. 

I must admit there were times where I was tempted by the idea of spending less than $5000 on a machine I could use just for short trips, school pick ups and at any point during the day when traffic is horrendous. 

Unlike other machines of this ilk I have tested, the suspension seemed to actually exist, the bike itself – Aussie designed and built by Roll’N founder Jason Heald, who “created Roll’n to give Australians a fun, accessible way to move— something sustainable that doesn’t sacrifice style or freedom” – feels properly engineered. It even looks pretty good, if you’re into Vespas and things that look almost exactly like them.

Heald adds that: “There’s nothing like the feeling of being out in the fresh air on a summer ride,” and it feels churlish to point out that you could probably achieve similar sensations using an actual bicycle.

Anyway, I thought I had my head around how much range I could get out of a charge – which takes between two and four hours on a normal power point (you can slip the batteries out from under the seat and take them into your office to do this, which is super practical and handy), but I clearly didn’t.

Buyers have the choice of purchasing a Moped with just one battery, good for 65km ($4350 ride away, no more to pay) or you can double down and get two batteries and 130km of range for $4950 (which kind of shows you how small and affordable these batteries are), but I was riding a version with just one and, on the unfortunate day in question, with the battery only about half mast, I dashed between a a few meetings in Sydney, even managing to park for FREE in the CBD, before heading home, bravely, across the Harbour Bridge. 

It was in the midst of a lot of traffic that I noticed the battery indicator starting to flash, then falling below 0km to empty as I rolled into the stinky and very busy Lane Cove Tunnel, which was fortunately mostly downhill.

I ran through many levels of panicked emotion at this point and became obsessed with topography, calculating how far I’d be able to roll before getting stranded. Incredibly, and quite slowly, I made it to the end of my street, putting up the second last hill with traffic honking behind me, doing 20km/h.

The last roundabout near my house was treacherously traversed at an indicated 3km/h and I knew the gig was up, so I paddle footed, like a FlintStone, up half a hill and then pushed it the rest of the way before gliding, embarrassingly, down the footpath under no power at all back to my car port and its power point.

The power ran out, but the dash never gave up winking hopefully at me, nor did the wheel lock and throw me off. I lived to tell the tale, and promised to get better at planning, and maths, and distances, in the future.

They’re coming to take the little blue beauty away today, my daughter will be gutted, and I must admit to some regret myself. And some temptation. Sure, I wouldn’t use it a lot,  but at the price, it’s almost worth considering, particularly when I add up all the frustrated traffic time it’s cost me in the last two weeks.

The only bad news is that you do – at least in most Australian states – need a motorcycle licence to ride one (more exciting states will let you pilot one with a car licence, Google will let you know), which seems mad to me.