Jump to content

E-bikes are much more expensive than EUCs


LanghamP

Recommended Posts

Sorry for the acronyms in the title.

--E-bike = electric-powered bicycle.

--EUC = Electric-powered unicycle.

I've wanted an e-bike for some time, and the lower price of EUC was a major factor in me getting an EUC over a bicycle. my three wheels cost less than even the cheapest enthusiast bicycle, and a basic e-bike is still over a thousand. The e-bikes seem to hover around 2-5 k (?!).

A good gas scooter is around $1000, and a really nice one is $2000. They do weight 220-320 pounds compared to en e-bikes 50-80 pounds.

I guess my post is more of a rant at the high prices of e-bikes. To me, scooters and EUC have a fairly reasonable price to demand and performance, but e-bikes seem to be in a class of their own.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I disagree, I think  the EUC is too expensive, and that's because it is a niche product (for rich fickle users as we are ;)) the demonstration is the egg unicycle 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

29 minutes ago, Dingfelder said:

Jason has one listed on his SHOP page for $844-994.

https://www.ewheels.com/shop/

Or do I misunderstand and you're looking for something else entirely?

 

 

 

A bicycle that you can pedal. Jason's contraption is more akin to a scooter.

I think both gas and electric scooters have dropped to reasonable prices; it's the "bikes with pedal assist" that seem entirely high price hipster-mobiles.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, LanghamP said:

my three wheels cost less than even the cheapest enthusiast bicycle, and a basic e-bike is still over a thousand.

The difference is not as major. Speaking for Europe, due to legislative limitations of motor power and speed there is hardly any competition in the upper spec section, which forces the manufacturers to differentiate via quality, extra functions etc. This means that the market's specs standards don't evolve and thereby don't push down the default settings in price. If that makes sense?

A couple of the default bikes we have have 250W motors inside, which, unless fully custom developed, don't cost much. A euc with same motor would cost less than 200 usd on ebay or aliexpress. 

Specs wise (comparing speed, range, compact range, default quality standards), the price difference is about 250-300 gbp between an e-bike and a euc performing the same functions. 

1 hour ago, LanghamP said:

The e-bikes seem to hover around 2-5 k (?!).

Not sure if you're referring to a particular model. Generally, they're equipped with 24-36v and 4.4-6.7ah battery, which in real life gives you a performance range of 15-18km, a hybrid range of 30-35km and obviously a free pedalling setting. I am really digging the fact that removable battery tendency is more widely accepted across e-bike manufacturers, since you still need to chain them outside most of the time.

 

1 hour ago, LanghamP said:

but e-bikes seem to be in a class of their own.

Mainly due to the long established market. In a perfect world where there isn't a learning curve for eucs, and no margin adjustments based on demand and competition, EUCs would beat most of the e-bikes performance-wise and utility/price ratio. Another point for discussion is the safety and risks in case of failure. The only appealing fact about e-bikes to me personally is that almost none of the hardware failure can stop me from riding at whatever speed or stay safe while on the road. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, LanghamP said:

Sorry for the acronyms in the title.

--E-bike = electric-powered bicycle.

--EUC = Electric-powered unicycle.

I've wanted an e-bike for some time, and the lower price of EUC was a major factor in me getting an EUC over a bicycle. my three wheels cost less than even the cheapest enthusiast bicycle, and a basic e-bike is still over a thousand. The e-bikes seem to hover around 2-5 k (?!).

A good gas scooter is around $1000, and a really nice one is $2000. They do weight 220-320 pounds compared to en e-bikes 50-80 pounds.

I guess my post is more of a rant at the high prices of e-bikes. To me, scooters and EUC have a fairly reasonable price to demand and performance, but e-bikes seem to be in a class of their own.

A few days ago, I went to a bike shop. It has a few e-bikes in stock. Their prices are indeed between $2-6k. I guess a decent regular bike cost > $1000. Adding e-parts to it is another $600( to include a small battery). Plus the profit margin. So $2k is not surprising. EUC, on the other hand, has much fewer parts. The major cost of EUCs are the R&D, which does not cost much if one can sell many EUCs. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, EUCMania said:

A few days ago, I went to a bike shop. It has a few e-bikes in stock. Their prices are indeed between $2-6k. I guess a decent regular bike cost > $1000. Adding e-parts to it is another $600( to include a small battery). Plus the profit margin. So $2k is not surprising. EUC, on the other hand, has much fewer parts. The major cost of EUCs are the R&D, which does not cost much if one can sell many EUCs. 

Thus, if it was not for the perceived steep learning curve of riding EUCs and lack of safety redundancy, EUCs will out-compete e-bikes easily in terms of cost, portability, practicality and fun-ness.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...