Hurdles to Jump

Having made his assessment of the available products, Steve then set about identifying the causes for these weaknesses. For Steve intended eliminating them, in order to provide a top-quality electric vehicle for the Australian market! To allow Australians to enjoy the significant benefits of the electric vehicle, it was first necessary to overcome a few problems.

The Quality Problem
With more than 1300 Chinese manufacturers for electric vehicles alone, it is a very competitive industry. The only way for manufacturers to get their product noticed is for them offer it for a few dollars less than the other manufacturers. But to sell cheaply, the manufacturer must then produce cheaply – and that means cutting corners.

Most frequently, manufacturers will cut corners on the more expensive components – those components that are the most important to the quality of the vehicle. For example, manufacturers will start by buying cheaper electric motors – motors with poor bearing life, low insulation and no burn-out protection. Then next are cheaper controllers and these have no thermal or overload protection and no water-tight integrity. Cheaper batteries will inherently have a low cycle life. Lastly, cheaper battery chargers usually have no surge protection and no Australian standards rating.

All of these major components are hidden from sight, so it is not immediately obvious which corners have been cut. However, understanding the importance of the appearance of the vehicle, manufacturers will usually ensure that plastic paneling for the vehicle is well made.

The final area where manufacturers can cut production costs is on their assembly process. The labour force for assembling electric vehicles is frequently comprised of farmers, who have no training (or interest) in how to properly install electrical components or even run wiring in order that it won’t short or rub through.

The end result is a good looking, but nevertheless, cheap and nasty product with a very short life expectancy. By the time the product is received by the customer, it is already on the other side of the world – any complaints receive an evasive “we have never had that problem before, you must be too heavy”.


The EBay Problem
As electric vehicles are so readily available, any individual so inclined can buy them from China and sell them online, especially through online auctions such as EBay. These individuals frequently do not have any experience or interest in electric vehicles. Their commitment to their product is limited – they will often have a day job to support themselves and run the EBay business for extra income. This means that they are often not set up to service or support their products, frequently on-shipping vehicles in the box they were imported in without even glancing over the product and minimising their operating costs.

Few of these suppliers carry spare parts; even fewer can provide legally compliant battery chargers. Whilst selling these illegal charger carries a $5000 penalty (because a faulty charger can cause fires) the Office of Fair Trading are doing little to police this fatal issue.

As the suppliers refuse to accept responsibility or liability, and they have low overheads and another income, they can offer their products very cheaply – they do not need substantial margins to cover their costs. So what you have on offer is a vehicle that is cheaply assembled from cheap components and then cheaply marketed – of course it is on offer for a really cheap price! However, when the throttle assembly fails three months later, the vehicle is reduced to scrap because a $15 component is not available! The cheap vehicle is not such a good investment!

When purchasing an electric vehicle, customers need to consider how easy it will be contact the supplier, should any repairs be needed. Also, is the supplier willing to give any guarantee or warranty for the product? How will the supplier carry out repairs if the customer lives a fair distance from the supplier? In fact, does that supplier carry out repairs at all?

The 200W Problem
Under Australian law a “power assisted pedal cycle” must be primarily pedal powered with a motor that has a continuously rated power not exceeding 200 watts. The 200 watt limit was nominated because it has been shown that a person pedaling can produce the same output.

However, a battery powered vehicle is many times heavier than an ordinary push-bike – clearly demonstrated when you try pedaling one! After all, you have added the weight of a motor, controller and a battery. Therefore the benefit of the permitted 200 watts of power is far outweighed by the extra weight that has to be propelled.

This problem is most noticeable on scooter-styled vehicles since they often weigh more (due to all those cosmetic plastic parts) and frequently have very poor pedal geometry. This makes this type of vehicle downright dangerous if the rider is trying to cross through traffic.

This issue has lead many suppliers to claim outrageously high performance figures for their vehicles – because they are not really using 200 watt motors! Or if their motor really has only 200 watts output, the vehicle will not produce the claimed performance figures (false claims). Other suppliers may simply sell a vehicle with a larger motor and fail to inform the customer that their product is only legal for use on private property.

Whilst there is discussion about upgrading Australia’s legal limit on electric bicycle to 300 watts, this will still leave Australia behind the rest of the world: Many European countries have a 500 watt limit. It is important to encourage the increase to Australia’s legal limit, but it is also vital in the mean time to maximise the performance from the available 200 watts.

The Performance Estimate Problem
Contrary to popular belief, Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers do test their vehicles for speed and range. BUT they use 40kg jockeys on flat tracks with no stop/start operation – these are not real tests of performance. Results from testing under these conditions do not hold any value for Australian customers.

Also, due to the fierce competition, if one manufacturer claims inflated performance figures, all other distributors must match those figures or face losing their market share. If claimed vehicle speed and range figures were accurate, then no manufacturers would have issue with providing an accurate speedometer or odometer. Currently, manufacturers are loathe to do so – because customers would be immediately be able to discern the truth of their claims.

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