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Chinese Electric Trikes

AriLea

AriLea

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Sethodine said:
Oh, I'm sure it's not as easy as ordering a book from amazon :p Hidden costs, etc. I guess the subject of the ever-globalizing economy just facinates me.
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I agree, I find the possibility of Elio becoming an export item very engaging. Being US qualified makes them qualified for any number of other countries with little additional work. However, you can expect clones and competition to ensue at that point.

Still, the Chinese for example, even domestically their quality level is often not trusted, giving some advantage to the imports which do have trust.

Elio could up their export leverage by doing (or licensing) assembly overseas, keeping American made mostly in parts and assemblies. That does still benefit American workers and Elio's bank account.
 
RUCRAYZE

RUCRAYZE

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Still, the Chinese for example, even domestically their quality level is often not trusted, giving some advantage to the imports which do have trust.
I remember when Japanese cars, first brought over, their quality level wasn't trusted and the rest is history
Hyundai, on the other hand did bomb initially.
Why Suzuki cars never succeeded is still a puzzle.
 
Sethodine

Sethodine

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RUCRAYZE said:
Still, the Chinese for example, even domestically their quality level is often not trusted, giving some advantage to the imports which do have trust.
I remember when Japanese cars, first brought over, their quality level wasn't trusted and the rest is history
Hyundai, on the other hand did bomb initially.
Why Suzuki cars never succeeded is still a puzzle.
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Just this morning I was thinking of a line from "Back to the Future" (I think it was from Part 3), where 1950's Doc is looking at the fried time circuit and he says, "Well there's the problem, it says 'made in Japan'."
Marty replies, "What do you mean? All the best stuff comes from Japan".

I think within the next decade, we'll see this same sort of change. China will become the new Japan, and India will become the new China.
 
T

Travelbuzz1

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Sethodine said:
So lately, I've developed this hobby of seeing what kind of interesting things I can find on Alibaba.com. If you're not familiar with the site, it is a world-wide Business-to-Business (B2B) connecting site, kinda like Amazon for factories and trading companies in China, India, etc.

Tonight's journey down the rabbit hole led me to Electric tricycles, scooters, and bikes. Most of them are just your typical electric mopeds and granny scooters, but a few of them enter into actual EV motorcycle/car territory. Here are a few of my favorite examples.

THIS ONE is most comparable to the Elio in design (reverse trike, two tandem seats), although stats-wise it is barely road-legal (and just a tad too slow to get the EV Motorcycle tax credit).
Assuming the posted stats are accurate, it has a maximum speed of 43 mph, and a range of 99 miles on sealed lead-acid batteries. It is powered by a 5kw DC motor. Unfortunately, they don't show a side-profile view on this model. Just $6300 a piece, with a minimum order quantity of 4.
2gy80fl.jpg



THIS ONE has more car-like capabilities, although they don't say how much they cost (you gotta contact them for the price). It has two side-by-side seats, and supposedly can go 74 mph and has a range up to 124 miles. It is powered by Lithium Iron Polymer batteries. This one is front-wheel drive, powered by a 20kw AC motor. And whatever the price is, you gotta buy at least 5 of them.
9sqavl.jpg


There are several other examples to be found, both trikes like these or fully-fledged cars. Unfortunately, I'd be willing to bet that none of the Chinese cars could pass DOT regulations, but thanks to looser motorcycle requirements I think anybody willing to do the paperwork could make a pretty penny importing trikes like these.
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Three wheeling has been around in Asia / Southeast Asia for a very long time, it's the states that is very far behind. Here's one from the UK.
Jay Leno describes three wheeling.
 
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