An idea for bike companies

[jaizon]

Most every e-bike you sell comes with a charger. But many of us already own chargers (from other bikes or bought separately). So we end up with a second charger we might not need. Why not offer an option to decline that new charger and deduct the amount you charge for it from the price. This can save many of us $75 to $100 in the cost of a new bike.

Just a thought from someone stuck at home with too much time on his hands.

 

[fooferdoggie]

many of us? most chargers only work for one bike unless you buy cheap generic bikes. but my second Bosch bike comes to mind I traded the charger for a second battery mount.

 

[jaizon]

many of us? most chargers only work for one bike unless you buy cheap generic bikes. but my second Bosch bike comes to mind I traded the charger for a second battery mount.

If you own a Grin Satiator you don't need a charger from any bike company.

 

[TMH]

If you own a Grin Satiator you don't need a charger from any bike company.

As long as you can get the proper connector and pin-out for a specific bike's charge connection. In the past I've found this is not always an easy task (e.g.: Yamaha charge adapters).

 

[Tars Tarkas]

Yeah, if you really know what you're doing, maybe you could get by without another charger, but from what I've seen, a whole lot of bikes have, for practical purposes, proprietary connectors, so it's very likely you won't be able to plug your charger into your new bike battery. That's not to mention voltages and wattages. No bike dealer wants to deal with customers who can't charge their bikes! Finally, the cost to the bike company for the Chinese chargers they send is probably closer to $10 most of the time. For ten bucks, they are going to send you a charger rather than have to even talk to you on the phone about it.

Worst case for most people, they have a spare charger they can keep at work or their boy/girl friend's house.

(The connectors are probably only rarely really proprietary, but there are so many different ones they just about may as well be.)

TT

 

[fooferdoggie]

If you own a Grin Satiator you don't need a charger from any bike company.

unless you have a Bosch and I am sure there are others. but if you have one of those you may know what your doing. but having separate chargers means less chance of goofing up the settings.

 

[jaizon]

unless you have a Bosch and I am sure there are others. but if you have one of those you may know what your doing. but having separate chargers means less chance of goofing up the settings.

But you could also confuse which charger went to which bike and get it wrong. But then you could put a piece of tape on each charger and write the name of the bike it belongs to. But then...

 

[TMH]

I agree with the above posts regarding the bike manufacturer's cost of the included charger.

So you may want to re-ask your question to yourself: If you could get your new bike for $15 less without a charger, would that be an option you would take?

I know what my personal answer would be.

 

[Nova Haibike]

Bike companies (and shops) are interested in making money, not saving you money.

 

[fooferdoggie]

But you could also confuse which charger went to which bike and get it wrong. But then you could put a piece of tape on each charger and write the name of the bike it belongs to. But then...

no the different plugs help eliminate that.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

If you own a Grin Satiator you don't need a charger from any bike company.

Will it work with the Specialized Turbo Vado? And with the Giant Trance E+? I dare to doubt.

 

[jaizon]

Will it work with the Specialized Turbo Vado? And with the Giant Trance E+? I dare to doubt.

why do you think it won't work with those bikes?

 

[CdnShaun]

While you think they could set aside the charger from the 'bundled' ebike you're purchasing and knock $75-100 off - they in turn now have a charger that they can only sell to someone coming in (or going online) who needs a replacement charger or wants a second charger. The risk is to the seller of getting stuck with a bunch of extra chargers in inventory that they don't sell and the loss of the discounts they gave on their bundle priced ebikes they sold.

The day your primary and only charger fails is the day you wish you didn't save those dollars on not having a second charger and now have 2 bikes (or more) that you can't charge up until you go out and buy a charger.

Food for thought.

 

[Sierratim]

We bought 2 Vados at the same time. The LBS offered us store credit for the 2nd charger. Glad I passed. When we travel both batteries can be charged without getting up in the middle of the night to move the charger to the 2nd battery. I'd like to think we'd share this task, but I'm pretty sure not...

 

[CdnShaun]

There is no way it will be $75-100 off.

Try to build a Rad Rover, just buying parts, piece by piece from Rad.
It will cost you who a lot more.

I'll give you an example.

Say there's a $1500 bike, the profit is $300.
You ask the company to knock $99 because that's how much they sell their charger for.
So all the sudden the profit margin is $201.

Actually, I'll give you a better example.
$1500 bike, and typically, I found that frame would cost you $400 if you want a frame only.
So you ask the company to discount $400 because you have the frame.
Now the bike is down to $1100.
$100 less than the cost. Now all the sudden the company is losing $100.
You could argue that they can try to find somebody to buy a frame only, for $400.
But the vast majority of companies would not do that.

I was simply quoting the OP's original suggestion of a possible $75-100 discount. I too agree a LBS or online source would never offer this discount for both the reasons you have just stated and what I shared as my insight to their experience (chatting with my few favorite LBS owners the last 2 years) when approached about getting sizable discounts for taking something out of a bundled bike purchase, such as a charger.

 

[jaizon]

Okay. I yield. It was not my greatest idea.

 

[PatriciaK]

Actually, if companies could adopt a universal configuration for chargers, like mobile phones (except for evil Apple) have, it would be a great idea!

 

[Alex M]

If you own a Grin Satiator you don't need a charger from any bike company.

You will still need a Bosch charger, before you'll be able to use Grin Satiator on Bosch battery.
Bosch have a proprietary plug - not just "one of many", but proprietary - nobody else has this exact plug. So you'll cut the plug from a dead Bosch charger, solder it onto Satiator, and hack signal wire to trick the Bosch battery into thinking that this is a Bosch charger. Bosch don't want people using any other charger and made every effort to prevent them from doing so.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Okay. I yield. It was not my greatest idea.

Your idea was fine. The universal charger combined with the industry standard charging socket would be the best idea for the e-bike industry in some future. All in all, all Android smartphones and many other devices embraced the idea of the USB. The universal charger would be environmentally sound if the e-bike brands could come to an agreement.