The idea is good but it is not practical to do more in the U.S. China is already set up for mass ebike manufacturing with an eco-system and supply chain that we cannot match. The components are already made in china, the workforce is super cheap and because China has less stringent compliance laws, they can get things done at a rapid rate. There are some ebike companies that already import the parts from China and assemble it here in the U.S.
That really depends on the brand, what the brand sells and the market. It's not as complicated as some think. My response isn't to you in particular, just generally speaking to the issue and recent comments here on several threads.
People say 'it's never coming back'. Probably true. To say it can't come back, is not true. I know something about manufacturing processes, I'm also very familiar with the Cannondale story here in my backyard. That plant closed just nine years ago. Very few costs have increased in most of those years and wages have been stagnant. Cannondale made record profits in the year before moving to Asia. They did everything here, from frames, wheels, paint to headtube suspensions. They aren't a marginal brand, they even have race teams.
Trek with a Bosch drive or Specialized with a Brose drive aren't likely to make those bikes here. The Turbo hub drive could have been assembled here. Most hub drives could be made here. With the right processes in place, like
JIT manufacturing, many bikes could be made here. It's nothing to ship components to North America. A small team can assemble 100k bikes a year. Profits might be less, but quality deliveries would increase and support would be better. Would that increase sales? We'll never know.
Pedego hub drive bikes are a good example of bikes that could be made/assembled here. Most are simple cadence/throttle systems. Less than 50,000 units sold per year. The Pedego brand is not very different than Prodeco.
Sometimes it comes down to less profit today for more profit tomorrow. It's a complicated subject to discuss on a forum, in a few words. My only comment above is that US companies could do more, more today than yesterday. Not all, just more. I'm okay with small steps.
