Karmic Bikes on YouTube!

[Hong]

Hi EBR!

Just wanted to share our first video on YouTube. It was done by our friends at AutoDesk.

We shot our Kickstarter video this past weekend and it should be up soon too.

You can subscribe to our channel to get updates when we post more videos.

Cheers,
Hong

 

[George S.]

Looking forward to some info on how the rebuildable pack will work, whether you will be able to offer batteries/packs by themselves in some form. I think Caterpillar trademarks their shade of yellow. You should trademark that shade of blue. Good luck. Happy Earth Day.

 

[J.R.]

Looking forward to some info on how the rebuildable pack will work, whether you will be able to offer batteries/packs by themselves in some form. I think Caterpillar trademarks their shade of yellow. You should trademark that shade of blue. Good luck. Happy Earth Day.

H-D trademarked their bike's sound, so why not!

 

[Hong]

Looking forward to some info on how the rebuildable pack will work, whether you will be able to offer batteries/packs by themselves in some form.

It's pretty simple. You can send the battery pack back to us at anytime, and we'll rebuild it with brand new cells for half the cost of a new pack. This is the beauty of the NTS technology, and no other electric vehicle can do that. It's a truly sustainable design since we can fully recycle the old cells, or even use them in lower power applications.

We probably won't be selling the battery alone, since we've tested them with our motors and drivetrains. We may consider offering a Karmic Kit at some point.

 

[travellin]

Hi EBR!

Just wanted to share our first video on YouTube. It was done by our friends at AutoDesk.

We shot our Kickstarter video this past weekend and it should be up soon too.

You can subscribe to our channel to get updates when we post more videos.

Cheers,
Hong

Thanks, Hong. From the video and this post at the Autodesk forum, it looks like you're planning on using the new Max mid motor from Bafang. And possibly a full chaincase or belt drive.

Can you comment?

Matt

 

[Hong]

Can you comment?

Looks like you spotted an easter egg Matt! We're not quite ready to talk about that project yet.

 

[J.R.]

Hong a lot was said in (Link Removed - No Longer Exists)!

Nice

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

Great stuff, Hong.
I remember Neal had NTS tech up for sale/licensing. A deal with Bafang to use their mid-motor and couple it with NTS battery, voila, a terrific competitor to existing BBS-02.
Have you considered Dapu's mid drive?, supposedly they put out 120Nm.

 

[Hong]

Great concept and beautiful bike. I love the "think light" motto. I think you're on to something here Hong.

Thanks JayVee, we hope we are too!

 

[Paul E.]

It's pretty simple. You can send the battery pack back to us at anytime, and we'll rebuild it with brand new cells for half the cost of a new pack. This is the beauty of the NTS technology, and no other electric vehicle can do that. It's a truly sustainable design since we can fully recycle the old cells, or even use them in lower power applications.

Just an idea: would you consider exploring the chance to rebuild some other packs like e.g. the Tranzx one that's common to at least iZip, Diamondback and Raleigh? In a year or two there might be a considerable market for that if you could do it for half the price of a new battery.

 

[Hong]

Just an idea: would you consider exploring the chance to rebuild some other packs? In a year or two there might be a considerable market for that if you could do it for half the price of a new battery.

That sounds like a nice idea, but those packs aren't rebuildable. Every other ebike battery pack has to be thrown out once they stop holding a strong charge.

Only the Karmic battery with the NTS Works technology is rebuildable. That's the biggest advantage of our bikes.

 

[Ann M.]

@Paul, RechargeablePowerEnergy in Nevada does rebuild the Izip batteries and they do not have to be 'thrown away' There are many lithium batteries that can be rebuilt or even upgraded; not necessarily all, but all that you listed. They have specialized in battery systems for a bunch of years.

 

[J.R.]

That's one.

The one being Karmic's NTS battery.

 

[J.R.]

One Sondors-like ... shall I say... "non-factual statement".

NTS battery has been in production more than a year and received a patent late 2014.
http://electricbikereport.com/replacement-electric-bike-batteries/#more-14048
http://www.santacruztechbeat.com/2014/08/08/nts-works-lifetime-rebuildable-battery/

 

[stevenast]

NTS battery has been in production more than a year and received a patent late 2014.
http://electricbikereport.com/replacement-electric-bike-batteries/#more-14048
http://www.santacruztechbeat.com/2014/08/08/nts-works-lifetime-rebuildable-battery/

Actually, the first link you posted has a whole lot of replacement battery options. Good information to have, thank you!

http://electricbikereport.com/replacement-electric-bike-batteries/#more-14048

 

[pxpaulx]

Actually, the first link you posted has a whole lot of replacement battery options. Good information to have, thank you!

http://electricbikereport.com/replacement-electric-bike-batteries/#more-14048

There is a difference -those are replacement options, for an entire pack. the karmic pack (which is in that link!) is unique in that bad cells can be replaced individually rather than buying a new pack. The key difference here too is their patent relates to easy replacement for the end user; i dont think they are arguing you couldnt rebuild a battery, but having to dismantle and resolder an entire battery is not easy work. a company like the rechargeable power energy that ann m referenced would be more likely to contract with a company to do the full rebuild and replacement work, not likely they would accept and rebuild packs for end users, it would probably be too costly to do that work direct to the consumer (correct me if i am wrong ann!)

 

[J.R.]

@stevenast Patents were pending for sometime for protection, all the while making and selling bikes. They were granted in 2014. If you care to search the web for the NTS Works bikes to find out more about the system so you can discuss them from knowledge you can do that easy. You can even search EBR for them, but I won't try and change your mind. I neither have the need or desire to convince or debate. Thanks for asking and sharing though.

 

[Hong]

Sorry, I can't see @stevenast comments because I've blocked him long ago. Please don't compare us to the Sondors campaign.

If you'd like to actually talk tech, feel free to email me. If you just want to make inflammatory statements, I'll continue to ignore you.

 

[pxpaulx]

come on man! he cant be enthusiastic in selling a design that they hold a patent for? Sure you can call it sales hype but you can call it marketing too, it isn't all negative (this feels like a discussion point I've made before somewhere, hahaha...)

lets look at it from a different angle. It is a felt bike that you have, right? I have an easy motion (for now anyway ) - both are pretty big respected players. What happens when our batteries no longer meet a usable level of charge? Toss, right? Buy a replacement at full cost from your local dealer (assuming they still make the style...easy motion has already moved away from their curved downtube on my 2013 model). I'm sure there are options for recycling of course, but can either of us go back to them and have them take a look at each cell, replace the ones that need replacing and provide us the pack back at a reasonable cost? The answer is no - even if they said we'll recycle your battery directly I guarantee the most you're likely to get is a token credit towards a replacement (and no company to my knowledge does anything along these lines currently, so my speculation is being much more generous than the typical large player corporations that are in the e-bike game).

The bottom line is they'll gladly help you choose a new bike from their brand new line-up! That is what they want. The fact Karmic is even attempting to make an accessible battery (not one that you can, with skilled labor, rebuild, but that is instead designed to be quickly dismantled for easy cell replacement) is new and different, at least give some credit where it is due. If I were smart enough to design and engineer something that was unique enough to patent, I'd probably be overenthusiastic about it too. Don't you get excited over anything Steve?! Why is that a strike in your book?

 

[Hong]

I have never researched a patent yet, no need to change now!

I just like keeping score on these campaigns, keep them from digging in too close at the plate!

@Hong said that everybody else's battery packs have to be thrown away.... wrong!!

Read the post by @Ann M.

Sorry, had to "unignore" this user so I could see and reply to this.

1) So no need to research, just going to spout off about things you know nothing about? Okay.
2) Used battery packs do have to be thrown out. The NTS tech is the only battery pack that can be rebuilt with new cells.
3) Ann M. should call RPE and ask them what's involved in a rebuild. They throw out the original cells because it's soldered together.

And thanks for "keeping score" of these campaigns. We're not like the others, so I don't appreciate being bad-mouthed for making factual statements.

Cheers,
Hong