Hey Lana,
I want to add some context, as I feel it would help the community to better understand our bikes.
Our generation 1 (first shipment) all had throttle on PAS 0. The demographic our bikes appeal most to are: men and women over the age of 40. A lady who was new to e-biking was at one of our dealers test riding bikes. As she was focusing on getting her leg over the step through frame, her eyes were pointed downward at her feet and not focusing on her hand position. Since the throttle was active on PAS 0 (Always on) she unknowingly pressed the throttle with her palm. In turn, the bike dragged her across the parking lot, until the bike fell over on its side. Luckily she was unharmed, the bike can be replaced. Our number one priority is the safety and well being of our customers. We had all of our dealers survey the consumer, they found that 98% of e-bikers do not ride around on PAS 0 (No electrical assistance). We took this information back to our factory, and they programmed the throttle to only activate on PAS 1-5.
As our slogan "Family friendly outdoor activity" would suggest, we are about getting individuals outside for fun and exercise. The reason I suggested throttle on PAS 0 would effectively make the e-bike a "motorcycle" is because, if you only want to ride around using the throttle without pedaling, an e-bicycle is not the right fit. This customer would be better off in an electric scooter or an electric motorcycle/sport bike.
Your nephew reached out to me indicating he had placed his keys in the charge port and the battery no longer worked. I responded and said there is a fuse inside the charge port so that if something like this happens, the $2 fuse would blow and not the $800 battery. The battery was brought to the dealer where they informed me the fuse had not been blown. I could only assume that something inside the battery had been affected by the key being placed in the charge port, I wasn't aware both fuses had not been checked. Due to this exact incident, and the safety of our customers, we immediately went back to the factory to design something that would limit the chances of someone placing a metal key inside the electrical charging port. The new Escape which replaced the Bolt 2.0, does not require a key anywhere near the bike in order to operate. The battery is powered on by simply pressing an ON/OFF switch.
I will attach photos of this new design.
Hopefully this explains a little more in detail why some features are put in place on our bikes. It is difficult to design a bike that fits the individual preference of each customer, we try our best to listen to the customer, and build the best bike possible at an affordable price.
Thank you, have a great day.
Ryan
