I'm embarrassed to tell people who ask how much I paid for my Haibike. Even though I got a good deal on a leftover model ( I think ), most guess the bike would cost around a thousand dollars. Of course there are some affordable e-bikes under 2k that can be had online but for e-bikes to really catch on, I think the prices are going to have to come WAY down.. A buddy of mine wanted one but balked at the prices so he's building a kit bike with a little 66cc two stroke engine.. $300 for the engine kit, throttle, clutch, sprocket, chain, coil etc. and then it gets bolted onto a $200 big box store bike frame. He's into it for $500 total.. Of course he can't ride it on bike paths or even on the shoulder of public roads w/o risking a ticket. He really wanted an e-bike but lets face it, most can't or won't justify the steep entry fee. I was hoping prices might come down some for 2019 but if anything, they've gone UP.. Some of that is the tariffs but come on, how many people are going to spend 3k + on a bike that goes 20mph tops with replacement batteries running close to a grand.. Those of us who have ridden them know how fun they are and think they are "worth it" but the average guy on the street thinks we're suckers for spending that much.. My 92' suzuki katana 1100 street bike in mint condition is worth maybe 2k and cost 5k when new. I can cross the county on it in comfort and get 50mpg doing it. The suspension components on it are great quality and the engine alone should be worth more than any e-bike... rant over
Great point. Everytime I see a new model come on EBR, and its at crazy prices like $13,000, I absolutely cringe. It does nothing for market acceptance, and keeps driving people away, or delaying their decision. If you go through the reviews here, it looks like 80% of what shows up, is priced $3000 and up.
That alone, makes people question ebikes selling at $1500, with high prices making them wonder if the quality is not there, or what anyone is really getting at prices over $3K ?
I wonder how many brands and models are out there, that don't even show up here, because they won't pay the fees to be reviewed ?
EV (car) sales are tracking about 268,000 units YTD.
https://insideevs.com/october-2018-plug-in-electric-vehicle-sales-report-card/ (funny that - didn't Tesla say last year they had deposits for 400,000 Model 3's. And yet they've only delivered 95,000 ytd, not all Model 3's of course)
I would be surprised if annual US ebike sales are even that high. They haven't been close to that in prior years. And you can't just count all the units sent to dealers, bc those aren't sold to the consumer yet, and I have anecdotal evidence of a LOT of e-bike inventory building up at many dealers. That said, there are probably at least 3 to 5 times that number of conversion kits being sold here every year, and as these prices go ever higher, more people are going to investigate that option. 200,000 to 300,000 ebikes sold here per year in the US, is just not a lot of ebikes, especially given there are more than 300 brands. Many OEM's themselves aren't doing a consistent job of tracking their own sales 'out the door' of the LBD either. I've already seen 4 or 5 ebike dealers go belly up this year. Who knows how many OEM's will be taking the same course ?
So yes, when are the sky high prices going to come down, or when are they going to wise up and produce more models that are below $2500 or even lower ?