Interested in NEW Vectrix batteries? Group buy! Even other sizes too!

I've got a three Vectrix scooters that need batteries. I've decided to work with some battery manufactures to make both NiMH and LFP (LiFePO4)batteries for upgrades.

However, my little 102 battery lots are not enough to get them to charge optimal prices and absorb the NRE costs (setup/tooling etc).

The companies I'm talking with are listed below: I worked in the mobile device manufacturing industry I've made excellent contacts in China and I have a biz partner based in Asia to handle the details:
* GP (OEM for Vectrix -- their industrial batteries are made to order).
* JingYou - High density batteries, rumor is they recently snagged a huge deal with a major EV manufacture.
* JinYang - Competitor with GP and TS
* Pulead - Middle of the road, but superior quality manufacture

I'm willing to charge my cost + plus a small handling fee (like a couple of bucks). there's a small % that will need to be paid to my associate in China to do the account management. You'd have to help out with shipping costs to Seattle USA (then onwards to you) and import taxes. The win for me is that I get the same benefit as you do, lower cost due to volume orders. I will handle warranty issues personally as it will be part of the deal I make with the manufacture.

I plan to order extras for those that want individual batteries, but the cost would be significantly higher (nearly double, but hopefully still less than Vectrix prices or retail for other EVs).

Using batteries not provided by Vectrix or your EV OEM and/or installing any battery yourself, will void your warranty if you have one.

Look: I'm just a guy that wants some batteries to fix my toys at a good price. I'm sure this resonates with others. My background is software programming of mobile devices, consumer device manufacturing, offshore part sourcing, device manufacturing, development and testing of military communication devices. I worked in SW and HW consumer products for 27 years. I have impeccable personal and job references (PM me for these) -- although I hate to admit that I actually worked in Jim Morrison's mobile phone company called i-mate -- you might have heard of him, after i-mate effectively folded he started some on-line battery sales sites, for which I believe there is some serious bad press (http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/showthread.php/headway-headquarters-warning-50912.html). I only learned about this a few weeks ago, and it made me sick to think we share the same interests in EVs. The difference is, I like my EV-family and just want to get a good price for myself and a few fellow EVers. Note: I will not sell batteries to anyone who clearly wants to re-sell them for a profit and therefore get my labor for free. Go make your own deal with the manufactures.

To protect you and I; I'm looking into using an import escrow company to handle collection of funds, payment to the OEM, and confirmation of the distribution of orders -- will add 15% I expect. I'm not exactly rich, so funding $20k to $40k USD for batteries ahead of time may require me to take out a short term biz loan... so it's a clear risk for me personally. So maybe you'd place your order. Deposit the payment in the Escrow account. If batteries don't show up, take too long (or are not accepted by me due to quality or out of spec), then the Escrow will expire and you will receive your money back from the independent escrow firm (I'm sure there's some minor handing fees, always are). Note: I will also see into getting some kind of biz insurance.

So if you are interested PM me, or call (area code two-oh-six)276-1345 or email SCOTT(at)MOBIEON.COM
I plan to start placing quantity orders by end of the summer. Any custom batteries will be ordered sooner and tested my me and independently at a appropriate service shop (maybe someone in the club?) or perhaps even a formal engineering/testing facility (like Dynamark in the Seattle area -- depending on the price).

Here's my plan, get a few samples or first production units and test them from each company that replies to my RFQ. Then I will order enough to fit one of my scooters and do real world testing. If that works out, then order a min of 9 or 10 more sets (up to 1020 units), which is all I think I can handle per batch. I'll random sample batteries out of each set.
I'm open to suggestions. I will post to this forum when the RFQs are replied to. However before I can finalize prices I need to gauge the level of interest.

I'm hoping to get the batteries for at least 25% less than Vectrix OEM price, maybe lower if I can order 1000+

If there's a price point (reasonable please) that works for you, let me know. I'm open to any other cost savings measures. Like starting an LLC and making the buyer shareholders or something like that, so we can get better insurance. If you don't want Vectrix batteries, I'm also getting quotes for batteries matching TS and other brands. Send me your specs.

With enough response will be able to nail down some awesome prices. If not, then at least it was "one way to try".

Thanks for reading thus far.
Best regards,
Scotter