My DOA ebay purchase from last year is now ALIVE. As a recap, bought a new bike (40 miles) with a dead battery pack frokm a dealer in Florida.
I listed it for sale for sale, but, on a whim, called Vectrix and GOT A PERSON. Immediately canceled the ebay listing.
They connected me with Dana Decosta, a service rep located in New Bedford. He came up today, plugged in a special charger and in two minutes, the on-bike charger could take over. Although my bike was sold as is without warrentee, he came by at no charge. The bike is now fully charged and is running great. I will work to break in the battery pack properly over the month.
Talked to him about batteries. A new lithium pack is almost ready. There will be a 30ah and 45ah pack. They will work out some sort of replacement with $ deal for bike owners. The 30ah pack will save 100lbs and hence imporve range. The 45ah will save ~45lbs and signifcantly increase distance.
These are both great news!
Enjoy the bike! I know you will :-)
Congrats on the bike. I am from Maine and Dana was his next stop in Portland. He came to my house Tuesday and installed a new recharging unit that was bad. Boy could you smell it. My bike is not very old and I was unable to ride after taking it out in April after winter storage. I am now trying to go through a cycle of discharges to prime my batteries again as he suggested I only had about 330 miles on the bike. I am very grateful to Dana. Thanks...He did tell me about the Lithium upgrade coming out soon with increases in speed on the bike, and new software updates this summer. Very exciting. The new Vectrix company is slowly coming back to life. I had a bunch of questions for him.
Great... My batery is getting worse and need s a lithium replacement ;-)... I Hope this time Vectrix will do the right things...
Great news on all that you say.
The most refreshing thing is this:
That's the sort of customer service that will revive Vectrix. Hopefully they don't ever get another CEO like Boyle who it appears was more intent on fighting warranty claims than building reputation.
I remain a little skeptical that a Vectrix branded lithium upgrade will come out quite so soon though. Not that I think it isn't ready or capable. However, the new owner of Vectrix is Gold Peak and they have a lot invested in the custom NiMH packs they developed for the VX-1 - it will depend on whether they're prepared to write off that investment. Hopefully they are.
John H. Founder of Current Motor Company - opinions on this site belong to me; not to my employer
Remember: " 'lectric for local. diesel for distance" - JTH, Amp Bros || "No Gas.
Dana said that the lithiums were from Gold Peak as well.
Its sounds like very good news.
I would upgrade to lithium for 2 reasons:
1. Because extra range and less wieght would make my Vectrix perfect! Lets hope we owners get a reasonable price.
2. Because it is a good way to support the new owners, Gold Peak.
RaDy
Yup. But the question is - does Gold Peak want to start transitioning to the Lithium batteries while they have a stock of purpose built NiMH packs on the shelf?
I don't pretend to know the answer to that question. It's just that it might be another decision point in when they make the lithium packs available even though they're ready to go.
Not trying to rain on anyone's parade just offering up more things to consider.
John H. Founder of Current Motor Company - opinions on this site belong to me; not to my employer
Remember: " 'lectric for local. diesel for distance" - JTH, Amp Bros || "No Gas.
Great news: 45 Ah vs. the stock 30 Ah battery pack. I wonder if this will translate directly into a 33% increase in range. Any hints on the cost?
More than 33% in range at the same speed.
30Ah * 150% = 45Ah
So, the range increase is at least 50%.
The lessened weight will increase that 50% even more.
The reduced internal resistance will increase it even more.
Yea, but with a better power/weight ratio, and a higher top speed, you'll drive it harder and faster, reducing the range back to where you started. :)
My electric vehicle: CuMoCo C130 scooter.
Yeah, but in this case, you get there faster :-)
http://visforvoltage.org/forum/8995-oficial-vectrix-ofering-lithium-vx-1#comment-50205
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOh! COME ON NEW BATTERIES!!!! I bought my beauty for fun/cutting edge/work, and I'm sweating the mileage, it will not make it to work,...well, some-what turtley! when I pull in, SHEESH!!