Buying me a new electro maxiscooter, need help!

5kw scooter can't reach 60mph on GPS speed

The photo of http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/456080379/HDM_42E_5000_8000W_lithium_battery.html is stolen from Mountain chen,this is Xiamen city photos,why come from Ningbo city Supplier ?

Why don't send mail to mountain.chen [at] gmail.com and purchase 1st hand price from him directly ? see http://visforvoltage.org/forum/12254-erider-maxi-8000w-scooter ?

Roger,

My recommendation is - don't do it! Those scooters from Chinese manufacturers are "not ready for prime time", plain and simple. This is based on the experiences of many who have fallen for this folly. These scooters may be suitable for use in China, where the average speed is maybe 30 MPH, but not in Europe or America, where you need to get up to 45 or 50 on the typical commute. If you buy one of these "Mountain Chen", Efun, or any Chinese-branded bike (including ZEV, which masquerades as a USA brand), you are basically joining a beta-test program where instead of just getting on your scooter and riding it, like you would an Aprilla or Piaggio, you instead have to spend most of your free time trying to fix it. Shortly after it is delivered (in a terrible crate made of cheap steel that almost guarantees shipping damage), the "adventure" begins. Enjoy the first moments of ownership if the bike works when first un-crated: this situation probably won't last long. Parts will start to fail; noises will develop; the front-end will start to wobble at high speed; indicator lights will stop working; plastic parts will break, etc... You'll discover the ride characteristics are primitive and un-refined: the front suspension will slam through bumps in the road and the rear will bottom-out regularly. This is because the Chinese care little or nothing about ride quality - they buy suspension components from the cheapest supplier and do absolutely no tuning. Chapter two of the "adventure" is where something goes wrong and you try to get parts - you email Mr. Chen or whoever, and they start out either ignoring your emails or writing back to say that they are out of whatever part it is you need and are "waiting for a new shipment". If the defective part is expensive, they will argue with you about whether or not it has really gone bad, or claim that it's your fault that it did - and if you get through that process and nail them down on their responsibility to send you the part, you then move on to the "waiting for a new shipment" nonsense. Or, they may ship you the wrong part, and then the argument is about whether or not it's the wrong part and who should pay for return shipping, etc... Assuming you get the (correct) parts shipped to you (and be prepared to pay shipping - which is not covered by the "warranty"), you may be able to do the installation yourself, or maybe not. You're not going to get much help from the manufacturer, and don't expect there to be a service manual (at least not in English) available. If you can't do the work yourself and take it to a motorcycle shop, there's a good chance they will refuse to take the job. Why? Liability - if they fix a piece of junk so that you can go out on the highway and have something else fail (tire/rim, front fork, brake lever, etc...), they might have "inherited" some of the legal responsibility. Also, they may not want to deal with replacing one sub-standard part with another sub-standard part.

Spend a bit more and get a new (Lithium) Vectrix, or a BMW/Smart/Peugeot e-scoot when they come out.

Pluginride,

Some random observations...

As an owner of two Chinese e-bikes and another US-assembled one that uses a Chinese frame, body and suspension, I can generally agree with your characterization of Chinese e-scooters. My experience is that after enduring a long "shake down" of replacing failed components, followed by some modifications (do Chinese Li-e-scooters still come with no BMS?), they can "settle down" to reasonable reliability. But some things are very poorly built. For example the front struts and often the rear shocks, on every Chinese scooter I've encountered is "fake" - it looks like a hydraulic shock, but is actually just a combination steel-and-air spring with no damping. The oil in them only provides an adjustable air cushion spring - not damping. And there is something about Chinese rubber and plastic parts - they degrade, fade, and rot from UV and air exposure at least 10 times faster than the same materials of non-Chinese origin.

Of course a lot of scooter owners buy them purely for urban street use at never more than 70kph (45 mph), so the not-so refined design may be fine. As I noted yesterday, 40 kph electric Chinese moped-scooters are becoming very popular on the streets of Toronto.

Some Chinese scooter components are becoming quite good in quality and/or are only available from Chinese manufacturers. These include the brushless hub motors and the lithium cells. Kelly controllers are getting more reliable too.

Some of us simply cannot afford a Vectrix - and as this forum shows, they have their own workmanship problems too. I don't even want to think about how expensive those European electric scooters are going to be. Sadly the production version of even the Chinese-body based US-built scooter I bought as a "test pilot" now has a 5-digit price tag. Most inquiries on the street about my electric scooters come from people who are looking for cheap transportation to replace our ever-dwindling de-funded public transportation. When I tell them what my scooter costs, we quickly end up agreeing that they consider a gas scooter instead.

I have a ZEV 5000LA, and I've had a lot of problems with it. However, 90% of the problems are the result of shipping damage that was never fully made right. It's now got an 8500 watt motor (with the original 5000 watt controller) and, to the surprise of most here, I would recommend a ZEV 7100 or up model. Why? because the drivetrain seems more reliable and rugged than the typical Chinese ones (they are made in China but the motor was designed in the US and is assembled and quality checked here). The body is fully Chinese. The rear suspension is another beefed-up Chinese unit that performs better than the typical ones, albeit with a rather harsh, pickup truck-like ride. It's rated for 400lbs of people and cargo, though. The front forks are standard cheap Chinese, and mine appear to have been damaged. Bottom line: if you are willing to deal with minor glitches (turn signal flashers, brake light switches, etc) and you can get Zee Electric to ship the bike in a standard-sized crate with lots of padding, you will get a bike that meets or exceeds your needs at a reasonable price. The only reason I woudn't suggest a 5000LA is that to get good range you should stay below 50MPH.

It isn't that the ZEV is fantastic. It's that from what I've read here, the other brands are either worse or much more expensive, with the same performance.

I happened to notice a virtually new ZEV 7100 up for auction on Ebay (there is also a 7100 Trail). The item number is 221104673871 . I don't know where you are, but it's worth a look.

but actually both Vectrix and E-max are made in China now,its body from Nanjing city and its battery from Guangdong province !

I think both Vectrix and E-max don't have good lithium battery,that's fatal problem !

Other parts could be improved on quality easily,but battery are 2/3 costs of scooter

I think I spoke too soon regarding the Kelly controllers. The mid and high-level regen braking (left or both levers on my scooter) has suddenly started pulsating on an off at 5 to 2 Hz when engaged. At higher speeds, it results in harsh vibration when braking. This may be the second one I've had to replace.

How are Kelly chargers? I want to get a second, simpler (but maybe higher amp) charger to carry with me.

I am not at all familiar with Kelly chargers.

How are Kelly chargers? I want to get a second, simpler (but maybe higher amp) charger to carry with me.

Kelly charger's are rebadged KingPans - ok, but the failure rate is twice that of TC Charger (which still isn't all that high anyway), and there's no active PFC (power will be a bit more limited when on 120v)
It's a bit cheaper though

Matt

Yes,very professional

all Mountain chen's maxi scooter use Sevcon controller and TC charger !

Kelly controllers is out of fashion in china now.

Including Taiwan shock,Taiwan brake,EU standard Tailand tyre,digital odometer......... our maxi is 99% perfect now

Update some photo of our maxi scooter here