41–50 of 77 posts
The US desperately needs some competition in the EV motorcycle space. There are several players but they still seem boutique and and way over what the price should be.
EV motorcycles are a huge struggle! I have been riding motorcycles pretty much my whole adult life, but after trying electric bikes a few times while in the EU, I felt they were like toys. Honestly, how can you ride a motorcycle that sounds like a kitchen blender? FYI: I understand they are more efficient and faster, but a motorcycle is not about efficiency; it's more about a hobby, fun. In the EU market, it is mostl…
The US desperately needs some competition in the EV motorcycle space. There are several players but they still seem boutique and and way over what the price should be.
But I sadly know enough to know that doing hardware in the USA is nightmare level expensive and difficult. I could pull every string and empty every account into making an eBike with twice the cost and half the performance of it's Chinese counterpart. I'd much rather just make an app that takes a cut for connecting people with eBikes that fit their needs/desires.
The US desperately needs some competition in the EV motorcycle space. There are several players but they still seem boutique and and way over what the price should be.
My quick searching is finding that 3% of US vehicles are motorcycles. Sure, more competition is good, but given their safety profile (terrible!) I suspect motorcycles are a secondary mode of transportation rather than a primary. Mopeds for intra city usage seems more high demand than highway speed vehicles that have to drive alongside SUVs.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The US would rather pay off to tarriffs the competition than properly compete. Even the Ford CEO drove A Chinese EV for 6 months and he didn't want to give it up. Also indirectly he didn't think Ford could compete, calling it an "existential threat" https://www.businessinsider.com/ford-ceo-driving-xiaomi-su7-... It's really stupid because Xiaomi isn't making anything truly revolutionary. It's just a lot of consumer t…
Full agree on these auto maker comments. The US makers for decades have dug in their heels on any new features: look how long it took to get basic safety features like seatbelts, airbags, and crumple zones. Then delay wipers. Then it took decades to add a $1 part like an aux input for the stereo. And of course all the super poor EV gestures. But I was talking about motorcycles. There are some new brands like Zero and…
The revisionist power wants to become status quo. They need to beat the status quo power and they won't do it following the status quo's rulebook. They look for anything that might differentiate them, make them appealing to even narrow groups - they are trying to get a foothold and grow from there. They are cool, innovative, and disruptive, people think.
As soon as the revisionist becomes status quo, they adopt the status quo behaviors. Look at formerly revisionist SV.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The US would rather pay off to tarriffs the competition than properly compete. Even the Ford CEO drove A Chinese EV for 6 months and he didn't want to give it up. Also indirectly he didn't think Ford could compete, calling it an "existential threat" https://www.businessinsider.com/ford-ceo-driving-xiaomi-su7-... It's really stupid because Xiaomi isn't making anything truly revolutionary. It's just a lot of consumer t…
There is no way we can compete in a global free market while paying 4x as much for labor. At a comparable level of technology and organizational skill the Chinese will win every competition, labor costs are that important. They have already caught up.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The US would rather pay off to tarriffs the competition than properly compete. Even the Ford CEO drove A Chinese EV for 6 months and he didn't want to give it up. Also indirectly he didn't think Ford could compete, calling it an "existential threat" https://www.businessinsider.com/ford-ceo-driving-xiaomi-su7-... It's really stupid because Xiaomi isn't making anything truly revolutionary. It's just a lot of consumer t…
There is no way we can compete in a global free market while paying 4x as much for labor. At a comparable level of technology and organizational skill the Chinese will win every competition, labor costs are that important. They have already caught up.
The second archetype, electric vehicle-only manufacturers, includes startups as well as more established players like Tesla, which do not operate under organized labor contracts. Their average labor costs range from $1,502 to $13,291, and they face high per vehicle production costs due to low manufacturing volumes. EV-only manufacturers also have been heavily reliant on government subsidies, which are now being cut back by the new administration.
The third archetype, mainstream model manufacturers, has an average labor cost of $880 per vehicle and includes traditional high-volume automakers from various countries. Japanese manufacturers enjoy lower labor costs per vehicle, with an average of $769, compared with manufacturers in the United States, where the average is $1,341 — a labor cost per vehicle that reflects recent historic union gains.
The fourth archetype, Chinese car manufacturers, has an average labor cost of $585 per vehicle, characterized by low wages and high efficiency. The group maintains the lowest overall conversion costs in the industry by leveraging its newer factories, efficient supply chains, and high production volumes” - https://www.oliverwyman.com/our-expertise/insights/2025/apr/...
EV motorcycles are a huge struggle! I have been riding motorcycles pretty much my whole adult life, but after trying electric bikes a few times while in the EU, I felt they were like toys. Honestly, how can you ride a motorcycle that sounds like a kitchen blender? FYI: I understand they are more efficient and faster, but a motorcycle is not about efficiency; it's more about a hobby, fun. In the EU market, it is mostl…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
EBikes are quiet and awesome. People who like loud bikes and loud cars are, thankfully an extreme minority where I live.
The Venn Diagram of people who ride motorcycles purely for entertainment, and people who like to annoy others by being loud and obnoxious is just a circle.
Second, even if they did work they way they think they do it would still be wrong. :-)
Venn diagrams show all possible inclusion/exclusion relations between the sets they are showing. A Venn diagram of two sets is always two circles that partly overlap.
Even if the way they worked is that you could omit regions that are empty and redraw the remaining regions to be circular, it doesn't help because ending up with a single circle with both sets in it would mean you are asserting the the two sets are equal.
That is clearly false because pretty much everyone can name someone who likes to annoy people by being loud and obnoxious but does not ride a motorcycle.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Venn Diagram of people who ride motorcycles purely for entertainment, and people who like to annoy others by being loud and obnoxious is just a circle.
First, that is wrong because Venn diagrams don't work the way you think they do. Second, even if they did work they way they think they do it would still be wrong. :-) Venn diagrams show all possible inclusion/exclusion relations between the sets they are showing. A Venn diagram of two sets is always two circles that partly overlap. Even if the way they worked is that you could omit regions that are empty and redraw…