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[nigezero]

Hey

Was just geekin it up today and noticed that some sales data exists in the US for california at least. I was surprised to see that from October 2013 to October 2014 this data reveals that only 94 Zeros received rebates. It would be reasonable to assume I think, that the majority of Cal purchasers would take up this rebate so its a good indication of sales. I thought it would have been much higher - What's going on over there? Anyone shed any light on this for me? Particularly any reasons why this data may be underestimating sales?
 
Interestingly, Brammo records sales of 10 bikes, which doesn't bode well for their future I suggest. A pity, (although I'm a massive Zero fan) because their bikes do look great.

You can see the data and interactive dashboard http://energycenter.org/clean-vehicle-rebate-project/rebate-statistics, and search by make.

[firepower]

Here are sales for Australia, Zero started selling in March I think. But no Zero's are shown
This would have been about 30 bikes imported due to the early buyers rebate for first 30 bikes sold.
This was due to lack of sales when first released so Zero Australia reduced price by $3500 which
shows how much they increased price by.

http://www.fcai.com.au/motorcycles/australia's-motorcycle-market-in-2014

online bikesales.com.au still shows 2014 zeros for sale, so not all have been sold.
http://www.bikesales.com.au/bikes?Make=Zero&Model=&Price_Min=0&Price_Max=&State=&SiloType=all&BikeAll=

Recieved this email 12 Nov from Zero Australia, Still trying to sell stock at high price. Think the rebate price will become default price, no one will pay full price now.

http://www.zeromotorcycles.com/au/promo/ride-away-savings/?utm_source=zero-db&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=AU%2BRide%2BAway%2BSavings

[Richard230]

I have a suspicion that Zero makes a lot more fleet sales to governments, public agencies and private companies than they do to individual enthusiasts.  You may recall that they sold 100 2012 Zeros to Bogota, Colombia in December 2012 and another 57 to the Hong Kong police the following year.  We also know that they have sold bikes to various city and college police departments, some to the military for use by special forces and no doubt they have made other bulk sales to organizations that we just don't hear about on this forum.  Brammo has sold some Enertia models in the past to Hong Kong also, I believe, but other than that sale I am not sure if they have done much more in the way of fleet sales.   

[zerotracer]

Reminds me of, when do they make a Hollywood movie with either a Zero or a Brammo bike ? 

Saw Jackie Chan on a Brammo years ago but no action movie 

[chdfarl]

I was trying to find their annual sales numbers the other day but didn't know where to look or if its published.

[ultrarnr]

I think the reason that Zero sells parts only through their dealers and not direct to individuals is because it is one of the only ways a dealer can make money from this brand. With an ICE bike there are oil changes, valve adjustments and other maint that the dealers make money from. The low maint feature of electric motorcycles is great for the people who own and ride them but not so great for dealers. Dealers make money by selling the bikes but there isn't much money to be made after the sale. I have had this discussion with my dealer and there is no question the low maint feature of electrics is an issue to them as far as making money on them goes.  Not having a dealer close sucks. I gave up on Aprilia after a local dealer closed and the next one was over two hours away. The closest Brammo dealer to me is in Florida and I am in NC so I wouldn't consider a Brammo no matter what they came out with.

[ut-zero]

I love my dealership but I don't understand why Zero (and others) don't just sell directly to the consumer like Tesla.  If you are trying to bring cost down you don't want a bunch of middlemen.  The local dealer can still make plenty off me in tires, brakes, accessories, clothing, helmets, etc.

[CrashCash]

First off, I've never heard of anyone being able to call any bike manufacturer direct and get parts. You always have to go through a dealership (or a distributor when you're buying parts over the internet)

I don't like having to go through my dealer for parts, and I'm absolutely certain none of their wrench monkeys would have the slightest idea what to do if my Zero had problems.

The fact remains however, that the dealers really marketed the Brammo and Zero to me by giving me test rides. I was completely uninterested in EVs before I got a "we're doing no-commitment electric bike test rides" email and went because I was bored. I'd sorta vaguely heard of Brammo and I had NO clue who Zero were.

This is completely unlike Tesla. Everyone and their dog knows what a Tesla is, and wants one. Tesla doesn't have to market themselves. As a matter of fact, they get free publicity from pissing dealerships off.

But once you buy the bike, you don't have to get parts from *that* dealer.

Zero doesn't have distributors yet, and I don't yet know any Zero dealers that sell online. I had a Suzuki SV-650 with a Suzuki dealership a mile away, yet I ordered parts from Ron Ayers, a big dealership in North Carolina because I could go to their site, check their parts microfiche and go clickty-click sold. (I'm in Florida, BTW) I'm also lucky because I do all my work, down to splitting the engine cases and replacing transmission gears, so I don't need a dealer service department.

The only big Zero dealer I've heard of is Hollywood Electric. Would they do drop shipping like Ron Ayers? I'm actually thinking of buying an Elcon 2500W charger from them eventually. If they won't sell it to me, there sure as hell isn't anyone local.

[Burton]

Hollywood Electric can get a lot of parts for you if you need them. And you bet they would sell to you

[LiveandLetDrive]

All of the parts I've ordered (tail body panels, mirror mount, upgrades like rear shock and S wheels, Givi top box) I've ordered through Hollywood Electrics and they were all drop-shipped from Zero HQ.  Granted I live very near by, in San Jose, but the delivery was extremely fast and the parts were extremely reasonably priced.  Sounds like you had one experience with delayed shipping cortezdtv and you're still whinging about it.


Also I got the rebate despite getting Zero's "friends and family" discount.  Maybe that still counted as full price for some reason.

So, no, I think THIS is ludacris:
http://images.starpulse.com/Photos/Previews/Ludacris-ps01.jpg

[CrashCash]

Thanks guys. I learned *another* thing this week.

I just dropped a kilobuck at my local dealer for the belt gauge, J1772 jack ($300? really??) top & side racks, & phone mount (yeah) - I already have a ton of Givi stuff including the little 22-liter sidebags. We'll see if that gets here before my bike or what...

[Doug S]

J1772 jack ($300? really??)

That's the one that gets me. It's literally nothing more than a couple of molded pieces of plastic, some PVC-insulated wire, and a few metal contacts. It does NOTHING but adapt one connector to another.

As an EE, I'd be offended if someone tried charging me $30 for that.

[Burton]

You can get the socket for about 60/65 and wire it up yourself pretty easily.

You can get one pre wired for about three times that.

[Cortezdtv]

All of the parts I've ordered (tail body panels, mirror mount, upgrades like rear shock and S wheels, Givi top box) I've ordered through Hollywood Electrics and they were all drop-shipped from Zero HQ.  Granted I live very near by, in San Jose, but the delivery was extremely fast and the parts were extremely reasonably priced.  Sounds like you had one experience with delayed shipping cortezdtv and you're still whinging about it.


Also I got the rebate despite getting Zero's "friends and family" discount.  Maybe that still counted as full price for some reason.

So, no, I think THIS is ludacris:
http://images.starpulse.com/Photos/Previews/Ludacris-ps01.jpg

Clearly I don't know what I'm talking about; I'll go back to my garage now....

[frodus]

You can get the socket for about 60/65 and wire it up yourself pretty easily.

You can get one pre wired for about three times that.

All it takes is an inlet from ebay (get the 30A or higher, don't bother with 15A) and a couple resistors. I made one a while back for a guy and it was dead simple. I think $300 is a bit much too, but they're legitimate connectors, not cheap ones that are non UL/CE.