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Author Topic: No More DigiNow?  (Read 1904 times)

Jarrett

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No More DigiNow?
« on: June 19, 2019, 04:11:07 AM »

Sounds like it.  First this was posted on ZMOG:

"I recently tried to contact diginow (to) order...  They decided not to make their product anymore!!!"

Then this:

"Existing orders will get fulfilled. There will be an announcement about all this soon."
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Electric Cowboy

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Re: No More DigiNow?
« Reply #1 on: June 19, 2019, 04:27:20 AM »

We will just not be making chargers for Zeros in the future.

Jarrett

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Re: No More DigiNow?
« Reply #2 on: June 19, 2019, 07:51:38 AM »

Why not?
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BrianTRice@gmail.com

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Re: No More DigiNow?
« Reply #3 on: June 19, 2019, 09:50:24 AM »

As usual, DigiNow's PR is reactive and maybe could benefit from a little coaching.

I suggest getting ahead of the reaction this time and advising Zero owners on what to do with their equipment going forward. DigiNow's equipment is by any normal retail standards undocumented and has no written warranty, which limits resale value and serviceability drastically.
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BrianTRice@gmail.com

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Re: No More DigiNow?
« Reply #5 on: June 20, 2019, 05:39:59 AM »

Thank you for laying it out clearly. That sounded like a difficult process.
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NEW2elec

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Re: No More DigiNow?
« Reply #6 on: June 20, 2019, 08:52:28 PM »


I wish you could have struck a deal with Zero to be their charger supplier but it's hard being a small business and getting your foot in the door.
Good luck, your a smart guy and I'm sure things turn around soon for you.
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BrianTRice@gmail.com

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Re: No More DigiNow?
« Reply #7 on: June 20, 2019, 10:26:16 PM »

I think at this point, there's a fundamental question of whether any third-party company can interoperate with Zero's electrical system without impeding reliability to the point that certain components must be disposable.

I'm not going to comment further, but will go ask some questions.
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chrisho

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Re: No More DigiNow?
« Reply #8 on: June 20, 2019, 11:56:26 PM »

Those isolation issues are scary bad. The idea that the chassis carried sufficient energy to light a bulb. just wow
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DonTom

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Re: No More DigiNow?
« Reply #9 on: June 20, 2019, 11:59:35 PM »

I think at this point, there's a fundamental question of whether any third-party company can interoperate with Zero's electrical system without impeding reliability to the point that certain components must be disposable.
I would think the company who made the Q-Chargers for Zero could easily make, these days,  at least a  3.3 KW QC  in the same case at the same weight for 240 VAC. I would expect a high demand for such.

IOW, same QC size and weight for 240 VAC only and perhaps 3.3 KW each.  That would make more than 7 KW possible with a charger carried as needed in each saddle bag plus the on-board.

I would think there would be a high demand for such, espcally for bikes like my SR with the power tank.

-Don-  Reno, NV
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Doug S

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Re: No More DigiNow?
« Reply #10 on: June 21, 2019, 03:00:56 AM »

It's sad to see DigiNow go under, especially when many of their problems were external -- a lot of Zero flubs added up to a really difficult load to bear. It does seem like there's plenty of blame to go around, though....DigiNow seemed, right from the start, to be at least as badly lacking in a "customer-facing" business model as Zero. Even in an early-adopter market, lack of customer interface and service can be fatal. Catching on quick is SO important in new markets! It seemed like our community wanted very much to embrace DigiNow, but DigiNow sabotaged themselves in some ways.

I also think that, in addition to being a small niche market, it was a fleeting niche from the start. As they evolved, Zero had no fast-charging alternative, but it seemed a sure bet that they knew they needed one, and an aftermarket solution might become obsolete overnight when Zero came out with a factory one. There's always hope you can worm your way into BECOMING the factory solution, but that obviously didn't happen. Again, I suspect a rather isolationist business model worked to DigiNow's disadvantage.

I feel bad for the boys, as I imagine most of us do. They worked their butts off to provide a practical, hopefully reliable solution to one of EV's biggest problems, and they did a pretty fair job given the environment they had to work in. I hope they can find another niche to occupy, longer term. I hope chargers and power supplies aren't becoming a commodity so fast that there's still room for them in the industry.

But I'm not very optimistic that that's so.
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Electric Cowboy

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Re: No More DigiNow?
« Reply #11 on: June 22, 2019, 07:58:21 AM »

Hey guys,

I also wanted to chime in, for the most part the issues we found do not cause safety issues. The bikes are generally safe unless the enable circuit has something on it using the shared ground or some other system is connected to the can-bus, keep in mind those are two separate issues and bike specific, bad bikes will have one or both issues while good bikes will not.

It makes sense to me that if it is not a safety issue, Zero may not want to spend the money on isolating and fixing the problem, as it may cost more than just leaving it be and dealing with it one at a time if the problem becomes bad or a hazard. Knowing how much money and time we spent on it, it could easily cost Zero hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix for something that is not a safety hazard 99% of the time.

I just want to throw that out there, so people are not on Zeros case too bad. They are great bikes and the only company that is still around from that far back. Zero started selling bikes in 2009 with offroad and street in 2010. They are one of the reasons electric motorcycles are even a market. And I have loved riding them since 2010 ;)

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