WMI's, 565's and 566's

OK, in our last exciting installment we left with the train gathering speed, right? There's nothing like a nice dollop of government legislation to throw a few (well intentioned) curves in the way. If we were going to do this properly (and believe me we are!) then we needed to start grappling with CFR's, FMVSS, DOT, NHTSA and plenty more alphabet soup.

2008-12-02 1E9 / 458. What's that? That is our WMI number and it's date of issue. That's the date we became "recognized" - go ahead and look us up at: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/manufacture. WMI is our world manufacturer identifier. Now when we issue our VIN (vehicle identification number) anyone can look up who manufactured that fine piece of two-wheeled EV machinery. More than that we can interpret the VIN and tell you where and when we made it and what model it started out as. All that info is packed into the VIN and the 565 (or maybe it's the 566) - filing is the key to crack the code.

FMVSS stands for Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards - this is where the folks at the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) codify the rules and regulations required to make a safe vehicle. For a motorcycle (which is any two or three wheeled vehicle with more than 5HP - the Department of Transport (DOT) don't care about no high falutin' terms like "maxi-scooter") there are CFRs (Code of Federal Regulations) applying to various aspects of the bike. Tires, lights, brakes, controls are the big ones for a motorcycle.

Now, here's a word of warning, FMVSS compliance is self-certified. If you think about it it has to be this way. The government doesn't have the time or resources to test every new vehicle. They rely on the manufacturers to follow the rules and to certify their products. The vast majority do. There are concerns that some may cut some corners. For example go look at the headlight lense on any vehicle. It should have a DOT marking to show that it's valid for use in the US market. At a large motorcycle dealership show we saw many import bikes on display that didn't appear to have all the apropriate DOT markings. Of course if one asked the vendor/manufacturer about the omission of such marks one would receive the answer "oh this is just a show bike" - we're not so sure we believe them...

However, our bike is fully FMVSS compliant. Every light lense, every brake component, the tires, the controls. The whole shooting match is composed of appropriately certified parts. It's our name on the line (or in this case our name is on the Products Liability insurance) so you can bet we made REAL sure of all this.

So now that we've detoured through administrivia (and defined some of the various acronyms) lets get back on to the main line and head towards the building of the bike.

First Steps - Fall / Winter 2008

We spent a good part of September looking for the basic frame that would become the genesis of our bike. We ended up selecting a maxi-scooter frame from a major Chinese manufacturer. These guys produce hundreds of thousands of bikes per year. They're not a fly by night operation - far from it. We struck up a relationship with one of their company reps and we were able to get an agreement to provide us with "gliders". "Glider" is the term EV'ers use for a bike (or car) with no engine, transmission or fuel system. Apparently in the racing or automotive world that's a rolling chassis. But, hey, I like "glider" - it sounds cooler.

The frame we chose is a standard tube frame. It's far more substantial than the frame on some competitors bikes. But it's not a uni-body like the Vectrix. Uni-bodies are stiffer (compare a Vespa scooter to a Honda scooter and you'll find the Vespa feels sturdier) - but are more specialized and they're heavier. The Vectrix weighs over 550lbs our bike weighs in at 400lbs. That's 150lbs less to shift around the world. Just because we're making an EV doesn't mean we should forsake weight management!

To get the ball rolling we simply went out and bought the gas version of the bike. It just feels great ripping out all the ICE (internal combustion engine) components. EVs are fundamentally far simpler than ICEs. Makes you wonder why the big guys don't want to build them. Quick rant: Of course the big companies could build an EV if they wanted to. They don't want to. Why not? My guess (and it's just a guess) is that (a) it would alienate the dealers (less servicing revenue for the dealers) and (b) it would cost the companies a lot of lost revenue (no more selling service items). But, hey, that's just a guess. At the end of the day they don't want to (or perhaps they really can't?) do it. Bad for them. Bad for you. Good for me. Sorry - but it sure ain't my fault!. End of rant.

OK, so we now have a bike stripped of it's ICE components and we drew up a more detailed description for our Chinese suppliers. The joke around here is that when we get the bikes we'll have no front wheel and a gas engine. Instead of no rear wheel and no gas engine. Sort of "Lost in Translation" but in the engineering world (I wonder if Bill Murray would be interested in the film?). Seriously though we soon realized we needed some serious Chinese language skills - so we've addressed this and we have "our man in China" ready to help dot the i's and cross the t's. A quick shout out to Greg in China! (OK, I know they don't have i's and t's - but that just makes you realize how much we need a Chinese interpreter...)

Along with getting the glider we turned one of my existing electric bikes into our "mule". A "mule" is an automotive term for a vehicle test bed. When Ford wants to build a brand new car they take one of their pre-existing models and "hack it about" and add the new bits and pieces to it. OK, it's just a tad more complicated than that - but that's basically what a mule is. We upgraded our mule with a bigger motor, a better controller and more batteries. This helped us determine the parameters we were shooting for.

So far so good. We've got the frame question answered. We've got the basic parameters of the drivetrain. The train has left the station and is gathering speed...

Intro - The Birth of EVMFG - Fall 2008

Back in the summer of 2008 with gas prices over $4 a gallon I decided to "get serious" about selling electric motorscooters. I was fortunate enough to hook up with two other local businessmen Coley and Erik. We spent the next few months exploring our options. At the time we were focused on opening a dealer and beginning our own brand. This would be the first step and then we'd move in to other EV ventures. The idea was to import a pre-existing Chinese electric motor scooter and make various upgrades and fix certain quality control concerns.

But if we did this we were going to do it properly. So we engaged an automotive consulting firm to help us answer the questions and discover the issues. However, it didn't work out. The closer we looked at the chosen bike and the chosen manufacturer the less attractive the plan appeared. One day in September we pulled the plug - it just wasn't feasible.

However, on that day Electric Vehicle Manufacturing (EVMFG) was born. Coley stepped back at that point (his skills are in retail and general business management) - but Erik (owner of an electronics manufacturing business) and me (John - owner of rEVolution Electric Vehicles, LLC) were still committed to bringing an EV to market. So, we switched our attention to how to build our own bike.

Right from the beginning we had decided we didn't want to "do a Vectrix" - i.e. we didn't think it was feasible or even preferable to design a new bike from the ground up. Many a wannabe EV manufacturer has managed to raise a few million dollars of other people's money (OPM) with the promise of the "perfect solution". They disappear into the design studio and appear a couple of years later (or almost a decade in the case of the Vectrix). At that point they sure do have a great looking vehicle - on paper. They've also spent the OPM and, because this is a fast moving environment, they may find themselves already behind the technology curve (can you say Nickle Metal Hydride batteries?). A lot of folks apparently give up at this point. Others, like Vectrix keep on trucking. However, by this time they've saddled themselves with a "big business" cost base - as such, when the bike finally makes it to the showroom floor it costs $12,995 and risks being classified as an expensive toy.

Why re-invent the wheel? There are hundreds if not thousands of bikes out there. Are any of them the "perfect" bike to use as a starting point? That depends on how you define perfect, it also depends on whether you're even looking for perfect. Engineering is the art of compromise - that's not a bad thing. It's a realistic thing.

So, EVMFG's goal was set - build a world class EV bike using the best technology that exists today and bring it to market quickly. At EVMFG we know the best place to learn is in the field not in the lab.