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What happened to Vectrix?
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Written on: 25 August 2009 [10:40]
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ecoadmin
Administrator
Topic creator
registered since: 20.07.2007
Posts: 585
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Hello all, As many of you probably know, Vectrix - producer of the VX-1 scooter/motorbike, has filed for bankruptcy protection in July 2009. Nothing new, as in the history of companies producing electric powered vehicles, this has happened many times. But the Vectrix had a good start. City councils, governments, police departments, they all were interested and some even purchased one. But what were the real reasons for the failure? Extravagant executive salaries, wasteful spending, dollar devaluation against the Euro? What is your opinion about it? What happens to the several thousand VX-1 owners around the world? I would prefer to report about something more positive, but maybe someone can learn from the mistakes made and pick up whats left of the company. Cheers, Twike 890
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Written on: 25 August 2009 [11:45]
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Yardonn
 
registered since: 22.08.2007
Posts: 160
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On the REW-Roadshow electromobility i drove a vectrix. Nice bike (äh big sccoter...) Good acceleration and powerful (throttlecontroled) regenerative breaking. Nice Handling, even a reverse gear! Nice design, wonderful, specialised instrumentalpannel. A few Problems i see: NiMh Batteries - 213 kg without driver, only 60 km range. Charging 20 km per hour. This is (on an emotional base) not enought for many drivers. No single cell survelliance, dying cells (Production quality?) heat up and kill the whole batterie pack. No fire, but an expensive problem. Good Acceleration, Airodynamik and Weight lead to over 6 kWh/100 km, for better range much more batterycapacity is needed -> to expensive Nice design and some special parts (instruments), must have been very expensive to develop and produce in low numbers. So it is just a (very nice!) shortrange vehicle without much weather protection. Under the given circumstances, i do not wounder that it did not sell to good against the fuel burners. Fuel prices are to low and there are no real advantages in going electric today (outside of london....). I guess the same story as always, not enought margin and to low number of sales. Alleweder 4
http://www.akkurad.com allmost full weather protection for one person at 0 - 1.5 kWh / 100 km CityEl as secondary E-Car |
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Written on: 21 February 2010 [12:34]
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OwningElectricCar
 
registered since: 16.01.2010
Posts: 31
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Vetrix went bust a couple of months back, but I believe they have since been bought out and the bikes will be going back into production soon, using new lithium batteries rather than the rather heavy NiMH batteries the earlier model used. I've driven a Vetrix, and it is a very good bike indeed. Its biggest drawback was its weight - it was a very heavy bike and many people find them a handful as a result. I did a back-to-back test of a Vetrix and an equivalent Lexola motor scooter. At the time, the Lexola was a prototype and had not yet been launched. It is now available but the Lexola web site has not been updated to include it (!?). The Lexola didn't quite have the same urge on acceleration but had a slightly better top speed and a significantly longer range. Author of the book 'Owning an Electric Car' - http://www.OwningElectricCar.com
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Written on: 22 February 2010 [09:06]
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OwningElectricCar
registered since: 16.01.2010
Posts: 31
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I found this article about Vetrix. It appears that the company is now owned by a Chinese company called GP Batteries. http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/02/vectrix-reborn-electric-scooters-china-gp-batteries.php Hopefully, as the new bikes come off the production line they'll have the lighter lithium batteries rather than the NiMH ones. That really could transform this scooter. Author of the book 'Owning an Electric Car' - http://www.OwningElectricCar.com
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Written on: 23 February 2010 [14:01]
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Yardonn
registered since: 22.08.2007
Posts: 160
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I hope to. But it is not so easy. Some vectrix-Batteries (NiMh) died because of overheating. If that happends with Lithium Batteries, most of them die with an agressive fire... Especially with the very good recuperative breaking of the vectrix (and corespending high charging currents)there are high requirements onto the lithium-batteries. Usually the cheap china cells do not life up to them... And NiMh are not so bad regarding Wh/kg (approx 80 Wh/kg), so much will not be gained by changing to a regular lithium cell (approx 100 Wh/kg). Lithium-cells with higher energy-density usually bear a much higher risk of fire. Alleweder 4
http://www.akkurad.com allmost full weather protection for one person at 0 - 1.5 kWh / 100 km CityEl as secondary E-Car |
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Written on: 24 February 2010 [00:50]
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OwningElectricCar
registered since: 16.01.2010
Posts: 31
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Good point... although selling an electric bike with integrated fire-heating could be a good selling point for the winter  I must admit to knowing next to nothing about GP Batteries.I'd heard about the problems Vetrix were having with NiMH batteries - they had a frighteningly high number of battery failures, and that is not a good legacy for existing owners. Author of the book 'Owning an Electric Car' - http://www.OwningElectricCar.com
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Written on: 01 March 2010 [21:36]
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trev0006
registered since: 01.03.2010
Posts: 2
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Thanks for the article, good read. OwningElectricCar wrote:
I found this article about Vetrix. It appears that the company is now owned by a Chinese company called GP Batteries. http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/02/vectrix-reborn-electric-scooters-china-gp-batteries.php tirescars Hopefully, as the new bikes come off the production line they'll have the lighter lithium batteries rather than the NiMH ones. That really could transform this scooter. |
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Written on: 14 April 2010 [12:41]
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rossasaurus
registered since: 14.04.2010
Posts: 1
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As to Lithium and fire danger; I think we're moving away from that issue in some ways. Though Lithium Iron Phosphate cells do not have the best energy density, they currently are a good compromise between power, price and safety. They survive a puncture test with a sizzle and some smoke, but not flame or thermal runaway like the Lithium-Cobalt chemistries of flaming laptop fame. I hear there's now 2nd gen Li-Cobalt cells, purported to be safer, but I know nothing of them. |
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Written on: 14 April 2010 [17:05]
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Yardonn
registered since: 22.08.2007
Posts: 160
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Yes, LiFePo are not known to case fires because of a runaway of the internal chemistry. But they still burn when high temperatures occour close to the batterie. Even thought, the same problem is inherent in each tank of gasoline (and we consider them to be save...), manufactures need time and experience to find all the possible causes of unwanted battery heating (shortciruit, etc...). The problem is, that a lithium battery has all the components you need for a fire, flamable electrlyte and enouth internaly stored energy to generate high temperatures. Even thought burning batteries are not so likely, it is very difficult to garantie that they will not burn.... Alleweder 4
http://www.akkurad.com allmost full weather protection for one person at 0 - 1.5 kWh / 100 km CityEl as secondary E-Car |
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