Working my butt off today researching ways to make battery boxes to fit into frames quickly and as inexpensively as possible to save on manufacturing costs.
Above: The Sondors "Thin" battery box.
While I respect what Sondors has done by providing a cheap entry level ebike for people interested in them, and probably superior to some of the cheaper Chinese ebikes flooding the market, they are still cheap Chinese bikes. I only wish I had as much customer support for a specific model, that I could manufacture boxes like this outsourced like he does to keep the cost down, but I would rather make them myself here 100% in the USA for not much more.
This is not something I ever want to outsource to an overseas company. I want to be the only guy making them 100% USA built. At least until other bike builders start reading my blog and discover for themselves how easy it is to do!
I know what to do with carbon fiber. That's easy, but I'm also thinking plastic, sheet metal and aluminum. More than one way to float a boat.
Considering that I will need to modify battery boxes as regularly as manufacturers change frame styles, I need to have an inexpensive way to make new molds, and follow threw with whatever forming process works best, or the customer prefers. One day not too long from now, I hope to have at least my own beach cruiser frames, and maybe a few others like a classic Mixte, where I can make a more expensive long lasting die set because they won't change over the years.
Other than the above, I will expect customers to come in with bikes I don't already have forming molds made up for. I need to be able to manufacture the mold to make the box in house ASAP (under three weeks) whenever a custom order comes in. This is not something anyone can outsource overseas. It would (if you're lucky) take three months to outsource a custom order, and cost a small fortune to do. I need a way to do it even if only for one box, that it's affordable to the customer who brings in the bike!
I'm sure some of you have seen dies made for hydro forming or at least in the pre preg carbon fiber bike frame manufacturing post I published a while ago. These expensive dies are not an option for the quick and inexpensive turnaround time I will need to make most of the boxes in. Let alone custom building the battery to fit in the box!
I HAVE A SOLUTION!
Something many of you have in your kitchens. LEXAN. This stuff ain't cheap, but counter top cutouts for sinks can be had for pennies on the dollar as scrap material. It's easily glued, sanded, polished, and would make an excellent and quick mold die to make for custom battery boxes. Even small scrap cuts can be used in between full cut sheets in the mold making process to save a bunch of money for the finished product!
Everyone always talks about how green ebikes are, but nobody talks about it in the manufacturing process, or how it keeps the money local. I think I've just killed two birds with one stone.
Buy quality, or pedal home! Buy Duke's Moto Electric!
Basic bike labor for assembling most electric bike kits on your own bike is $350 including lacing new spokes to one new rim, and professional tension on those spokes unlike what you get with cheap overseas kits.
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