Personally I really hope it gets funding....
I know that somewhat it is a knock off of the elf BUT it has some standard features that are either not available with the elf or would cost you
Standard Features with the PEBL
2 seater standard,
the elf has a 2 seater but that starts off at $8000 - $9000 depends on options
Fully enclosed floor.
This floor closes in the entire bottom of the PEBL there is a hatch that can be removed under the feet for airflow if desired.
the elf has a floor but again it is extra money and still does not fully enclose the rider. it basically is a floor for the passenger and on the sides of the seat.
USB charging port, Cruise Control, Reverse
PEBL has all of that.... the Elf does not.
Doors
standard with the PEBL the ELF's doors are add on's and only cover the lower half of the door.
Adjustable controller
to keep the PEBL legal in all places you are able to attach the PEBL to a computer and adjust the torque, speed etc of the motor (you are reminded to keep it legal)
Batteries
the Elf and PEBL come with 1 battery each the Elf can take one more battery up to 48V 15AH. the PEBL has room enough for 4 48V 16AH batteries so 4x the distance... obviously with each machine you can add as much battery as you want but beyond 2 elf batteries you have to start modifying the wiring or where they are stored etc.
Paint
for some reason with the ELF any paint color other then white is more money. the Pebl standard colours are all the same and included in the base
Gears
the Elf standard 3 speed the Pebl standard 8 speed both have Nuvinci upgrades available
I was speaking to a current ELF owner they were telling me that it is pretty necessary to upgrade to the Carbon fibre front and rear panels as the side panels rely on those and the solar panel to keep it all together... the Pebel is build I believe as one shell versus the ELF that is 6 parts basically. Front, Rear, Left side, Right Side, Solar panel and front windshield.
I actually have a quote for an ELF with the Floor, upgraded carbon fibre, red paint (or dye) for the fibreglass and better transmission Nuvinci and one extra 15AH battery I was sitting in the $12,000 USD range plus $1000.00 to ship it to the USA I live in Canada so I would have to drive down there and pick it up myself from a parcel holding place the ELF is not crated at all it arrives in a covered trailer then unloaded and it is all yours... the PEBL will arrive packaged at least
so for the price of 1 ELF I can buy 2 PEBL's
I for my needs have determined I will take the risk and get a PEBL... it is 4 inches narrower then the Elf as well.
now this is personal opinion based on my dealings with both Organic Transit (ELF) and Better Bike (PEBL)
3 weeks ago on a sunday I emailed Organic Transit (before I found the PEBL - oddly enough advertised on the Organic Transit Elf Owners Group - A closed Group I was allowed on to) anyway I contacted OT via Email on sunday. Tuesday afternoon I received a call back from the order person. she was very nice she explained some of my options and I sensed some up-selling (upgraded windows, upgraded carbon panels etc) some were logical some not so much but the ask was there..
after the call I was told to expect a quote by the next day.
later that afternoon I got the quote in an email.. when I got the email I opened the quote it was attached to the email first thing I had to do was download an application onto my phone so that I could actually open email. When I open the attachment it required me to digitally sign that I had received it and when I read the agreement with it part of the agreement was that I was not allowed to share the quotation with anybody I found it rather interesting kind of secretive I guess I'm not really sure but I signed the agreement and I read a quote and the sticker shock was a little much.
The day after I receive the quote I received another email and another phone call from organic transit it was the salesperson again asking me if I had looked at the quote and if I was ready to put a down payment on my purchase I asked her about time how long it will take and she said anywhere from 3 to 5 months for I would actually see the unit that I didn't like at all
About time I told her that I would really like to get a test drive they worked more than obliging obviously I would have to go down to where they were and book a timeslot with them to come and take a test drive. After a couple of days a thought I decided to just take a look at the Facebook page for the elf owner group and just read and ask questions.
It was in my scanning of the Facebook page that I found the post for the PEBL. I decided to look on the website that was advertised www.better.bike and really liked what I saw so I emailed the owner Kevin Murray asking him to please give me a call as I had questions and it would probably be easier to answer those questions over the phone versus over email the next morning I received a phone call from Kevin we chatted for about an hour perhaps more about the PEBL. He was describing all of the features and basically telling me about the creation he has some experience with the elf so he was letting me know the differences and similarities it was basically a presentation of the facts not him bad mouthing the other guy.
He informed me at that time that he had no units for sale but would be starting a kick starter campaign within the week and that he would be offering 10 units out to the kick starter Group for anybody who funded them at an approximate price of $5500 US. I thought that was a pretty good deal he did inform me that if I didn't miss the kick starter that they would be doing follow-up units after that most likely over the winter but they might be a little higher-priced around the $5800-$6500 range which is still good in my mind considering that the base elf with one seat starts at about 6500 and goes up to over $7000 depending on options and if you start adding the two seat options and more batteries etc. As you see in my previous statement my quote got into the $12-$13,000 range.
Anyway after speaking with him I was very much at ease I wasn't anxious at all when I put my money down to fund them for $1500 I definitely felt at ease speaking with Kevin and after reading more and more on the elf owner page and hearing about some of the support issues people were having and how if you wanted to contact support and wanted to buy a part even if your unit was off warranty and you just wanted to have another part or a different part you have to first them with a scanned copy of your receipt as well as you're serial number off your bike or they would not deal with you. I was a bit taken aback by the amount of secrecy no I can understand wanting to keep your product a secret as long as you can but organic transit is now in production they have according to their literature over 700 units shipped out all over the world which is impressive for a small company that just a year or so ago wasn't kick starter mode but once you actually have a product out there on the market obviously if it is good somebody's going to duplicate it or create their own version of it and try to do the same thing market it. So I don't know what secrets they're trying to keep with the existing machines that are out there I believe there is a version version 1 and ver. 1.5. So with those units out there they are pretty much fair game for anybody to look at. So I was quite taken aback by the amount of paranoia in organic transit. Now on the Facebook page I guess I was no longer welcome because I was not an elf owner and couldn't furnish them with the serial number so basically I was told by the administrator who does not work for organic transit and as far as I know isn't even in the same state as them but basically I was told that I would be removed from the group because I could not first thing with the serial number or I did not have a pending order but I would be welcome back if I was the place an order with organic transit again I'm not sure why the paranoia over a Facebook group but it is there and that's the scoop
One of the things that kind of ticked me off a lot was when the owner of organic transit got onto the Facebook page and basically told me that I don't belong there because I didn't have an outstanding order or a serial number I thought that was rather rude I did inform him that actually had an active quote with them for around $13,000 that I was contemplating and all I was waiting to do what's figure out when and if I was able to go out to see them and do a test ride or if I can find somebody closer to home for example Toronto or Vancouver or Alberta who had an elf that wouldn't mind me trying it out.
I found the comments and I did not belong there rude and again push the secretive nature of their company I can see protecting any things that you are currently developing research and development etc. But for any unit that's currently out there they don't have any form of protection they're out there for all I know anybody wanting to build their own unit goodbye one of the organic transit units put apart and reverse engineer and make improvements
Anyway that was my experience in discussing with both companies and basically for my needs I have decided to take the risk and wait to see if better bike get their funding for the PEBL and if they do I will buy one and if they don't well we'll see what happens I'll talk to the owner and who knows maybe he's willing to do a few runs to try to raise capital to continue on I don't know but I do know that I will not be buying an elf
Anyway that was my experience I thought I would share with everybody here I don't want to badmouth organic transit those are just my observations and how my situation went down
