Previously efoils were expensive but they are inherently pretty simple devices eg single motor with a ESC and battery.
Seems wholesale price is around $2250-3000 depending on a few things but generally the boards are all decent from what I observe.
Waterproofing and easy of use makes it different and something I like about Waydoo eg nice connectors and no flip cover unlike even lift and fliteboard.
I really dislike the proprietary battery systems however eg can never fix it if it breaks.
Are efoils going to come down in price a LOT? Battery was main cost but thanks to ebikes and cars, 2kW battery is like ~$650 (efoil manufacturer quoted me $850 for 2.4kwh battery).
Main problem I think is just marketing though this sport isn’t that easy as it took me a LONG time to get decent at it on a waydoo first board. My surfer friend who is 15 could do it first time and was pretty proficient by second time but I’ve watched over guys like myself over 40 take over a month to not constantly fall off.
Having stablization will probably be key and in future will also avoid the patent issues with Lift which only covers body weight stabilized personal flying boards.
No, they won’t come down in price a lot. You get what you pay for. Last time i priced a diy build with normal components the cost was about 3k. Sure it scales with sales numbers but no r&d, sales, warranty, staff, recycling, financial, insurance,real estate etc etc costs is included in the 3k. You have to remember that if one of your staff cleans his workplace for half an hour, that’s 100$ with all running costs that are actually paid by the company.
I don’t think you understand what I’m saying. I’m saying you can buy a full on complete board for $2250 wholesale in qty 10. There’s no r&d when all you buy and import it to resell. There’s markup and support and returns of course.
Your kit is always more expensive than high volume parts. Every part you buy has shipping + 30-100% markup at low volume. There’s not many parts to an efoil anyway but what I quote was complete boards.
I was told by someone the dealer profit on fliteboard and waydoo was 7% which is pretty garbage. 30% over $2250 still makes the board $3k which is reasonable business model where all you do is sell stuff.
Seems largest single cost to Efoil is shipping the battery…
I’m not sure what point you are trying to make here??
This is primarily a forum for DIY participants that enjoy the building process. Build your own rig, enjoy using it and have the skill to fix it if it has a problem.
You seem to be proposing that it’s a good idea to shell out $3K x 10 or $30K for 10 no name Chinese efoils. Maybe it is but I for one won’t be signing up for that deal.
The platform is $2250 not $3000. $3000 was proposed end user pricing. Good to find a hackable platform eg you can change out the battery or program the ESC vs buying it 10x and realizing you didn’t seal it correctly. I’m sure for $2250 the finished board is far superior than a battery duck tapped to a board as most DIY.
Also anyone can go on Aliexpress to find 52V 50Ah battery <$300. Not waterproof but if it’s in a pelican case you prob don’t care. This is worthwhile hacking eg get several batteries for $300 so you can get extended ride times instead of $2500 from the efoil manufacturers. I’d personally like to hack the ESC so I can do autolevelling function with some sensors.
I’m into DIY don’t get me wrong but it’s not to save money - it’s to make a better board as you will never save money.
Again it’s DIY so doesn’t need to look pretty but to say it’s quality is better than a professionally assembled product (even from China) is simply not true.
This isn’t the DIY Build/Repair and Mod forum either just general discussion which for someone that’s here that often should prob know by now too…
My point is you appear by your posts so far to be rather arrogant - pretend to know a great deal based on little actual experience - preaching about how things are or should be rather then show something you have actually done.
Time to add you to my IGNORED list so carry on with the babble by all means.
How much experience do you have building batteries? Have you ever disassembled a manufactured battery from China? I do not mind criticism, but would like to know how much experience you have and maybe you could give me some tips on making my builds better? The tape we use is not to hold batteries together, most of us use very high quality spot welders, cells, etc…
I don’t personally have experience building batteries but I’ve disassembled quite a few and every major manufacturer has 1) laser welders 2) uses robots not hand welding 3) uses compression to keep battery from swelling 4) do it in a cleanroom with everyone wearing a bunny suit and gloves
I think nothing wrong with DIY. My point again is Chinese factories are better equipped and know what they are doing for the most part if they make thousands of a batteries a day vs a guy making his first off youtube.
So where do they apply pressure on cylindrical cells? I guess they don’t since the battery is self contained…
I don’t think you know what you’re talking about, at all, but those kinds of people rarely listen or learn from what’s available. Just start the import business and tell us how it went when you sold your first 100 efoils. Good luck!
I looked into getting a Chinese efoil before building my own. Shipping it to Canada was 2000$ so after all is said and done more expensive than building you own with a top quality board from Flite. You don’t know what you are going to get. It’s a big leap of faith to send more than 6000$ to a Chinese seller you have never met and who is giving you dodgy answers and seems to be using pictures from other manufacturers. If you built it yourself you can fix it upgrade it and the parts are easy to get and much cheaper.
Yeah depends if you’re used to buying parts from China or not. I get a container every week so no big deal eg free shipping for me. Assuming shipping was $2000 which seems unlikely, not sure how you add $2250+$2000=$6000 but prob cnd math lol.
