Why choose Motorino?

Why choose a Motorino scooter? There are less expensive electric scooters available in Winnipeg, or even on the Internet, so what's the difference?

There's a short answer and a long answer to this question. The short answer has two parts:

You get what you pay for. A less expensive product must be built with less expensive parts and put together faster - that is the only way to drive down the price. If you believe that a car built by Lada will be similar to a car built by Honda, then you will be happy with a less expensive product. If we could build a Motorino electric scooter to our quality standards, and bring it to you with our dealer network and our warranty for a lower price, we would certainly do so - our sales numbers would increase greatly and we would have little competition. The truth is that we have chosen the most economical route possible to bring a high quality electric scooter into the market.
Vehicles tend not to sold at department stores. If you expect to have any after-sales service and support, then you may want to ask yourself if a big-box retailer is going to be able to offer warranty work, parts, maintenance, and service for your vehicle. Will a seller with only a web site be able to offer you a test drive, or discuss your intended uses for the vehicle? Even the purchase of the simplest vehicles available - bicycles - is best done at a bicycle shop where the people know the product and will back it up. E-Ride Winnipeg specializes in Motorino electric scooters - we use them ourselves, we know the details of the models available, we prepare them for use by the customer, we service them after the sale, and we handle parts and repairs ourselves. We have the tools, equipment, and technical knowledge to keep your Motorino scooter on the road for many seasons. But most important of all, we stand behind our warranty, and we fix any problems ourselves, at our own expense. If the original seller of another brand sends you off to some distant 'warranty depot', how much interest do you realistically imagine that 'warranty' person has in your problem, given that they were not involved in the original sale?

You'll find similar advice by other reputable electric scooter sellers. For instance, see what Scooter Underground (Victoria, B.C.) has to say in their 'Rant on Electric Scooters'. Basically, if you are considering anything under $1,200, "you're buying a headache."

The longer answer is a bit more complex, and it has to do with what is happening in China and how a Canadian importer might want to handle sales of a fast-growing product.

Gas scooters, electric scooters, and electric bicycles are extremely popular in China. Even back in 2004, production numbers of electric bikes for the Chinese domestic market were over 5 million units per year. There are dozens of large scale manufacturers building these vehicles for sale in China. The variety of electric bikes and scooters seen on the streets is staggering - there are hundreds of models in current production. PHOTO CREDIT: K CHRISTENSEN April 2010

Anyone wanting to import electric bikes or scooters can simply pick a current Chinese production model, apply whatever brand name sticker desired, add a charger for the 120 volt Canadian power grid, and sell those units in Canada. Because these are classed as power-assisted bicycles, neither Transport Canada nor the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) needs to approve or inspect anything - one can sell them directly to the public. Indeed, from Winnipeg you can bid on and purchase an electric scooter from a web site in Montreal and have it shipped to you. However, figuring out who made it, who has parts, and who knows how to service it may be a problem. When the web site or the seller disappears, you are on your own...
As is often the case, an 'overnight success' turns out to have a long history. So while E-Ride Winnipeg was testing 2 Motorino scooters over the summer of 2008, and open for business in 2009, the Motorino story begins in 2000. The founders of the Motorino brand, Greenwit Technologies (www.greenwit.com), were working on an aid project in China with the Canadian government. Observing the growing use of electric scooters, they wanted to import them for sale in Canada. It took a steady effort until 2006 to be able to offer a good quality unit for the Canadian market. Even so, the very reliable hub motor we now use took another 2 years to get into production. The challenge for production in China right now revolves around controlling the quality of the components to be used and ensuring the skill level of the workers assembling the finished products. There is a full range of products coming out of China from excellent quality to very low quality.
It has taken Greenwit nearly a decade to improve the basic electric scooter design, find the best components, and find a manufacturer willing to custom assemble the Motorino product to Canadian standards. With such a huge, rapidly expanding, and local market, very few Chinese factories are willing to stop production and custom build for anyone else. However, Greenwit has succeeded in developing the best electric scooter currently available in Canada based on years of design work, forging relationships in China, importing and selling early versions, honouring warranties, and working to build a dealer network across Canada. So while the big-box retailers can simply drop a scooter brand and find something else for next season, Greenwit has stayed in the market for the long haul. Long after the Internet sellers have come and gone, Greenwit will still have the bricks and mortar base in Vancouver. And the local dealers will support Motorino customers with warranty work, parts, maintenance and service.
Less expensive scooters offered in Canada tend to be picked up directly from Chinese manufacturers. The components may or may not be good quality. Assembly will range from good to shoddy. Because it can be difficult for customers to actually have warranties honoured (if a warranty is offered at all), there are no real consequences for the distributors and sellers of these products. They can be slow to react to warranty claims, they can be located far away from the customer, or simply be unresponsive. Next season, they can offer another brand name, and start all over again. In the end, the customer gives up in frustration, realizing John Ruskin's wisdom: "There is hardly anything in the world that some man can't make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey."