May 9, 2020
You might have noticed that it’s been a while since we have featured Maya, our blue FLIT-16, in our updates. The original Maya was an early prototype and has been used as a test platform for many of the upgrades that we have worked on over the past 8 months, with various parts retrofitted on and holes drilled into the frame. This is incredibly useful, but not always very photo friendly.
This week, we’re super excited to show you the production version of Maya alongside the full FLIT fleet: that’s Marengo (grey), Blaze (orange) and Maya (blue).
BLAZE, MARENGO & MAYA – REUNITED
THE ORIGINAL MAYA
MAYA TODAY
We count about two dozen upgrades, ranging from the obvious, like component colour, to the very subtle, like adjustments to material choices for bearing surfaces that let moving parts work more smoothly, and tweaks to the geometry that have improved the handling.
See how many you can spot and let us know if you have any questions!
BATTERY QUESTIONS
Since our last update, some of you have also asked for more details on the change to the battery. Dave wrote a detailed explanation to one backer that we thought it would be useful to copy here so that everyone can see it:
Hi, good to hear from you and thanks for the question!
There were quite a few reasons for the change in battery capacity. In early prototypes we used LG MH1 cells. LG had released a new cell, the MJ1, which would boost our capacity to 250Ah so we planned to upgrade in production. However, as we approached production, switching cells wasn’t quite as easy as we had planned. First of all, the MJ1 cells were very slightly larger than the original cells which meant we would have to update our battery tooling.
Also, with the MJ1 being a newer cell, the lead times were longer and likely to cause delays. As we learned more about the nuances of cell performance we also became less keen on the using MJ1 – it’s long term performance in the field is less certain, so although it offers a slightly higher initial range, the rate of deterioration may actually be higher than that of MH1 cells, which offer very good cycle life. Ultimately we decided to produce with the original MH1 cells.
I can imagine that the decrease in capacity came as a disappointment and I’m sorry about that. I would say though that raw battery capacity, although impressive on a spec sheet, is sometimes less important than the specific cells used and the quality of the BMS (battery management system). We expect our batteries to outlast their warranty by many years.
It’s also worth mentioning that all range testing that we have done on the ebikes have been with the production cells (LG MH1) so we do not expect any change to the estimated range (subject to the usual caveats for ebike range: assistance level, terrain, weather conditions (eg. headwinds), loaded weight, etc).
Nonetheless, we will be stocking replacement batteries in the UK and have chosen to price them at a very reasonable £250 (much lower than our competitiors e.g. Brompton replacement battery £450).
Thanks again for reaching out – it helps us understand what we have missed, and what we can do better 🙂
As always, if you have any questions feel free to get in touch. You can reach us by email or phone – our lines are still open and we’re always happy to chat!
