I haven’t been around the eskate community for a lot of time, like one year or so. I still haven’t built anything yet, because i either am not so conviced about a project like this or for lack of funds. Anyway, as a general question, i’d like to know from more experienced builders if any of you has seen a change in prices of the different parts in this hobby/sport/dunno. Since eskates on the market and electric vehicles in general have been increasing exponetially in number, do you think the higher request of these goods will make also te costs grow or not? leave an opinion, thanks for taking the time to read!
The price will eventually go down, but the sport will have to get a lot bugger before a significant price reduction occurs.
I think some prices have come down a little bit. Motor mounts are what, $65 complete from the right sources on here. Way better than the $100+ I paid enertion 2 years ago. Motor prices are a bit better too, mostly sensorsed now too. Batteries aren’t going down anytime soon as far as I can see. Remotes have gotten a bit cheaper I think. The mini trigger is what, like $25 now, which is a great price for a small yet reliable remote.
Not any drastic difference though and I agree with @mmaner, it will take some time and growth before we can expect prices to drop.
Its all dependent on economies of scale! The more you produce, the cheaper it gets!
General items such as motors, BMS and perhaps user configurable ESC will continue to drop in prices as these are cross-field items valid in esk8s, ebikes, etc. Therefore, sale numbers will continue to increase, which consequently reduces prices.
For instance if the VESC 6 is as good as it is advertised, it will eventually see its way in to other applications beside esk8 and perhaps bring down its price based on higher manufacturing numbers. This will then lead to other manufacturers producing similar products to compete in the market.
However, i think that pre-built boards will eventually be the norm. As they become more common and more sought after items, major players from the skateboard world will start to join the industry and start mass producing esk8. Which will drive down prices of components as well.
However, i love building stuff so i will either still prefer building my own, or buy a pre-built and mod the crap out of it!
My 2 cents.
You are correct, there are a lot more “deals” to be had today than a year ago. You gave some great example, especially the mini-remote. I think the average prices from actual storefront (virtual or physical) are still pretty close to the same as a year ago.
I hope to see a decrease in average cost of components. I feel like the more builds the lower the price, the lower the price the more builds…it’ll eventually equalize. I give it another year or so before we see substantial drops.
Don’t expect Li-ion cells to be dropping prices anytime soon despite many reports I’ve seen saying there is an increase in supplies of Li-ion cells in the coming few years especially with the Gigafactory slowly increasing it production every quarter. Supposedly the price of a cell is to decrease, but I know the majority of the cells from the Gigafactory will go towards the Model 3 and Powerwalls. None would be sold to OEMs, but maybe Panasonic might be able to do something.