Zongshen e-team wins FIM e-Power and TTXGP

Interesting press release. Lots of e-bikes shorting out but at least there was a winner.

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Tang Yu (Zongshen Racing) nails it over ten laps

http://www.egrandprix.com/images/new...yu_winning.jpg

FIM e-Power and & TTXGP Championships at Oschersleben
Team Zongshen notches up a win for Tang Yu after an epic battle where Pole position changed between five riders over a tem lap race
After Ho Chi Fung’s respectable third place in Saturday’s Sprint (three laps), Yu Tang is on the highest step of the podium after today’s FIM e-Power International and TTXGP Championship race. The Zongshen rider took the chequered flag at the end of the ten-lap race ahead of Udo Reichmann (Reichmann Racing-Mavizen) and Christian Amendt (epo-Bike).

Although yesterday’s practice and the three-lap Sprint seemed to augur another win for Münch Racing Teams’ Matthias Himmelmann, Yu Tang played a patient game. The early part of the race saw Matthias Himmelmann in front as expected on an astonishingly powerful Münch TTE that lapped in 1’37.771 in the warm-up. Towards the middle of the race, however, Himmelmann had to leave the front spot to team-mate Katja Poensgen as his batteries were overheating. A few laps later, the former GP250 rider suffered the same fate. Both had to push their motorcycles over the line, but Katja Poensgen was unfortunately outside the authorised time (5 mn).

The German team’s overheating problems could have given a advantage to Ho Chi Fung, who was in clinch with Katja Poensgen on the track, but problems with his electrical system hobbled the rider of the Zongshen 59, who was forced to drop out of the race. These upsets at the front of the field finally gave the man aboard the Zongshen 26, Yu Tang, a chance to shine and bring home the victory on the back of a well managed race. Behind the winner, Udo Reichmann hauled a Mavizen on to podium, not bad for the first weekend racing a eBike. Christian Amendt, took third, proving that perseverence is a key quality in this discipline where nothing stands still for long.

Peter Linden on a Zongshen that was no match for the rest of the field in terms of performance, managed to hang in there, coming in fourth just behind the winning trio. Münch Racing’s Thomas Schuricht and Matthias Himmelmann took fifth and sixth place respectively, saving crucial points

Join us on Friday 7 September at France’s Bugatti circuit for the next event in the FIM e-Power and TTXGP Championships, curtain raiser for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.


What they said…
Yu Tang – 26 / Zongshen
I made a mistake in the first lap and nearly crashed the bike to ended up having to make my way back up the grid. I worked really hard and was concentrating on my own race so didn’t even realise that there was actually a chance to take the pole position and actually win. I have to say it feels amazing to come to Oschersleben and take home this win for my team. They all work so hard fielding three bikes this weekend and most of the credit should go to them. They have built me a reliable bike that is performing really week. Last weekend I was second at Assen and now I am the winner. Incredible for my second season as an eRacer and my second season racing in Europe.
I really wish my team mate Ho Chi Fung gets the bike he deserves for the next round. The team are working hard on the new development bike but there is much to learn with a whole different set up, new motors, battery pack and control systems. I hope at the next round in Le Mans he will be able to join me on the podium.

Christian Amendt – 36 / Epo-bike.de
I was so happy that I was able to manage my small battery pack for such long race whilst keep respectable lap times. It was awesome to finish 3^rd and get on the podium here in Germany. I have to say it was also really great to have so many good quality competitors here this weekend and a lot of spectators. I found the whole weekend really good fun especially with the introduction of the new sprint race, which I feel is a really good idea.


Katja Poensgen – 65 / Münch Racing
In the race I was following Ho Chi Fung for a few laps to see how his bike was performing. I felt confident I could over take him but thought I would hang back behind him till the final lap as I know my bike had the potential to over heat so I didn’t want to push it. But the bike just stopped. I reset it and set of again to carry on racing and it was operating ok but it stopped once more. This time the Marshalls wouldn’t let me out again and my race was over.

Matthias Himmelmann – 49 / Münch Racing
I was really confident going into the race at the front of the grid. I was hoping to really push the bike as far as I could and set a circuit record for the weekend within the actual race but the energy just gave up. Actually the last time a raced with my white race leathers I also didn’t finish the race; I now will NEVER wear these leather to race again, they always bring me bad luck. After the first lap I was in the front of the field but the bike stopped in lap 4, I got it started but it stopped again so I pulled into the pit lane to check the voltages and temperatures. Everything seemed to be ok so I went back onto the track but it was a horrible race for me. The bike stopped two more times, each time I reset it and started again but the last time was 200m from the chequered flag. This time it would not start again and I pushed it across the finish line. Now the team must take all this data and work very hard to work on the bikes and solve the heating problems. We are looking forward to racing in Le Mans for the next joint TTXGP and FIM epower race and hope to put todays result firmly behind us. I want to thank my sponsors Windreich for backing my team and helping us make this weekend energy from clean resources.

Udo Reichmann – 72 / Reichmann Racing - Mavizen
I wanted to thank my team for giving me an opportunity to take part in the race weekend. It was a fun experience and the engineers got my bike to the most perfect setting by the time the race was here. It was a great result for me, the first time I race electric and I am happy to help put my team on the podium. It is exciting to do something new and this weekend has been great fun.


photos by good-shoot.com/FIM

Interesting, but, um, what are FIM e-Power International and TTXGP Championship? FIM and TTXGP are not household acronyms in my household!

I guess I could google, but you'd think a press release would explain this stuff... :deal:

cheers!

http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/...?article=49325

LOL

Other in E moto.

http://www.mavizen.com/

http://epo-bike.de/

http://www.muenchmotorbikes.com/en/muench-tte-1.html

More about TTXGP series
http://green.autoblog.com/tag/ttxgp/

This is a management discussion and analysis report of Zongshen PEM and its relationship to ZIG (Zongshen International Group)


I removed the link, it is a PDF download which can be accessed off the site.
http://www.zongshenpem.com/corporate/summary.html

Excerpt:

Oregon Litigation
Chonqing Zongshen Group Import & Export Co., Ltd. (“Import & Export”), one of the subsidiaries comprising the Motorcycle Business, was named a defendant together with ZIG and its related entities and principals (collectively, the “Defendants”) in three separate lawsuits that were filled prior to the close of Motorcycle Business Acquisition as described in Note 1 by Rubicon Global Ventures, Inc. and Z Motors Inc. (collectively, the "Plaintiffs"). The Plaintiffs had obtained default judgments aggregating US$324 million in the United States District Court for the District of Oregon (the “Oregon District Court”). Subsequent to the completion of the Acquisition, the Oregon District Court issued an order vacating all three default judgements and the Plaintiff commenced two additional actions in the Oregon District Court. The fourth action was over the same dispute against substantially the same Defendants, including Import & Export. This action was subsequently dismissed by the Oregon District Court. The Plaintiffs have since filed appeals in respect of the dismissal of the four cases. The final decision is anticipated to be delivered by the end of 2013. The fifth case was filed in an attempt to revive the first case of the previous three lawsuits. The fifth case will be dismissed if the Plaintiffs win their appeal in the first case. In the event the Plaintiffs lose their appeal in the first case, the Plaintiffs are allowed to resume the fifth case. At that time, the court will consider the Defendants’ motion to dismiss the fifth case.
The Company continues to closely monitor the appeals. While the Company considers the claims to be without merit and is confident that it will ultimately prevail, it remains uncertain at this time if when and how the appeals will ultimately be concluded, and, if so, at what cost to the Motorcycle Business and the Company, although ZIG has agreed to indemnify the Company for any liability arising from the actions.

Nature of Suit:	Other Statutes - Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations

When I get chance I will pull the docket on the case and see what it is all about.
I could guess but that would not be best.


Zongshen PEM is a separated corporation from ZIG (Zongshen Internatioanl Group) It was created in 2010 and manufactures, sell small displacement motorcycle, gas and electric. The case was filled before that happened that is the reference to the acquisition of the business. That ‘business” is the motorcycle manufacturing part of ZIG.

Zongshen PEM is categorized in the energy sector. They use the sales of small motorcycles into emerging markets to fund their operations. One of those operations is developing electric motorcycles, so they fund a race program as part of the development of that product line. They also claim to have other ventures like hydrogen fuel cell technology etc. But to see what they are doing and how any of this is advancing is not easy, or could be considered impossible.


Zonghens racing team, seems to have made some headway, however its funding base of small motorcycles is eroding. The result is a shrinking revenue base and most of the energy sector ventures are not even close to potentially revenue generating.


PEM is totally dependent on ZIG for all sources and support of the manufactured goods they sell. They also have a lock on that in the form of a non-compete clause with ZIG. So all of the Joint Ventures for selling motorcycles in developing market are administered through the independent PEM corporation and that is all sourced through operational processes with the sole source that being ZIG.


Basically Zonghen PEM is using ZIG as its OEM.


The results from the outside looking inward appear disastrous, it appears highly dysfunctional


They are offering electric vehicles but were and to who? The only model that can be seen in the market place is a lead acid type with a standard step through design, with a range of only 35Km and required 12hr recharge.


Unless the race division can bring about a functional vehicle that can be marketed to consumers its efforts are nothing less then futile.


Within this is poor quality and process control, from the sources that being ZIG.
They have no respectable system, so even if the race team developed a product or viable technology they would have terrible systems to manufacture it and an even worse system to bring it to the market.


The regulations or requirements of some of these race circuits is that the participants have a product in the existing consumer market, where are these, where is the ’Toronto” ? The others in the races have real legitimate vehicles.

I would venture to guess that Zongshen is buying technology out of Mission Motors for its race bikes.
Mission would be a supplier of the technology and Zonghen developed a race team and motorcycles off that technology. But what Mission does is tier one supply they sell the parts, they make them.

Zongshen PEM has their best market (highest profit) in Brazil and that is do to the inflated prices in Brazil. The retail prices in Brazil are higher because Brazil has a closed market. That closed market causes imports to cost more, the high duties raise the market prices. The manufacturers that do actually set up manufacturing in Brazil still charge more, that’s because the consumers see any prices lower then the high priced imports as a better bargain. However, the cost of labor and average wages in Brazil are not that high as to justify these high prices. It is not that there is no segment of the population that can afford the higher prices, as many can, it is just that the majority of the population cannot. http://www.worldsalaries.org/brazil.shtml

Even with the high profit margins on sales in Brazil, Zongshen PEM posted a $2.1M loss for the first quarter of this year.


These are the electric scooter being offered in Brazil, made in Brazil but the components are from China. The scooter are Zongshen products. They have a range of 50km (up to 31miles) and a top speed of 37mph.
They do not cover the charging rate on the website, that being the charging time, its 12hrs on the PEM website.


$2,500.00 USD
WIN Electra
http://www.kasinski.com.br/images/pr...vermelha_4.jpg


$2,100.00 USD
PRESS Electra
http://www.kasinski.com.br/images/pr...mg-3-prata.jpg


They offer this model as well, it’s a 150cc Dual Sport


$3,500.00 USD
CRZ150 SM
http://www.kasinski.com.br/images/pr...012/azul_1.jpg
The CRZ150 resembles a Derbi, likely a low cost copy that came out of the joint venture between the two companies. The frames are very close, the rest is different.
Derbi Senda BAJA 125 SM
http://i784.photobucket.com/albums/y...7510266989.jpg




Half of the Products offered by Kasinski are Zongshen and half are Hyosung, a joint venture.


Hyosung offers the GT250 and others.


$5,500.00 USD
Comet GT250
http://www.kasinski.com.br/images/pr...vermelha_5.jpg




The GT250 is sold in the USA it is manufactured in South Korea and sells for about $3,800.00 USD. If that model was manufactured entirely in Brazil it could be sold for less then that.


Kasinski repeatedly refers to the models as European designs, they are, they are the same designs that are sold as Piaggio in China..

This is the company behind the Zongshen race bikes controller.
http://kellycontroller.com/


The batter packs sourced from.
http://www.kokam.com/new/kokam_en/


This is whose motors they use
http://www.agnimotors.com


The later also has its own race team.


So it is possible that Zongshen has some relationship with Mission Motor but it is not disclosed, in that, I may have got caught in the online content generators regurgitations of rumors?
MY BAD.
http://ridemission.com/

Here is the thing, if a race team has only one sponsor and that one sponsor is itself then typically it is ridding its own products, not somebody else’s. The purpose of race teams are to test and develop technology that the parent (single sponsors) can benefit from.


It is not about advertising your name entirely, it is not about just having fun either. There has to be a functional feedback loop to manufacturing. That’s about applying what is learned and through testing in the field, then developing it into a sellable product.


What they are doing is not really any different then Jincheng racing on Yamaha engines at Dakar. What are they testing a competing manufactures engines? What is this all about altering the components and then calling them their own, its not like that has never happened before. We began with you product and made changes an now it is ours, so typical.


Unnoticed or unknown is rooted in not notable or not note worthy?
Getting or making a name is not the same as getting your name out there.

Either the Chinese education system or the company organization structure somehow kills innovation, meaning that Chinese buy-in other peoples technology to go racing with, without any long-term strategy or purpose. It all seems to be 'face getting' exercise dressed up as marketing savvy and innovation.

International manufacturers hire international crews and riders, whereas the Chinese teams prefer to have 100% Chinese crews and riders if possible. If it was truly about marketing your brand you'd try to be inclusive. What in reality is happening is there is a need to show that 'Chinese can do it too', somehow redressing the balance of some collective insecurity and or hurt national pride. So if they win they can all run around flying the flag together. More a national team than an international race team?

Well said....

Is Chinese society devoid of humility, not likely, however false pride is prevalent
Much of life is subjective, however if within that subjectivity is avoiding the truth, then that is false pride, nationalism is not necessarily a bad thing, however if the nationalism is based on embracing false pride then it is a bad thing.

I read the case, it was for damages over Zongshen filing false EPA applications.

The Lawsuit may in part explain Zongshens sudden exit from the US market, the lawsuit claims that Zongshen submitted false data on applications to the EPA. Their certificates disappeared from the EPA database in 2010, 2009 was the last year they had certificates of compliance.


The case is referred to as having a tortured procedural history, the plaintiff filed lawsuits with the wrong names and then filed again each time renaming new defendants, in that it became complex or the term is they tortured the procedure.


The case took so long and was so convoluted it lost traction and in time lost some of its legitimacy, however the fact that it is based on the damages caused by falsifying federal documents, that part still has merit. ( I have not taken the time to research that claim and any actions that the EPA took against Zongshen)


The court seems to offer insight, it would not have lost merit if it named the correct parties and amended to the original and made direct claims about damages subject to the false filing of federal documents, specifically.


It is still being reviewed…it is a complex case and I have no background in law, I am only interpreting a public document, nothing more then my interpretation of what happened.


Know who you are dealing with and know what you are actually selling.

What is next for Zongshen PEM?


They claim they will be offering some improvements to the current offering of electric motorcycles. They are only offering a Cub and Scooter. They offer no lithium battery models only lead acid battery models.


If they can develop a lithium battery model and increase the top speed and range while reducing the recharging rate then…they also have to improve manufacturing quality and everything else down the line to the consumer.


That is not all they have to bring it to the markets in force and with a very appealing market price.


That will likely happen in Brazil and at Kasinski, then the models in the realm of practicality and governed by reality could bring them to the USA and through….Hyosung dealers?


These people bringing about these partnerships should role up their sleeves and look at the partnerships strategically and then take real ownership and make them work,. If they can then they can be proud of that.