How Tariffs Are About to Shock the Electric Scooter, E-Bike and Electric Dirt Bike Industry in the U.S
With tariff rates soaring, price tags are about to do the same. Let’s break it down—no fluff, full transparency.
The United States is staring down the barrel of massive tariff increases on electric scooters and electric dirt bikes. And if you're thinking, "Oh, that doesn't sound too bad," let us hit you with some hard numbers.
These aren’t mild bumps—we’re talking about tariffs as high as 89% to 104% on imported vehicles. Yes, you read that right.
Let’s unpack what this really means, and how it will affect your next ride.
💰 Tariff Breakdown (HS Codes & Estimated Rates)
Section 301 tariff for electric scooters and electric bikes (ebike)
| Product Category | Product Specific Tariff | General Tariff | Reciprocal Tariff | Total Estimated Tariff |
| Electric Scooters (HS Code: 8711.60.0090) | 45% | 10% | 34% | 89% |
| Electric Dirt Bikes (HS Code: 8711.60.0050) | 60% | 10% | 34% | 104% |
📊 Let’s Get Real: How This Affects Prices
Retailers are not printing money. The average gross margin across the industry is just 15%. So here’s what happens when you add these new tariffs into the mix:
EMOVE Cruiser V2
| Current Retail Price | Estimated Cost of Goods (COGS) | Post-Tariff Cost | New Retail Price (w/15% margin) | |
| $1,499 | $1,271.15 | $2,408.14 | $2,889 | |
EridePro SS 2.0
| Current Retail Price | Estimated Cost of Goods (COGS) | Post-Tariff Cost | New Retail Price (w/15% margin) | |
| $4,399 | $3,739.15 | $7,067.01 | $8,127.06 | |
Altis Sigma
| Current Retail Price | Estimated Cost of Goods (COGS) | Post-Tariff Cost | New Retail Price (w/15% margin) | |
| $5,499 | $4,674.15 | $9,182.23 | $10,559.57 | |
EMOVE RoadRunner Pro
| Current Retail Price | Estimated Cost of Goods (COGS) | Post-Tariff Cost | New Retail Price (w/15% margin) | |
| $2,695 | $2,290.75 | $4,327.52 | $4,976.65 | |
🏢 Can We Manufacture in the U.S. Instead?
We get asked this a lot: "Why not just make scooters or bikes in the U.S.?" Short answer? It’s really, really complicated.
At VoroMotors, we’re uniquely positioned to speak on this—we have teams and offices in both the U.S. and China. With our recently set up factory in china (watch here)
Here’s a reality check:
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Initial Setup Cost: $2.2M+ just to get the basics (rent, labor, equipment, insurance) for a facility that maxes out at 2,000 units/month.
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Labor Reality: Assembly is a specialized, skilled task. In China, the specialized skilled labor pool is competitive and more flexible. In the U.S., it's harder to find and 2x–3x more expensive. We're talking $50k–$120k per assembler.
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High-Risk Insurance & Power Requirements: Battery-related work requires specialized zoning, permits, facility insurance, high risk worker's compensation, manufacturing OSHA compliance, dangerous goods handling, and high-voltage equipment setups.
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Local Supply Chain Gaps: In China, we can source motors, batteries, controllers, and frames in a 30-mile radius. In the U.S.? You’re building the entire supply chain from scratch.
📈 The $40M-$60M Question
To do it right in the U.S., you’d need:
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$20M to build a real facility—including hiring the right departments and people locally to operate a full-scale production house
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$20M more to cover 60 days of inventory across the board—just to ensure consistent product flow
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A minimum $100M in revenue per product line to make the economics work
And that’s not even accounting for seasonality. Scooter and bike sales dip hard in winter, but a factory needs steady volume to keep skilled labor on payroll. In the U.S., you can’t lay off and rehire that easily every few months.
🚫 So What Now?
If these tariffs go through and local production isn’t feasible for most companies, the reality is simple:
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Prices will go up—a lot.
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Choice will go down.
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Small and mid-sized e-mobility brands could disappear.
⚠️ Real Talk:
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You’ve got to start buying now. Prices are not coming down—100% guaranteed.
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As long as the prices are reasonable and comparable, you need to start buying from American companies instead of browsing Alibaba. Stop buying off-brand goods from companies you’ve never heard of.
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Even if it’s not us—support American companies that hire U.S. employees. The more we support real U.S. brands, the more leverage these companies have to:
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Drive prices down
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Convince factories to invest in U.S.-based production
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Shift supply chains closer to home
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Factory owners are businesspeople too—they don’t want prices so high that no one buys. If we show there’s enough support for U.S. companies, factories will follow the market and bring resources to America. But it has to make sense for both sides.
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Factories in China already operate on razor-thin profit margins—some as low as 3% to 13%. Reducing those margins doesn’t move the needle. For example:
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A bike that costs $2,000 with a 10% factory margin = $1,800 factory cost.
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If the factory cuts its profit to 3%, the new price is $1,940—a savings of only $60. That’s nothing after tariffs add thousands.
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We predict this will echo what happened in 2020—many brands will not survive. A lot of them already closed in 2021. It’s a high-cost, high-risk game now.
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Some of your favorite brands may no longer exist in the U.S. market if these tariffs hold.
📢 Update as of May 12, 2025: The "Tariff Reversion" Illusion
Let’s set the record straight.
Yes, the tariffs between the U.S. and China have technically reverted—but practically? We’re still deep in the tariff swamp.
At the peak, the combined rate for electric scooters, e-bikes, and electric dirt bikes hit 145%+ when you stacked the 10% base rate, the 25% HS code duty, and the whopping 110% Section 301 penalty. As expected, that level of taxation crushed imports—nobody in their right mind was bringing in product.
Now, here's the kicker: while the Section 301 penalty has been rolled back, we are not back to the good ol’ days. Today’s updated breakdown still includes:
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10% base rate
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25% product-specific (HS Code) duty
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30% new "additional" tariff layer
That’s a 55% total tariff—a far cry from relief.
Translation: Prices are still rising. The industry is still bleeding. And "reverted" is just another word for “repackaged pain.”
At Voro, we’re doing everything we can to innovate with purpose and stay resilient—part of that means planning ahead and investing heavily in stocking products early, so we can keep costs down for our riders. We’ve stretched our resources to maintain a strong inventory and absorb the rising costs without passing them on.
For example, despite the price hikes on Eridepro bikes, we’ve held pricing steady by sacrificing all profit just to keep things moving and support our customers. But this approach isn’t sustainable forever.
If you’ve made it this far in the blog, we hope you understand the reality we’re facing—and know that we’re doing everything possible to keep this community riding strong.
While our factory is based in China, our R&D team operates from the U.S., and it's our American technicians, engineers, and customer service staff who drive constant product improvements through real-world feedback. Every service center visit, every support call, every ride you take contributes directly to U.S. economic output. We're tightening our belts, reallocating resources wisely, and doubling down on what matters most—building a stronger future for electric mobility, both at home and abroad.If you’ve made it this far, thanks for sticking with us. We’ll keep fighting for smarter solutions—and for your right to ride electric, affordably.
Stay charged, Team VoroMotors
PS: Share this article if you care about the future of electric mobility. Awareness is power.
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Milan
May 22, 2025
I am so disappointed in trump right now this was my dream my goal to buy a altis sigma but bout to be crushed i am soo upset idk what to do i was still grinding saving up money for the bike but looks like i wont ever do that smh so upset ughhh!!!!!