Certainly they've always been too expensive, but this was the original unit which kraeuterbutter bought second hand. After launch it was quite quickly withdrawn as a result of criticisms about performance, noise, range and power and subsequently redesigned.
There are numerous differences and a higher voltage system in the later one, but I don't know the motor quality. Many have completed high mileages now though, with plenty of customer satisfaction and no complaints that I've heard of, so hopefully the new ones are rather better.
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