I think you may be right...Afraid the cynic in me has seen a few of these "green" schemes and is now deeply skeptical about them.
My ex used to work for one of them and even she was very open about saying their main reason for existing was to make money for themselves - they had no interest in "improving and protecting the local environment" despite what their advertising said.
My local council tip is as bad, they often have a skip full of pushbikes including some quality bikes and some that you could ride home if you put air in the tyres (some don't even need that). They refuse to sell any claiming they go for recycling - this translates as a local bike-fix charity cherry picks what they want and the rest are melted down
Took my ebike with the newly fixed rear hub (new bearings and cassette), to local bike guy to get him to put on rear hub/torque arm and do quick final mechanics checkover. We got talking for 20mins and he mentioned that he was getting lot of work from botched jobs from a company in Creswell Lane...
He knows them as: https://cycle-cycles.uk/
The OP linked to this site: https://www.ebikefreedom.co.uk/about-us
Look at the websites, notice any similarities? Such as same photos peppered about, same top level links, font, similar AI crap logo etc., both horrible shitty squarespace websites.
Checking the domains and it's obviously same dude who's registered them. Interesting? He's going for the 'charity/green' angle but also lining up his ducks few days later (registered 3 days later), to sell for a profit?
Bike shop guy was damning, he said he's had to work on 'many' dangerous ebikes (and bikes!) that came from that shop, he was starting to get a little worked up so I didn't ask too many more questions ;-)
It's owned by a family apparently, allegedly none of who appear to be qualified bike mechanics or have history in the business. I will ask for more details when I pick the bike up this week but he did mention for example they like to drill the frames seatstays whenever they liked to add stuff like battery racks or pannier racks and most of the gearing not setup (even L/H screw), cheap badly fitted brakes, loose and wobbly headsets...
We're going for a look this week (schools are off!), and will check out what his wiring looks like and what type of batteries and chargers they're punting etc.
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