Micromobility Industries first defined and now curates the future of urban transport that comes from small electric vehicles. Ride AI is now the focusing force of our industry as we explore how artificial intelligence will change the way we move. Ride AI is hosted by Ed Niedermeyer an American author and analyst who focuses on the automotive industry and mobility innovation. Co-Hosts of the show include Horace Dediu, Oliver Bruce and James Gross.
https://ridereview.com/news
96: Heavy-duty micromobility - the story of Ubco with CEO Timothy Allan
This week Oliver interviews a fellow kiwi, Timothy Allan, CEO of Ubco, about their heavy duty electric motorbikes. While the firm is small - they’ve sold a bit more than a thousand units across NZ, Europe and the US - it ticks a few interesting disruptive innovation boxes, mainly by meeting the customers core needs in very specific ways through improved reliability and then creating new jobs to be done in the form of silent transport and portable power packs that change the basis of competition against other ICE options. Specifically, they dig into: - The history of the Ubco brand/motorbikes in 2014/15 - Why farming environments in New Zealand are the perfect place to test heavy duty micromobility vehicles - The value of getting bikes into the hands of customers for real world feedback - The importance of quality in componentry in a heavy duty setting - The challenges incumbent manufacturers will face transitioning across to electric powertrains - How they think about distribution and servicing, and how that impacts the business - The story of fundraising for an electric motorbike manufacturer down in the middle of nowhere.