Van Moof in particular, ebikes in general
- Thread starter Mulezen
- Start date
Stefan Mikes
Gravel e-biker
- Region
- Europe
- City
- Mazovia, PL
Van Moof is not the most of inspiring brands for me (if you ask me).
Besides, the article is behind the paywall.
Besides, the article is behind the paywall.
m@Robertson
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
When I was in Amsterdam over the summer, far and away the various Van Moof bikes were the number one ebike brand. Now, remember that city is awash in a sea of bikes. During my rides around the city it was not unusual to be snuggled in with 20 to 30 bikes waiting with me for a light to change. And that was just going in my direction. So the VM's were I'd say one in fifty. Maybe one in 100... But with so many bicycles on the street you saw one about once every minute or two.
Mulezen
Well-Known Member
m@Robertson
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
nope. Subscription/login-creation screen covers it over.
Stefan Mikes
Gravel e-biker
- Region
- Europe
- City
- Mazovia, PL
I can remember the Van Moof guy weeping crocodile tears how the EU was as evil as not to let him make high power fast e-bikes... Of course, EU would let him if he built his e-bikes to high safety standards, made them Type Approved, and the users would need to register and insure Van Moof L1e-B e-bikes. Van Moof was never capable to make a proper Euro L1e-B, so why should I listen what he wants to tell America?
P.S. Paywalled.
P.S. Paywalled.
Mulezen
Well-Known Member
My first try was from a publicly available article found on Goggle News
FUTURE OF TRANSPORTATION
Image
Credit...Matt Williams
By Adam Satariano
Oct. 12, 2022
This article is part of our series on the Future of Transportation, which is exploring innovations and challenges that affect how we move about the world.
Growing up in the Netherlands, with its network of pathways, its flat landscape and its bicycle-friendly traffic laws, the brothers Ties and Taco Carlier were commuting with their parents on bikes by age 4. Many families in the country didn’t own cars.
But traveling to New York and other cities as adults, the Carliers realized that few people commuted on bikes in the same way they did back home, turned off by the sprawl, the hills and the weather. The experience planted the seed for what would become one of the world’s hottest bicycle brands.
ADVERTISEMENT
In a bike market remade by the pandemic, VanMoof, the Dutch e-bike company started by the brothers, has been among the biggest winners. With a simple and stylish design and clever integration of technology, the company has drawn comparisons to Apple and Tesla and has attracted a loyal and fast-growing customer base among urban professionals in Europe and the United States.
Daily business updates The latest coverage of business, markets and the economy, sent by email each weekday. Get it sent to your inbox.
Sales of the battery-powered bikes more than tripled during the pandemic, and the company has raised more than $150 million from venture capitalists who don’t typically bet on bicycles.
“We wanted to change the bike in the way it functions, but also from a technology perspective,” Ties Carlier said in a video interview from the company’s headquarters in the Netherlands.
“Amsterdam is very small and flat, but most cities in the rest of the world are very hilly and can be really hot in the summer, and the distances are much further,” he said. “But those limitations really change completely when you have electric bikes.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Once seen by consumers as unreliable, expensive and ugly, battery-powered bikes are now one of the fastest growing forms of urban transportation. With simplified designs, new corporate and government incentive policies and more awareness about the environmental benefits of cycling versus driving, VanMoof estimates industry sales will hit $46 billion by 2026, double prepandemic predictions.
Changes to urban transportation prompted by the coronavirus pandemic can be seen around the world, with commuters having abandoned public transit because of Covid fears. Paris roads are crowded with cyclists taking advantage of new bike lanes and lower automobile speed limits. Berlin is building a cycling “superhighway” across the city. And in New York, home to the largest urban bike network in the nation, ridership soared so much there was even a problem finding places to park a bicycle.
“You have all the cities around the world investing in bicycle infrastructure, which is obviously a very good thing,” Mr. Carlier said.
VanMoof, named as a playful Dutch spin on the word “move,” did not make battery-powered bikes when the brothers started the company in 2009. A breakthrough came in 2014 when they came up with a design that put the costly and temperamental battery inside the bike frame, helping protect it from rain, thieves and other risks.
ADVERTISEMENT
Putting the battery out of sight had the added benefit of giving the bike a more straightforward design. A VanMoof bike is sporty but has the sturdy practicality of a Dutch bike, where the rider sits more casually upright than on a traditional road bike.
At $3,500 for the latest models, the cost of a VanMoof bike will scare off many prospective customers. The company said it was targeting not cycling enthusiasts but commuters who might see a battery-powered bike as a good alternative to public transportation or owning a car.
“This will only really work if we design a bike that is specifically for transportation to go from point A to B in a city,” Mr. Carlier said.
VanMoof bikes now come with three gears that shift automatically based on speed, and they can go about 90 miles per charge. A boost button on the handlebar gives riders an acceleration push of up to 20 miles per hour to get up a hill or to start quickly from traffic lights. Mr. Carlier said VanMoof bikes would do about 80 percent of the work for a cyclist.
ADVERTISEMENT
VanMoof does not rely on third-party sellers. Its bikes are sold directly by the company online or at its shops in cities including London, Paris and Munich. VanMoof designs most of its components itself, rather than relying on suppliers in Taiwan or China, which helps it produce a more integrated design but has added manufacturing and supply-chain challenges. Mr. Carlier lives in Taiwan to oversee the company’s manufacturing and production, while his brother is in Amsterdam.
VanMoof, like many venture-capital-backed privately held companies, is not profitable. Its future success will hinge on continuing to convince customers that spending $3,500 on a bike is worthwhile. Many cities have bike-sharing services from Uber and others. Companies like Ride1Up offer models that are less expensive than VanMoof’s. And foldable commuter bikes like those made by Brompton are increasingly popular.
Theft is another major concern. VanMoof has a robust security-protection system that includes a GPS tracker and a warranty program to replace stolen bikes that are not recovered within two weeks. But bike crime remains a problem in major cities and is a top concern for many would-be customers.
An added inconvenience is that the company has only a few maintenance shops, which means that customers not in one of those major cities need to box up their bikes and ship them to the company for servicing.
ADVERTISEMENT
Horace Dediu, a technology analyst who has been studying urban mobility, said that e-bikes were still a niche product but that their popularity would continue to grow swiftly. He said the business reminded him of the early days of the mobile phone market, before it was revolutionized by the iPhone and when there were many more brands making different models.
“Somebody will step up,” he said. “It could be VanMoof; it could be somebody else.”
Mr. Dediu said e-bikes had the potential to help reshape urban transportation by giving people the ability to commute across town without the heavy exertion needed to climb a steep hill or race to a meeting. Eager to get polluting cars off the roads to address climate change, governments and corporations have offered incentives to help offset the cost, which has helped drive purchases.
At VanMoof’s store in London — next to the Battersea Power Station, which will soon be home to Apple’s British headquarters — Trey Williams, the store manager, offered a test ride of one of the company’s latest models, the A5.
It has a simple look and wide handlebars, but at nearly 50 pounds, it is not easy to lift. The bike is turned on and unlocked when a button on the handlebars is pressed in a specific pattern, like typing a key code into a smartphone. There are integrated lights on the front and back. A slot in the middle of the handlebars works as a holster to hold and charge a smartphone. The bike syncs with a VanMoof app that shows details like speed and how much charge is left on the battery.
On a ride through a nearby park, the bike proved easy to operate, and it took only a couple of presses of a button to adjust how much power support to get from the battery. At the highest level of support, it can feel as if the rider is hardly doing any work at all. Hydraulic brakes brought the bike to a swift stop at the bottom of a steep slope in the park. Mr. Williams hit the VanMoof boost button and sped up the hill without any effort.
Adam Satariano is a technology correspondent based in Europe, where his work focuses on digital policy and the intersection of technology and world affairs. @satariano
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FUTURE OF TRANSPORTATION
Can E-Bikes Go Mainstream?
VanMoof, the Dutch e-bike company taking inspiration from Apple and Tesla, is one of the world’s hottest brands in a bike market remade by the pandemic. Will it help reshape urban transportation?Image
Credit...Matt Williams
By Adam Satariano
Oct. 12, 2022
This article is part of our series on the Future of Transportation, which is exploring innovations and challenges that affect how we move about the world.
Growing up in the Netherlands, with its network of pathways, its flat landscape and its bicycle-friendly traffic laws, the brothers Ties and Taco Carlier were commuting with their parents on bikes by age 4. Many families in the country didn’t own cars.
But traveling to New York and other cities as adults, the Carliers realized that few people commuted on bikes in the same way they did back home, turned off by the sprawl, the hills and the weather. The experience planted the seed for what would become one of the world’s hottest bicycle brands.
ADVERTISEMENT
In a bike market remade by the pandemic, VanMoof, the Dutch e-bike company started by the brothers, has been among the biggest winners. With a simple and stylish design and clever integration of technology, the company has drawn comparisons to Apple and Tesla and has attracted a loyal and fast-growing customer base among urban professionals in Europe and the United States.
Daily business updates The latest coverage of business, markets and the economy, sent by email each weekday. Get it sent to your inbox.
Sales of the battery-powered bikes more than tripled during the pandemic, and the company has raised more than $150 million from venture capitalists who don’t typically bet on bicycles.
“We wanted to change the bike in the way it functions, but also from a technology perspective,” Ties Carlier said in a video interview from the company’s headquarters in the Netherlands.
“Amsterdam is very small and flat, but most cities in the rest of the world are very hilly and can be really hot in the summer, and the distances are much further,” he said. “But those limitations really change completely when you have electric bikes.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Once seen by consumers as unreliable, expensive and ugly, battery-powered bikes are now one of the fastest growing forms of urban transportation. With simplified designs, new corporate and government incentive policies and more awareness about the environmental benefits of cycling versus driving, VanMoof estimates industry sales will hit $46 billion by 2026, double prepandemic predictions.
Changes to urban transportation prompted by the coronavirus pandemic can be seen around the world, with commuters having abandoned public transit because of Covid fears. Paris roads are crowded with cyclists taking advantage of new bike lanes and lower automobile speed limits. Berlin is building a cycling “superhighway” across the city. And in New York, home to the largest urban bike network in the nation, ridership soared so much there was even a problem finding places to park a bicycle.
“You have all the cities around the world investing in bicycle infrastructure, which is obviously a very good thing,” Mr. Carlier said.
VanMoof, named as a playful Dutch spin on the word “move,” did not make battery-powered bikes when the brothers started the company in 2009. A breakthrough came in 2014 when they came up with a design that put the costly and temperamental battery inside the bike frame, helping protect it from rain, thieves and other risks.
ADVERTISEMENT
Putting the battery out of sight had the added benefit of giving the bike a more straightforward design. A VanMoof bike is sporty but has the sturdy practicality of a Dutch bike, where the rider sits more casually upright than on a traditional road bike.
At $3,500 for the latest models, the cost of a VanMoof bike will scare off many prospective customers. The company said it was targeting not cycling enthusiasts but commuters who might see a battery-powered bike as a good alternative to public transportation or owning a car.
“This will only really work if we design a bike that is specifically for transportation to go from point A to B in a city,” Mr. Carlier said.
VanMoof bikes now come with three gears that shift automatically based on speed, and they can go about 90 miles per charge. A boost button on the handlebar gives riders an acceleration push of up to 20 miles per hour to get up a hill or to start quickly from traffic lights. Mr. Carlier said VanMoof bikes would do about 80 percent of the work for a cyclist.
ADVERTISEMENT
VanMoof does not rely on third-party sellers. Its bikes are sold directly by the company online or at its shops in cities including London, Paris and Munich. VanMoof designs most of its components itself, rather than relying on suppliers in Taiwan or China, which helps it produce a more integrated design but has added manufacturing and supply-chain challenges. Mr. Carlier lives in Taiwan to oversee the company’s manufacturing and production, while his brother is in Amsterdam.
VanMoof, like many venture-capital-backed privately held companies, is not profitable. Its future success will hinge on continuing to convince customers that spending $3,500 on a bike is worthwhile. Many cities have bike-sharing services from Uber and others. Companies like Ride1Up offer models that are less expensive than VanMoof’s. And foldable commuter bikes like those made by Brompton are increasingly popular.
Theft is another major concern. VanMoof has a robust security-protection system that includes a GPS tracker and a warranty program to replace stolen bikes that are not recovered within two weeks. But bike crime remains a problem in major cities and is a top concern for many would-be customers.
An added inconvenience is that the company has only a few maintenance shops, which means that customers not in one of those major cities need to box up their bikes and ship them to the company for servicing.
ADVERTISEMENT
Horace Dediu, a technology analyst who has been studying urban mobility, said that e-bikes were still a niche product but that their popularity would continue to grow swiftly. He said the business reminded him of the early days of the mobile phone market, before it was revolutionized by the iPhone and when there were many more brands making different models.
“Somebody will step up,” he said. “It could be VanMoof; it could be somebody else.”
Mr. Dediu said e-bikes had the potential to help reshape urban transportation by giving people the ability to commute across town without the heavy exertion needed to climb a steep hill or race to a meeting. Eager to get polluting cars off the roads to address climate change, governments and corporations have offered incentives to help offset the cost, which has helped drive purchases.
At VanMoof’s store in London — next to the Battersea Power Station, which will soon be home to Apple’s British headquarters — Trey Williams, the store manager, offered a test ride of one of the company’s latest models, the A5.
It has a simple look and wide handlebars, but at nearly 50 pounds, it is not easy to lift. The bike is turned on and unlocked when a button on the handlebars is pressed in a specific pattern, like typing a key code into a smartphone. There are integrated lights on the front and back. A slot in the middle of the handlebars works as a holster to hold and charge a smartphone. The bike syncs with a VanMoof app that shows details like speed and how much charge is left on the battery.
On a ride through a nearby park, the bike proved easy to operate, and it took only a couple of presses of a button to adjust how much power support to get from the battery. At the highest level of support, it can feel as if the rider is hardly doing any work at all. Hydraulic brakes brought the bike to a swift stop at the bottom of a steep slope in the park. Mr. Williams hit the VanMoof boost button and sped up the hill without any effort.
Adam Satariano is a technology correspondent based in Europe, where his work focuses on digital policy and the intersection of technology and world affairs. @satariano
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mschwett
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
it’s hard to say with certainty but they’re probably the single most popular recognizable type of e-bike here. there are likely more rads and so on, but the van moofs stand out with their distinctive design.
there are some things they do very, very well… and some things that are pretty bad. it will be interesting to see if the most recently released model, the S5/A5 solves any of the problems of the S3/A3.
Stefan Mikes
Gravel e-biker
- Region
- Europe
- City
- Mazovia, PL
HA HA! Expensive
I could see Van Moofs being sold in a posh part of London (Battersea Power Station). Van Moof has the hard time to sell in the EU as they need to restrict their powerful hub motors. Van Moofs used to be confiscated in Germany in the past for being illegal.
I will read the article later.
mschwett
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
the price has gone up somewhat inexplicably given the simplification and reduction of some features in the latest model. the S3 generation was only around $2000-$2500. i think this will hurt them given their target market is not enthusiasts but rather people who want a bike for primarily utilitarian purposes.HA HA! Expensive
I could see Van Moofs being sold in a posh part of London (Battersea Power Station). Van Moof has the hard time to sell in the EU as they need to restrict their powerful hub motors. Van Moofs used to be confiscated in Germany in the past for being illegal.
I will read the article later.
their hub motor is “nominally” 250w, but we all now how slippery those definitions are. the confiscations in germany were because users were able to change the region settings on the phone to north america, unlocking 35kph.
Stefan Mikes
Gravel e-biker
- Region
- Europe
- City
- Mazovia, PL
Mark, I know you own a Van Moof and I do not want to make you upset (you also own far better bikes I'm jealous of!) Look at the VM frame: It is made "zu imponieren". No deeper thought about the geometry. That company does not understand bikes...
mschwett
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
i appreciate their attention to the visual aspects of the design. the geometry isn’t terribly unusual for this style of bike - remember, it’s not meant for off road, for enthusiasts, or even exercise, really. it isn’t particularly heavy nor light (in the middle of an SL and regular vado for example), and is extremely durable.
the issues are with the components and quality control. if there were not a VM brand shop/store a short ride from me to do same day replacement of motors, transmission, electronics and batteries, it would be a disaster. i would never recommend one to anyone who didn’t have such a shop nearby.
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