here is the ambitious plan to revive its connected electric bikes

In a long interview given to The Verge, the new leaders of VanMoof unpacked an ambitious 2024 roadmap. New network of retailers, resumption of sales and launch of an electric scooter: here are the three main axes of their specifications.

After a summer saga of a month and a half where the fate of VanMoof hung by a thread, the Dutch company reached an agreement with a buyer to avoid permanent bankruptcy. This is Lavoie, a company specializing in high-end electric scooters and a subsidiary of McLaren Applied, itself bought by the investment company Greybull Capital in 2021.

Three main axes

The media The Verge was able to speak with Elliot Wertheimer, co-CEO of Lavoie, and Nick Fry president of McLaren Applied, as part of a two-hour interview where the ambitious roadmap of the new owners was discussed. In total, three main projects have been defined in this order of priority:

• Deployment of spare parts and launch of a new retailer network;
• Resumption of sales;
• Launch of an electric scooter.

For each project, the pair provided numerous temporal, technical and logistical details. First and foremost, therefore, Lavoie deeply wishes to come to the aid of some 200,000 VanMoof customers. To do this, it will gradually deploy spare parts to retailers with a repair workshop.

VanMoof VAEs had a bad reputation for accumulating technical glitches. The problem was that a model was 90% made up of internally designed parts, not standardized parts. At the time of the bankruptcy, the entire production and delivery chain came to a halt, leaving the VanMoof community on the sidelines.

Lavoie therefore wants to recreate this first link between customers and repair workshops. The group is even looking to go further by developing a whole new network of certified stores, all capable of repairing a VanMoof bicycle. The three priority countries are the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom. The target deadline? The first quarter of 2024.

Reduce repair time

This first and big step is accompanied by in-depth work on the quality of the components. “ We are looking to improve some key parts and components that needed improvement, not only from a reliability standpoint, but also from a mechanical standpoint “, explains Wertheimer.

Here, Lavoie wants to do everything to make maintaining a VanMoof electric bike easier. Ultimately, she hopes to significantly reduce repair time to 20 minutes total. For the moment, batteries and e-shifters are the priorities.

The second stage of the plan of attack consists of resuming sales of electric bikes in the first half of 2024. The S3 and X3 will be phased out, in favor of the S5 and A5 that we were able to try. These models will not be available everywhere: only within the aforementioned retailer network initially.

Web sales could resume, but only in areas where a network of certified workshops exists. Once again, the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom are the only ones on the list, before other countries join them. The second quarter is Lavoie’s target shooting window.

An electric scooter coming

Finally, the new owner of VanMoof has the ambition… to launch a VanMoof electric scooter. It would in fact be the Lavoie Serie 1 rebranded for the occasion, and which we were already talking to you about in December 2022. At the time, its ingenious patented folding system caught our eye.

In reality, this Serie 1 was six months late. The group is making some changes to materials, finishes and colors. What is certain is that the scooter will integrate the VanMoof ecosystem into the heart of its screen. The idea is probably to give it a software identity signed VanMoof.

Source: McLaren Applied

Source: McLaren Applied

Source: McLaren Applied

The exchange between The Vergeand managers was also an opportunity to discuss the group’s financial strategy. And the least we can say is that Elliot Wertheimer and Nick Fry are absolutely not hiding the difficulties they will encounter. In short: the break-even point will clearly not be reached straight away.

“We are not rushing”

“It will take at least three years before we get our heads above water“, said Fry. “We are not rushing. We will go at a reasonable pace“. According to him, tens of millions of euros will be invested in order to release,ultimatelybenefits.

Fortunately, through McLaren Applied and especially Greybull Capital, Lavoie will have sufficient investments and liquidity to try to achieve his goals. We finally learn that the founders of Vanmoof, the brothers Ties and Taco Carlier, have moved away from their initial advisory role to increasingly withdraw.