Welcome back to the InsightEV Weekender, your repository of the weekly news and happenings in electric two-wheelers and mobility.
A Few Baskets Get Most of the Eggs
Our deep dive analysis this week focused on the investment landscape in L-category electric vehicles over the last 15 years. We found 63 prominent startups and looked at the funding they have attracted. Unsurprisingly, Indian startups attracted nearly 50% of all funding, with Ola Electric itself cornering a quarter of all global funding.
The top five – Ola, Gogoro, Ather, Zero, and LiveWire – captured more than 65% of all funding, indicating a herd mentality among investors. Are genuine startups not getting capital because of this?
This is part one of the (Premium subscription only) analysis, over 5,400 words. The second part of the analysis drops next week. You may want to get a premium subscription to access the analysis and the other ‘premium member only’ content.
Verge creates a Guinness World Record.
Verge Motorcycles achieved a Guinness World Record for the longest distance traveled on a single charge for a motorcycle.
Influencers Sam Clarke and Sara Sloman took a Verge TS Pro around London, traveling through multiple boroughs while staying inside the M25, and clocked nearly 311 km on a single charge. The trip lasted for 17 hours and was done in real-life road conditions.
Interestingly, they did not go for the ‘full empty’ when creating the record. The TS was at 7% battery when it was parked, so another 10-15km would have been easy.
London must be the best place to attempt such a record, thanks to the slow yet predictable traffic conditions. Interestingly, the record has been created on the TS Pro, essentially a high-performance motorcycle.
However, the record is little more than a social media stunt as we see it. At 311km traveled in 16 hours, the TS Pro traveled at an average speed of less than 20 kph. That’s the speed that an e-bike or a L1e moped is expected to That’s not impressive, or practical, and it seems that the route intentionally omitted any motorway travel. UK motorway speed limits are 112kph, and at that speed, batteries drain fast.
The TS Pro has a 20.2kWh battery pack and Verge claims a 190km range in the combined drive cycle.
Any which way, we see this record staying put for some time till some third-world manufacturer just packs in a lot of battery with a tiny motor.
LiveWire Launches Patrol Models for Law Enforcement
With retail sales not picking up in a hurry, LiveWire has decided to go after Zero’s bread-and-butter – fleet sales. The brand unveiled the Patrol models this week. The Patrol versions can be ordered on both the S2 Del Mar and Alpinsta models.
In launching the Patrol models, LiveWire is leaning on Harley-Davidson’s nearly 100 years of experience as a supplier of police motorcycles. This is good news for LiveWire sales as fleet sales can be a high revenue generator. We estimate 50% of Zero’s overall sales as coming from fleet sales.
We can completely see that an electric cop bike makes sense. The near-silent operation gives the cops a few more seconds of surprise over suspects. LiveWire’s entry into Patrol models is really bad news for Zero, as till now it had the space for itself for the last 12 years. The company’s FXP, DSP, and DSRP models may be outfitted for police duties. It is estimated that more than 100 police departments across North America have deployed Zero Motorcycles.
Conifer Raises USD 20m Funding for Ferrite Magnet Motors
Valley-based electric motor startup Conifer has raised USD 20m in funding. The company has been working on rare-earth-free Ferrite magnet motors that it says would reduce costs and insulate better against supply chain risks.
If they use Neodymium-based magnets in the same motor, then the company says its motor can double the power density with a 95% reduction in stator core, and also eliminates scrap steel.
Further, the motors are in-wheel, but unlike traditional hub motors, which are sealed with the wheel, these can be dropped adjacent to the wheel. The packaging leaves space for fixtures like drum brakes and ABS systems if the application demands so.
The present range is available for 8″ to 17″ wheel sizes. The company says that with its ‘No tool’ manufacturing, customers can produce motors with 750W to 19kW power outputs on the same production line, the modular and stackable design maintaining 80%+ part commonization.
The Conifer team is made up of ex-Lucid and ex-Apple (car project) engineers. VCs investing in this funding round include True Ventures, MFV Partners, MaC Ventures, Voyager, Z21 Ventures, Silicon Valley Bank, and Higher Life Ventures. Rohit Sharma from True Ventures would be joining the Conifer board.
Ultraviolette Appoints MotoMondo as UK Distributor
India-based Ultraviolette has appointed MotoMondo as its distributor for the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Ireland. The Ultraviolette F77 Mach 2 would be the first product offering. It has a 30 kW motor and 155 kph top speed capability.
The F77 goes on sale in the UK with a GBP 8,299 price tag. This is introductory pricing and would jump up by another GBP 1,100 once the introductory period is over.
Ultraviolette does not have any direct competitors in Europe, and that may work for them.
However, the pricing does very little to bring the ICE crowd to electric. As a comparison, the much more capable Kawasaki Z650 starts at GBP 7,139, the even more capable Honda Hornet starts at GBP 7,499, and the very popular Yamaha MT-07 starts at GBP 7,704.
That’s a wrap for today. This newsletter will be back next Saturday. The posts on the website are more frequent. This is your editor, and you may view my LinkedIn profile here.
