Steering the e-bike boom
Anthony Clyde, founder of Electric Bikes NZ, talks to Aimee Shaw about supplying a fleet of e-bikes to the St John’s equivalent in Israel and the country’s recent e-bike boom
What does your business do?
I formed Electric Bikes NZ in 2007 and we import and distribute electric bicycles across New Zealand. We have around 70 dealers. We decided not to sell online pretty early.
We were New Zealand’s first e-bike brand carried nationally and began when e-bikes were almost unheard of. It was a challenge.
What motivated you to start?
I actually had a dream about electric bikes in 2007, and I woke up and thought ‘what a great idea’, you can put a motor on a bike and call it an e-bike. I Googled that and there was no one in New Zealand selling them so I checked if electricbikesnz.co.nz was available, purchased that and began importing samples.
I had always imported semiprecious jewellery from India so I knew how to track down a product. I got a couple, from Australia and China. I recall the first time I hopped on my sample bike, that’s when I got what an e-bike was, that first whooosh!
When did e-bikes first gain popularity in New Zealand?
It started to kick off about two and a half years ago. That’s when our sales really started doubling year on year. We were expecting it to happen sooner but it was quite a new product and quite disruptive to the cycling fraternity. There was quite a lot of negativity in cycle stores to begin with. I was seen as cheating, but then people began to understand that it was not trying to cheat at sport cycling and was transport cycling — a different category and another way of getting round instead of a car.
The baby boomer market see it as a form of recreation, and that’s what is booming now.
Where do you import your bikes from and who do you sell to?
They are imported from China. In 2011, I decided to start my own brand, Smart Motion, and now we have distributors in Australia, United States and Norway. It’s starting to grow as a global brand, which is quite exciting.
We’ve just done a fleet for the equivalent of St John’s ambulance e-bikes in Israel, it’s like their rapid response to someone who has had a heart attack or an accident. They have flashing lights and everything. The first fleet we sent was 200 and there’s more on the way. We’re also trialling the bikes with the NZ
Police and have countries in Europe chatting to us about the same.
How do you create an e-bike brand?
It’s been a learning curve. Initially I did things pretty basically and used what I learnt importing other brands. I worked with a friend over in China and tried to create a bike suited for our market here. Once we had enough turnover we started designing from scratch; full frame design, even some of the electronics, LCD screens . . .
The bikes range in price from just under $3000 to just under $5000.
What are your long-term plans? My Smart Motion international hat is becoming bigger and bigger. I’m focused on turning Smart Motion into a major global brand. I had a pretty exciting meeting over in China last week, working out the structure and the way forward. That’s my next mission. We’ll also be moving everything back to New Zealand. Some of our management was in China but we’ve decided to create a fully Kiwi company, and are looking at manufacturing in Taiwan as well, which will mean the [product] is a little more higher-end.
What advice do you give to others thinking about starting their own business?
Seek advice and mentorship. Be okay with getting it wrong — you win some, you learn some.