BIG INTERVIEW
The new Pure Advance e-scooter model
question of legality may deter many business owners from selling the vehicles. Meanwhile high street chain Evans Cycles has begun
to offer e-scooter products, as more and more cycling distributors are adding e-scooter brands to their portfolios. But does the bike industry need to welcome this new mode of transport? “I don’t really care,” said Norris. “It doesn’t really affect me whether the bike industry does or doesn’t. The answer is: progressive people will. “Do they need to? I think there’s still going to be lots of people who enjoy cycling, but fundamentally for a lot of people in an urban environment, scooters are better than a bicycle.” Norris and I were speaking just a day after the launch of
There are currently more than 30 trial scooter rental schemes in the country, which the Government is using to collect safety data to inform any updated legislation. In May, the Government announced plans for a
new vehicle category that would pave the way for the legalisation of private-use e-scooters, as the upcoming Transport Bill would introduce a classification of low- speed, zero-emission vehicles, but despite this positive step it’s still not clear when e-scooters will be legal on the roads. The current indication is that it may not be until June 2023. “It’s frustrating,” said Norris. “The last couple of days I’ve been asked a lot of questions about this. So I think it’s really frustrating for us as a manufacturer that we can’t sell the products, which are legal across the whole of Europe, we can’t ride on the roads and test them in the UK. It just seems antiquated. I think that I feel disappointed that the country I was born in seems to be the slowest getting basic things sorted out. “We did some surveys about a year and a half ago, where we found that 80% of the people leaving our shop without the products said the reason they didn’t buy is because they’re illegal - and that was a nurse, a doctor, a carer, normal people but who just felt they don’t want to ride it after we told them it was illegal. They decided not to ride it, which I respect. But so I think the figure would go up fourfold once they’re legalised. “But British people are quite progressive. We’re trying
new things. We’re innovative as a country. It’s just the Government letting us down at the moment.”
The cycle industry Debate about e-scooters also continues to rage in the cycle industry, as the new technology does present an opportunity to generate sales for bike retailers, but the
www.bikebiz.com November 2022 | 25
Pure’s latest innovation in the e-scooter market - two new models with some unique design features. The new Pure Advance scooters both feature lower foot plates offering the rider a forward facing position, a patent-pending steering system offering greater control and, in the higher-end Advance Flex model, folding handlebars and chassis making the scooter easier to store than other versions. Further developments in the company include planned expansion to the Nordics, the UAE, increasing its footprint in Germany, and Italy along with further discussions in Israel in the USA. Following the announcement of the Currys partnership,
Norris said the brand is always in discussions with new potential partners: “We’re always speaking with people. We’ve been speaking to people for the last few months to try and do the right deals. “We want to make sure that the people can explain
the products properly. We could go into 100 retailers tomorrow, but it’s about having quality retailers.” ●
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