MICROMOBILITY
MAKING CHANGE
London-based e-scooter brand Lavoie has launched its first product, the Series 1, and recently acquired Dutch e-bike brand VanMoof. BikeBiz editor Alex Ballinger visited the brand to find out more
L
avoie is a brand firmly committed to the future of mobility.
Based in London, and established as a
subsidiary of tech company McLaren Applied, Lavoie is an e-scooter brand aiming to drive the development of urban transportation. Shortly after launching its first mobility product, the Series 1, Lavoie announced some even bigger news - it had acquired Dutch e-bike brand VanMoof, which went into administration earlier this year. The VanMoof buyout was somewhat a surprise, after a number of major brands had previously expressed interest in the company, but had quickly pulled out on closer inspection. But Lavoie announced that it had
plans to grow and develop the VanMoof business, with backing from its parent company McLaren Applied. Announcing the acquisition, McLaren Applied chairman Nick Fry said: “The acquisition of VanMoof underscores our commitment to strengthen and grow our world-leading e-mobility business. We see a huge potential to transform the way people travel around the congested
36 | October 2023
Albert Nassar (left) and Eliott Wertheimer
cities of the world in a more active and enjoyable way. “This exciting deal helps us to accelerate global growth, allowing us to increase the scale and quality of products and services we can offer to our customers. We are fully committed to being leaders in manufacturing premium e-mobility products that are redefining the category with each ride.”
Shortly before the acquisition news emerged, I travelled
to Lavoie HQ in Wandsworth, London, to speak with Co- CEO Eliott Wertheimer and to test out their unique Series 1 e-scooter.
The Series 1 has been designed as an aspirational and innovative mobility solution, which Lavoie hopes will offer a contrast to the many cheap e-scooter products currently on the market. Lavoie was founded by Wertheimer and Albert Nassar, who had previous experience running their own e-bike and e-scooter brand. “We launched Lavoie to really help redefine the category, and help it become accepted as a real vehicle that people can be proud to own: an object of desire, like we would buy a nice car, or a nice motorbike. “To do that, we leveraged all the assets we
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