BikeFlex head up eBike leasing panel at eBike Summit

Bike leasing company BikeFlex will be taking a leading role at the forthcoming eBike Summit in Oxford this September.

Co-founder, Tim Hammond will be heading up a panel of lenders including Arval and Kennet Leasing and eBike OEMs including Advanced, with the mission to make eBikes as accessible as possible on affordable monthly plans for consumers and businesses.

Taking place at the University of Oxford, Blavatnik School of Government, the eBike Summit, is the leading, high level, business forum for the fast growing eBike sector, designed to bring the world’s eBike leaders together, set the strategic direction of the sector and to facilitate significant partnerships to propel the sector forwards.

In addition to the business focus, the eBike Summit will also serve as a high level platform engaging leaders across government and industry bodies.

Hammond says ‘We’re excited to be involved in a key role in the eBike Summit, which this year is in partnership with Autotrader, another sign that eBikes are being seen as a viable alternative to cars.
We’ll also be presenting how more companies can lease eBikes and eCargo bikes for their business.

Ade Thomas, founder of Green TV, the media business behind World EV Day, EV Summit, Top Women in EV, ElectricDrives, EV LIVE, and the eBike Summit comments, “I’m delighted to welcome BikeFlex, as a partner at this year’s eBike Summit.”

“Many thanks to Tim Hammond, Founder, BikeFlex, for his support for both the eBike Summit, and this super fast growing sector. There are some really exciting developments around finance, leasing, online sales and insurance in the sector. These will be some of the narratives playing out at this year’s summit.”

Tickets for the eBike Summit are available here.

A manufacturers viewpoint

“From our prediction, in the next three to four years, every second bike in the European core markets should be an e-bike,” states Claus Fleischer, Chief Executive of Bosch eBike Systems when talking with the Financial Times. With 4.5 Million eBikes sold last year across the continent, industry commentators predict that 50% of all pedal bikes being sold across Europe will be eBikes in just five year’s time.

Means to test and measure shift in mindset and transport habits

In conversation with CI.N Claus Fleischer recounts one particular social experiment – carried out alongside a German University – in which car keys of residents were traded in for ten days, in exchange for an electric bike. Notes were taken before and after from the volunteers on what trips were undertaken and how.

Fleischer says of the results: “It was interesting to see that overall commuting and A to B transportation habits didn’t change, but the modal split began to change after the event. They were basically going the same distances, as often as before, but making the trips with an eBike. 73% of rides by e-Bike thereafter was the result, but the volunteers hadn’t had the idea previously to try the e-Bike for the trips. If you take a picture of congestion with minus 75% the number of cars the streets are empty. Our job now is to convert this precious street space to account for this possibility and drive the change. Of course, the auto- mobile is rather static as cars only move, on average, one hour per day. Immobile cars are using huge and valuable space, but convert that to suit pedestrians and cyclists and you’ll see fluidity in the city again.”

To read the full interview, exploring supply challenges, the mathematics of city mobility and safeguarding e-Bikes, click here.

For insight into Bosch eBike investments in European manufacturing, click here.

Supporting the industry with a ‘used approved’ B2B sales platform

BikeFlex has also launched a used approved eBike platform – BikeStock – specifically for the fast changing needs of the cycling industry. This offers a market place for B2B sales of post lease period eBikes, utilising a methodology successfully proven in the auto industry.