The electric two-wheeled sector might be in a bit of a hole at the moment, but plenty of companies are betting that the situation will change soon and are launching new battery-powered brands, especially in the urban mobility sector.
Only a few, however, have the potential and backing of Zeeho. It’s a sub-brand of Chinese bike manufacturer CFMoto, which means it has the support of the Pierer Mobility group, owners of KTM.
BDN went along to Zeeho’s European launch in Barcelona to try out the new scooters and hear about the firm’s plans. We spoke to CFMoto brand director Samantha Liu, who looks after the whole Zeeho project. She’s been at CFMoto since 2006, starting work there as an intern straight from university, and has headed up Zeeho since it was launched in 2018. She’s also in charge of CFMoto’s motorsport activities in Moto2 and Moto3, and she’s been to the Isle of Man TT to watch the CFMoto WK650 race bike take fourth place in the 2016 Lightweight TT.
How does the Zeeho brand operate, then? “It’s a wholly owned subsidiary and has around 150 employees,” said Liu. The business unit is more for the front end, from sales and marketing to product planning and R&D. But CFMoto as a group has an integrated ‘new energy’ department that develops, designs, and tests batteries.”
Produced at CFMoto factory
Does Zeeho production happen alongside CFMoto? “Yes, production is shared in the same facility as CFMoto motorcycles and also next to the CFMoto/KTM joint venture.”
Will Zeeho be the firm’s only electric bike brand? It seems not. Zeeho will be the name for CFMoto’s urban mobility electric products, and the main brand will produce bigger, more powerful ‘fun’ battery-powered machines. “CFMoto has already developed and presented several electric vehicles. Last year, we released a ‘leak’ of a prototype electric motocross bike under the CFMoto brand.”
David Edwards is the dealer development manager at KTM UK and is overseeing the Zeeho dealership rollout. “A small demo fleet of Zeeho bikes is coming from Barcelona to the UK,” he told us. “As soon as we get them, we will visit interested dealers for them to see and evaluate, with a view to becoming dealers. Zeeho is open to any dealer in the UK: it’s a standalone brand.”
Where does Edwards reckon the brand will do well? “I think it’s going to be much more urban. The leads I’ve got at the moment are much more skewed to the South East, so inside the M25 and surrounding counties.”
Zeeho is also putting together a special EV package for new dealers that includes safety training and kit, plus workshop equipment, visual identity, and point-of-sale materials.
Edwards outlined the advantages for existing KTM and CFMoto dealers. “CFMoto parts come from the same warehouse in Austria, and dealers will be familiar with the systems and processes if they’re already a KTM dealer. It’s proven and well tested.”
Email David at [email protected]