As urban commuting bounces back post-pandemic, the challenges of congestion, pollution and stress have returned for many. With the UN estimating that 68% of the world’s population will live in urban areas by 2050 a breakthrough is certainly needed to ensure that safe, affordable, speedy and environmentally friendly travel is possible for over 6.5 billion people in the world’s cities.
As UK authorities and organisations tackle the negative impacts of carbon emissions, noise pollution and a buckling infrastructure, Maeving, an electric motorcycle company co-founded by Seb Inglis-Jones, offers hope for a cleaner, quieter urban landscape.
After a challenging start to his schooling, Seb came to Radley without much motivation for academic study, but his outlook was entirely changed by transformative teaching during his five years at the College. English, in particular, was a subject that he became passionate about, leading the activities of the Poetry Society, and attending optional evening classes and talks.
Having grown up in London, Seb was keen for a change of pace, and moved to Durham to study English and Philosophy, going “in as an English Grad, and coming out as more of a Philosophy Grad”. Ethics, and the opportunity it offered for lively conversation and debate, was the focus of Seb’s interest at university, and he rounded off his degree with a dissertation on the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
During his second year, he met Will Stirrup, a PPE student sharing a common ethics module, who matched Seb’s energy for philosophical discussion. A few months and many vigorous debates later, Seb and Will had decided that their ability to reach amicable conclusions in the realm of ethics might translate well into the real world: in the future, they decided, they would build a business together.
Co-founders Will Stirrup (L) and Seb Inglis-Jones (R)
With a firm belief in this objective, but no immediate business plan, they both sought experience in the corporate world to build a foundation of skills and experience, Will at KPMG, and Seb at Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC where he pursued a role in sales and marketing. While both learned plenty from these early roles, Seb was keen to move on before he became too cemented into the corporate world. He was focused on building a business of his own, and his 70-hour weeks in the office and long commute were not affording an opportunity to dedicate any time to exploring options or developing ideas.
He quit, and began working freelance, juggling a number of revenue streams, including DJing among other activities. It was liberating and provided Seb with the time he needed to research market opportunities.
A friend of Seb’s introduced him to the e-bike revolution in China where, in 2015, legislation had prohibited the use of motorcycles in many urban centres as a pollution-reducing measure. This dictat forced, almost overnight, millions of Chinese commuters to move to electric options – mostly electric-assisted bicycles, e-scooters, alongside some electric motorcycles. At first, there were plenty of crudely improvised motorbikes on the road, powered by car batteries that could be charged at home, thereby overcoming the challenge that a lack of charging infrastructure presented. Innovation and R&D have since blossomed to supply this new demand, and in 2017, 22 million e-bikes were sold in China. 80% of riders there use electric vehicles, the highest rate of electric adoption in the world.
With the pressure to clean up cities in the West, and meet Net Zero targets, Seb felt sure a similar market was about to open up in the UK. Seb was already a keen biker himself, having purchased a motorcycle to combat the joyless congestion of his corporate commute. Joined by his university debating partner, Will, and buoyed by the exciting opportunity, they initially built a business plan to launch the European arm of a pre-existing electric bike manufacturer in China. This first endeavour didn’t work, but they had learned a lot about the market and technology, and before long they were ready to try again.
Their approach this time was not to import motorcycles from China, but to lean into the rich heritage of British motorcycle manufacture which includes BSA, Norton, Royal Enfield and Triumph. They set out to recruit the best UK engineers and start making Britain’s first electric motorcycle.
The Maeving RM1
Despite their first round of investment-raising being interrupted by the pandemic, and with a renewed public interest in private transport to avoid the virus, Seb and Will secured their investment from a venture capital firm and some angel investors, and began hiring. Their aim was to create a vehicle which brings convenience, excitement and joy to riders’ daily travel, while simultaneously providing a sustainably responsible and affordable way to commute.
Maeving is based in the Midlands, with its headquarters in Coventry, the heartland of British motorcycling. It was in Coventry, in 1896, that the first motorcycle was made publicly available, a two-horsepower vehicle by Humber Motorcycle. Maeving draws inspiration from this national heritage, with 65% of parts for their motorcycles currently sourced from the UK, and an aspiration for this to increase to 100% (moving away from LG and Bosch) when UK battery manufacture improves.
Maeving production
Maeving launched the Maeving RM1 in April 2022, with innovative removable battery technology and a beautiful design based on the best of British motorcycles from the 1930s, 50s and 60s. Within a year it had become the number one selling electric motorcycle in the UK and since then, production has scaled quickly with hundreds of motorcycles produced and sold.
Since launching, Maeving have appeared at a number of esteemed shows such as Goodwood, Concours on Savill Row, the International Motorcycle and Accessories Exhibition, and Motorcycle Live. They’ve been featured on the BBC, in global affairs and lifestyle magazine Monocle, have released a limited-edition vehicle in collaboration with luxury shirtmaker Thomas Pink, and have partnered with Manchester garment maker Private White V.C. to create the Envoy Poncho.
In 2023, Maeving expanded into Mainland Europe and the United States. They have also developed and launched a second model, the Maeving RM1S, which has a top speed of 70 mph, making it ideal for those whose commute takes them on dual carriageways and beyond the urban landscape. A hugely successful year was topped off with being awarded 3rd place in the Startups 100 for 2024, a list which celebrates disruptive new businesses.
Why ‘Maeving’?
Maven is an uncommon word in English, borrowed from Yiddish, which means ‘an expert’ or ‘enthusiast’. We felt this reflected the brand we wanted to build.
Do you consider Maeving to be a green tech company?
Yes, definitely. What we’re trying to do is get as many people as possible on to green, sustainable transport; that’s the primary objective. Ultimately, we have a climate agenda driving the business. By switching a proportion of the population to using two-wheeled transport you free up large parts of cities which currently accommodate parked cars for better uses such as shared green spaces. Noise pollution is also a blight on our urban environment – reducing the use of internal combustion engines reduces noise levels and allows us to enjoy natural ambient sounds like birdsong, and also stops people being woken up by a delivery driver revving outside their window at 5am. There are all sorts of benefits.
Is range anxiety still an issue for potential customers, and how do you overcome it?
Range anxiety is not so much about the mileage that a car or a bike can do, it’s about the infrequency of charging opportunities, and we just need to overcome the current limitations of charging infrastructure. It wasn’t that long ago that mobile phones had up to a week’s worth of battery but with the introduction of smartphones, suddenly you’re only getting two thirds of the day before you need to top up the battery. The reason that people don’t panic is that they have a charger in their office, a charger at home, one they carry in their bag. The increased capability of a smartphone over an old ‘brick’ makes it worthwhile, and we’ve formed a new habit of creating ourselves a personal charging infrastructure. With a bike, you can’t increase the battery capacity by adding more and more cells because bikes need to be lightweight and manoeuvrable. But with a removable battery that you can take into the office or a café, or into your home, suddenly every three-pin socket becomes a charging point.
Our bikes aren’t intended for driving across the country on long recreational rides, but the average commute in the UK is under seven miles, and is done solo. Charging your Maeving battery once a week at the weekend is easily enough for most people’s daily commute. And it comes with benefits that an electric car can’t offer – moving through traffic jams, and easy parking in small spaces.
Removable, rechargeable battery technology
Affordability seems like a key factor for Maeving?
We wanted to make a Maeving bike purchased on finance less than the cost of an Oyster Card. You can finance a Maeving for as little as £95.00 per month and charging the battery fully costs around 73p. That means your battery charging costs for the UK’s average commute distance, 11.4 miles per day, is only £4.20 per month.
We commissioned a study to look at our environmental credentials and one of the results that was really interesting is that our bikes emit less carbon per person travelling than the London Underground. So, it’s actually cheaper and more environmentally friendly to ride a Maeving bike … there’s no excuse!
What’s the maintenance and lifespan like on a Maeving?
The benefit of removable batteries is that you can continually and easily upgrade as the technology advances, which is not the case with an electric car. So, theoretically, you could own one of our bikes for a long, long time and keep it up to date. Our batteries aren’t fast-charging (most customers simply charge them overnight at the end of the week), which helps to ensure the longevity of the battery. In terms of maintenance, electric vehicles have no moving engine parts to worry about, so riders really only need to worry about keeping their bike clean and keeping their batteries out of very extreme hot and cold weather.
How are developments inwww.maeving.com battery technology affecting your company?
We’re certainly bringing out new batteries now which are better than the batteries we brought out last year or two years ago. But actually, battery density is not currently improving all that quickly – it’s slower and steadier. I’m sure everyone is hearing plenty of buzzwords in the media, about solid state battery technology, etc., and there will certainly be a paradigm shift at some point in the future, but until then, it’ll be gradual. All automotive companies are using broadly the same cells; we use the same cells in our bikes that Tesla do in their cars.
The Maeving RM1S
Do you see Transport as a Service (TaaS) being a part of Maeving’s future?
Generally speaking, I find it’s good to try and maintain a fairly narrow focus for your business in order to deliver the best product and service, and stay true to your values. We are focused on the technological and sustainability approach of our company and creating premium products for our riders – beautiful British design. At the moment, it’s about the individual rider, and their relationship with their bike, it’s about personal journeys, customisation, and individual travel. Since COVID we’ve seen plenty of e-scooter and e-bicycle shared services come and go, but Maeving is about owning a bike that allows you to rediscover and fall back in love with the city you live in, and make your daily commute feel like an adventure.
It sounds like you’ve known that you want to start your own business since you were quite young. Has it lived up to your expectations?
I think we both found the idea of starting a business appealing from the point of view of having full creative control as it develops, and the sheer breadth of exposure and responsibility – be it finance and fundraising, manufacturing, managing people – is hard to match in the corporate world. We also thought that if you’re going to devote your life to building something, and be pretty stressed in the process, then it’s important to make sure that the business is doing something that matters to you. I loved my motorbike, but also knew that the biggest issue of our time is climate change. So, whatever our business was, it was in some way going to be part of the solution to that.
Starting a business is a tricky path, and it’s often glamorized. The truth is, most start-ups fail … many founders are exhausted by the end of it and burnout. It’s a lot less sexy than it’s portrayed; it takes a high tolerance for risk, resilience, and lots of determination and, perhaps, a level of lunacy, honestly. But we discovered a problem that we wanted to fix – something that we are passionate about.
What do you hope a city of the future might look like? What else might we reimagine?
My answer would differ drastically depending on the timeline, but looking to the immediate future (and thus ignoring the shared economy driverless car revolution and beyond), our mission is to show people that there is no faster, cleaner, more enjoyable, and more affordable way to get around cities than on an electric motorcycle. It is to impress upon people the notion that, given that most people live in cities, travel short distances (and most of the time solo), there is often no need for a car; electric or otherwise. A world in which car usage is reduced in favour of bicycles, scooters, and motorcycles (all of them electric) is quieter, cleaner, less congested, and full of people who actually enjoy their commute!
Want to find out more? Visit Maeving’s website at www.maeving.com, to see their motorcycles in detail. There are a number of fascinating blogs to read too, on everything from keeping cool while travelling in hot weather, staying safe on the roads, organising motorcycle insurance, and interviews with Maeving riders including environmentalists, actors, and musicians.
Read the full article on Seb and Maeving in the Old Radleian 2024.
All images belong to Maeving.
