What’s happening with PodRide

Link to PodRide´s official page: http://mypodride.com

What happened to PodRide and why isn’t it available for purchase yet?

The short answer is that Podride will be too expensive to produce in a small series and that we have not managed to get financing to invest in a large series that would bring the price down.

We haven’t completely given up on PodRide, but at the moment the project is on hold due to lack of funds.

More about price and strategy

To sell well, I think PodRide should cost 6-8000€ and have a good financing solution (loan or leasing). PodRide V2 which is the version we have produced full drawings and parts list on, it has 717 parts (+ screw, nut, rivet). Of these, 476 are special parts that must be manufactured. When manufacturing 1000 bicycle-car, the price to the customer ends up at €12-15,000 (offers from China and Taiwan). About half the price 6-7000 is in standard bicycle parts (gears, brakes, wheels, motor, battery, etc.) So it is not enough to only make the frame and body cheaper, the standard parts also need to drop in price significantly if the target price is to be reached .

I think it is possible to cut the price in half, but then you need to invest 10s of millions of euros and sell 100s of thousands of bikes. It would be a very big and risky investment on an unproven product and I wouldn’t even do it myself if I had the money. But you naturally start by making a number of limited series that you subsidize so that you can test the market and the product step by step. And only if it looks good you invest the really big money needed to make a profit. But it requires someone who has the courage and resources to make such a long-term investment.

I wanted to try selling it for €15,000. It is a substantial overprice, but much cheaper than an electric car and not more expensive than many moped-cars. But my partner doesn’t believe in that way at all. Now the project is on hold, waiting for investments, new ideas or a sales.

I still think PodRide could be a very good product and it’s very frustrating to have so much interest from customers but so little interest from investors.

In order to still find a way forward, I am working with a simpler three-wheeled bicycle-car that will be easier and cheaper to manufacture in small series.