Start-Up: Vectrix

A fortnight after Live Earth and Carlo Di Biagio is still lamenting the fact that Al Gore never bestrode the stage of New Jersey’s Giants Stadium on a Vectrix zero-emission electric scooter. “We were this close,” he sighs, before recalling that a Vectrix maxi-scooter is currently en route to California, addressed to a Mr Schwarzenegger at the Governor’s Mansion. Surely America’s self-proclaimed green governor, a long-time biker, would find this photo opportunity irresistible. “It would make such a difference getting the brand out there, especially in America,” Di Biagio says wistfully.

Of course, what Vectrix’s chief operating officer is far too modest to point out is that his own name being linked to such a groundbreaking vehicle is a pretty big deal. Until March, 2003, Di Biagio was chief executive of Ducati Motor Holding, maker of some of the most lusted-after motorbikes ever created. Moreover, Di Biagio is widely credited for kick-starting the once-mismanaged Italian company’s financial recovery and overseeing public listings in both Milan and New York.

So when Di Biagio insists that the battery-powered electric bike is the future, he sounds like he is genuinely awed by its blockbuster potential and not merely chastened by an inconvenient truth. “I think in 10 years, maybe earlier, the centre of European towns will allow only electric vehicles or hybrids. We cannot change towns and we will never be able to make engines clean enough – scooters are better than cars, but are still bad in terms of pollution – so what choice is there?” he asks.

“Vectrix is leading a revolution,” Di Biagio continues. “We’re offering clean, efficient, reliable and affordable transport that is stylish and fun. Ducati is about leisure – riding at weekends, picking up girls in bars – but during the week, people in towns need an alternative to traditional scooters.”

The surprisingly cool-looking bikes on the Vectrix website certainly look nothing like the prototype Di Biagio saw in 2001 when the Vectrix founders visited Ducati from Rhode Island in the US. “They had been working on it for five years and it was really crude, but when we tested it I saw the potential,” Di Biagio says. “It was just not right for Ducati. Two years later they came back and said they were not looking for an industrial partner but needed marketing expertise. It was the right time for me to do something different, so I joined the company and we raised the initial development money from private equity funds.”

The venture boasts impressive partners, including the €5bn engineering giant Parker Hannifin; Protonex, developer of innovative fuel cell products; Alcoa, which developed the body structure of the Ferrari 360 Modena; and Getrag Corp, transmission manufacturers for Porsche and BMW. The bikes also use Pirelli tyres.

The first vehicle to market is the Vectrix VXe, a battery-powered maxiscooter that Di Biagio says offers comparable performance to a 400cc gas-powered maxi-scooter at a quarter of the cost. The company claims a top speed of 62 mph, acceleration from 0 to 60 mph in just over eight seconds, and a range of up to 70 miles. It should take two hours to charge the scooter from any household electrical socket. The first bikes cost around €10,000 – more than three scooters combined – but there is no petrol to buy, and there are green incentives to be had in many countries.

As is to be expected from an Italian company, looks are crucial. “The design is very, very good,” says Di Biagio. “Obviously, the battery pack is a certain size and the rest of the bike is built around it. The cost of the battery is still high, but this will come down as soon as the VXe starts selling. We need sales from early adopters for our investment. Traditionally, the prices of new models drop as the old model becomes established on the market.”

With six patents involving more than 100 claims, the company is developing three different product lines: a sport motorcycle concept, a three-wheeled vehicle concept, and a “luxury” version of the VXe, fitted with carbon parts and exclusive accessories.

“Right now, though,” says Di Biagio, “the focus is on this model. We have to be cautious about predictions because we are a public company, but since this April we have produced 750 bikes and shipped 150, including some to ‘opinion formers’. We plan to produce 10,000 in the 12 months from October.”

Di Biagio admits that raising cash has been a more of a challenge than raising expectations. “It is a painful exercise – you keep spending money to carry the project at the same time as raising money to develop the products.” He says that the company’s costs comprise the components it buys – battery packs from China, electronics from the US – and assembles at Parker’s production plant in Wroclaw, Poland. “After marketing costs, our break-even point can be very low. We should break even selling 7,500 bikes a year.” Flagship stores have just opened in Rome, Bologna, Madrid and Melbourne, and high-end dealers have been appointed in London, Lisbon, Miami, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

He acknowledges that there are differences in selling electric bikes in different markets: “Wherever there is a culture of scooters, such as Italy, we encounter a pricing issue – it takes time to convince buyers of the advantages. In other countries, no one even mentions the price. The further north you go in Europe, the more people care about the environment. We have a lot of requests from Nordic countries but the market is has little potential because of the weather – there’s probably only two months a year that could be considered ‘riding weather’. That’s why places such as Miami and Los Angeles are so important.”

The ultimate aim is for Vectrix to be known as the generic term for electric bikes. “We have all the characteristics of a ‘cool brand’, both in the design and in the fact that being green is fashionable. We’re still working on Gore, and we’re very confident!” Di Biagio laughs.

With such enthusiasm-fuelled marketing experience, one wouldn’t bet against Di Biagio eventually riding off into the sunset – battery-powered, of course – a very rich man.

GREEN MACHINE The Vectrix VXe has a range of 70 miles from a two-hour charge