Shell Oil E-Bikes? Corporate Giant Hops on the Bandwagon
Shell — yep, that Shell — will go to market with e-bikes shortly.
You might be mistaken if you thought an oil company would never market a bicycle. Bike-eu.com reported that a high-level Shell Oil representative said the petroleum giant is poised to begin manufacturing e-bikes.
“In the next couple of weeks, we have got samples that we’re approving, and manufacturing will start. If you think about consumer habits and the changing urban mobility landscape, there’s a large number of people, whether it’s food delivery guys or those using it for personal transport, who have discovered the power of the battery,” Rahul Malhotra, Head of Brand Strategy and Stewardship at Shell, told Zag Daily.
“Obviously, the e-bikes will have a very different price range, consumer profile, size of unit, but it’s another segment that we would like to play a part in,” he said.
‘Shell Ride’: E-Bikes to Join Scooters
The bike lineup will sell under the “Shell Ride” banner, which already offers a range of electric scooters. How the company plans to build them was unclear from the interview. But Malhotra did confirm that Shell has entered into a licensing agreement with Lotus.
“At the moment, we have one licensee with Lotus, which manufactures and sells two models of e-scooter for personal use. Lotus follows our brand standards, quality specs and then sells them under the Shell Ride banner,” he said.
Malhotra said that Shell would introduce the bikes into a rapidly changing e-bike landscape. According to him, the company has to snatch a share of the growing e-mobility market as a matter of strategy.
“It’s so early at the moment with the new regulations, new pilots and the mode changing every six months, I honestly don’t know where the market will go. But what I do know is that if we don’t play in this micro-mobility market now with our licensees, we will be out of the game,” he said.
Shell will offer three e-bike models in the U.S. The Ride SR-3B is the cheapest at under $1,200, and the SR-4b will retail for under $1,900. The range-topper affords a 30- to 50-mile range on a full charge, has a 500W motor, 48V removable battery, dual disc brakes, and Shimano components. You can’t buy them as of this writing, but you can check out the lineup at the Shell Ride website.
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