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Nikita Puri · · 4 min readIon Mobility now builds e-bikes from scratch after aborted design strategy
A few months ago, a prospective customer stopped by Ion Mobility’s stall in Jakarta and recorded his experience test driving the firm’s electric motorbike.
An EV bike by Ion Mobility / Photo credit: Ion Mobility
“We didn’t know he was filming,” says James Chan, founder and CEO of Ion Mobility. While the YouTuber has close to 500 subscribers, the video featuring Ion has clocked in over 18,000 views over the last three months. Chan sees this as proof of how curious people are of what the firm is building.
“We believe it’s important to engage with our customers, so I was heartened that someone bothered (enough) to create that video,” he says.
Tech in Asia first dove into Singapore-based Ion Mobility’s grandiose goal of bringing affordable electric motorbikes to the masses in 2020.
The company looks and works differently now after a leadership reshuffle and change in manufacturing strategy, but its original plan remains intact. In fact, the firm’s bikes are likely to be officially launched in the fourth quarter of this year, shares Chan.
See more: Ion Mobility secures temporary injunction against ex-COO
The firm has raised over US$25 million since its founding in 2019. Its latest raise was an US$18.7 million series A round, which brought on board India-based mobility giant TVS Motor Company as a strategic investor.
“They’ve been extremely helpful with the value add,” says Chan, referring to how TVS’ team has helped Ion drop 11 kilograms on its M1-S bike. This helps with the speed and maneuverability of the vehicle.
Taking the OEM highway
Previously called Mobius, the M1-S bike was soft-launched in Jakarta in November 2022.
Though Ion’s bikes are yet to hit the road, confidence in the company is likely to be strong in Indonesia, considering it already has some partnerships active on the ground. For instance, it’s working with Perusahaan Listrik Negara, a government-owned electricity firm, to build co-branded charging solutions.
Photo credit: Ion Mobility
The bike’s formal launch is scheduled around the same time as the opening of the firm’s battery and bike factory in Indonesia.
More than wheels in Ion’s future?
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CEO James Chan talks about why Ion’s original design manufacturer approach failed and the improvements its made since it switched to an OEM strategy.
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