A Chat with Richard Jordan, CEO at Electric Motorcycle Brand: Super Soco UK

Super Soco UK is Britain’s most popular electric motorcycle brand. Our all-electric motorcycles and mopeds are designed for easy, sustainable city transportation. We provide electric motorcycles to consumers through our nationwide dealer network and direct to fleet businesses such as Getir, Just Eat and Deliveroo’s riders.

How did you come up with the idea for the company?

I have always had a passion for electric vehicles, even as a young boy when I began building small electric vehicles in my dad’s garage. I previously worked as a corporate lawyer, including for oil and gas companies.  However, I was always concerned about the damage caused by continued use of fossil fuels and the need to curb rising emissions and be generally more sustainable.

It has always struck me as strange that we use complex ICE-powered vehicles when they waste the vast majority of the energy inputted as heat, while electric motors are 90% efficient and are much simpler machines.  I started working as a lawyer for electric vehicle and green power companies in around 2006 – right at the start of the EV revolution.

I saw how much fun the founders of the early electric car companies were having and as a (hairy) biker, electric-powered motorcycles and mopeds were the next logical step, so we started the company in 2015. We are now seeing a dramatic rise in the number of people buying electric motorcycles and mopeds, mainly for commuting and delivery where the electric versions are simply better: they cost a lot less to own, they’re better to ride than the petrol equivalents and they are easier to maintain. As our cities become busier and with the introduction of clean air and zero-emissions zones, we need to get petrol-powered vehicles out of our cities and towns, otherwise even more people will continue to be harmed by poor air quality.

Our aim is to provide commuters and the fleet and delivery industry with a reliable, effective alternative to fossil fuels, to tackle the ongoing battle against air pollution and CO2 emissions.

How has the company evolved during the pandemic?

While many companies, unfortunately, have suffered tremendously during the COVID-19 pandemic, Super Soco UK saw huge growth during this period. As delivery companies became busier and new dark grocery stores started, they turned to electric motorcycles and mopeds, not just because they want to be seen to be green, but because electric, rather than petrol, is the logical choice.

New delivery models require capabilities that petrol vehicles simply cannot deliver, with 24 hour operations and in some cases over 20,000 miles per year expected.  As electricity is much cheaper per mile than petrol, these companies save huge sums by starting an electric fleet.

We are expecting this to continue as more companies eventually make the sensible switch over to electric to save both costs and the planet, while increasing their operational efficiency.

What can we hope to see from Super Soco in the future?

Super Soco will continue to grow both in popularity and technology. We have seen continuous growth of sales year-on-year, with sales quadrupling over the past year and our flagship CPX model coming ninth in terms of sales in the motorcycle market as a whole.

As electric vehicles become the norm on UK streets we will continue to grow our market share and continue to aggressively chip away at the dominance of petrol-powered vehicles. The future is bright and green for Super Soco UK!