Startup Of The Week: The Brompton Electric Bike

  • The Brompton 3-part fold transforms from an electric bike into a small locked package in under 20 seconds.
  • Brompton Electric comes with a removable battery that you can plug in anywhere along with a Brompton Electric App you can use to control your power mode. Fully charge in 4 hours, or 2 hours with the exclusive Fast Charger.
  • Brompton Electric aims to embody a product that gives more to the planet than it takes away. A bike that is not only good for you, but for the planet too.

Website: https://www.brompton.com/  

 

 

What is Brompton?

 

When Andrew Ritchie moved to London as a young engineer, he decided there must be a better way of moving around. In his bedroom overlooking the Brompton Oratory, he invented a bike with an ingenious 3-part fold. A lightweight vehicle that transformed into a small locked package in under 20 seconds. A bike that you could take anywhere. A ‘magic carpet for the city’.

Over the next ten years, Andrew kept honing his invention and self-taught bike-building skills. Despite endless rejection letters from banks and bike companies, his determination finally paid off when an impressed Brompton owner stepped in. After persuading Andrew to participate in the Cyclex Bike Show at Olympia, London, the Brompton bike won the coveted Best Product Award.

Since then, the Brompton bike has continued to collect awards and attract fans, including a Tour de France stage winner, from around the world. From releasing a Beyond x Bear Grylls Brompton bike to bringing out an electric bicycle line, it’s difficult to pinpoint just one crowning achievement from Brompton’s humble beginnings.

Whether it’s taking your bike on rush hour trains or long car journeys, everyone and anyone can have use of an electric Brompton.

Expertly engineered to lock together, its neat folding means it can fit anywhere with all the mucky parts tucked inside. Small car trunks, libraries, restaurants, top-floor meetings. You don’t lock and leave a Brompton, so every day just works. And Brompton’s are engineered to last, with a robust handmade frame backed with a 7-year warranty.

Now, few bikes can claim to be as recognisable as the Brompton. It looks different. It is different. It’s a useful tool that makes owners smile. The magic of the fold. The space and time saved. Freedom every day.

 

Is there a market for an electric folding bicycle?

 

A good company is more than the product it sells – the culture, the sustainability policies, and who you do business with are equally important. At Brompton, they ask the difficult questions. How do you make a paint plant with zero water waste? Does the company that makes our tires pay workers fairly? What does a city that puts people before cars look like?

Riding a Brompton Electric is good for you and the planet. The company collects reams of data from every area of the business and crunches the numbers. So, though they’re committed to reaching Net-Zero by 2050, they’re working hard to get there sooner.

Brompton is reducing its data to create science-based carbon reduction targets. These give a clearly defined path for reducing the overall carbon impact of every bike.

Today, 96% of the global operational energy is sourced through renewable energy and carbon-neutral gas contracts. By 2025, it will be 100%.

88% of the packaging used is cardboard – it’s FSC Certified and 100% recyclable. This minimises the amount used in design and planning. Waste no space is the packing mantra.

On top of this, the environmentally friendly Brompton Electric comes with a removable battery to change the way you ride. Fully chargeable in 4 hours, or 2 hours with the exclusive Fast Charger. Use this alongside the Brompton Electric App which you can use to control your power mode, maximise your battery life, extend your range and more.

Besides the bikes, Brompton believes in an honest business model. The Ethical Trade Programme holds suppliers across the chain to the same high standards they expect of themselves. Brompton is also an accredited member of the Living Wage Foundation (LWF) – an independent movement of employers who believe a fair day’s work should mean a fair day’s pay. This means everyone at Brompton (UK) gets paid the Real Living wage or more.

Brompton believes it’s their duty to use their voice and actions to champion the things they believe in. They make products that give more to the planet than they take away and ensure that everyone, everywhere works under safe, humane and fair conditions.

Today, there are 16 stores in cities across the globe. Each is a unique hub for people to invest in a bike that will give them freedom in the city, and beyond.

 

“Sustainability is not something to celebrate. It should be as natural as breathing – a given part of what and who we [as a business] are.” 

– Will Butler-Adams OBE, Brompton CEO

“The world is a challenging space and it’s no longer acceptable for businesses to just do “less bad”. They need to do more than adapt to climate change or rely on mitigation. Businesses need to honestly look at their business models, look at their impacts and ensure they operate in a way which is regenerative, restoring the planet for future generations and that needs to happen today.”

“They need to truly balance people, the planet, and profit. That’s not easy and even the business I admire are, like Brompton, on a journey trying to understand how things can be done better.”

– Louisa Holbrook, Head of Sustainability

 

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