Hello
The last time we wrote, we revealed that “Project X” was more “Project e”. Since then, you may have come across a number of stories concerning the upcoming eBrompton, many of them inaccurate, so we thought it was about time we brought you up to date on developments here...
At Brompton, we like to make things in-house as far as possible. Where that is not possible, for reasons of capability or cost, we strive to establish long-term relationships with carefully-chosen suppliers. As the eBrompton is a product that involves complex technology in which we have limited experience, we turned in 2009 to electric drive train manufacturer Ultra Motor, to co-develop a system that would make the eBrompton the lightest fully functional electric bike on the market, without compromising the core Brompton product.
Ultra Motor has recently been in the headlines, in the trade press at least, after it sold its own-brand A2B electric bike range to the Indian two-wheel manufacturer Hero. This does not affect our partnership with the Taiwanese Ultra Motor business, which has been working on our product from the start and which remains an independent business.
However, the turbulent last few months have led to setbacks, and ultimately delays, in the development process. But the reconsolidation of the Ultra Motor team is now complete and the development process is back on track.
We remain committed to bringing the eBrompton to market on a test basis in late 2012 and we are naturally even more determined to get it right. This will take further considerable investment of time and other resources in redesigning and extensive testing, but we hope to have the limited edition launch eBrompton available by the end of the year.
As soon as the registration for the launch starts, you will be the first to know...
Thank you very much for your patience and continued interest.
With best wishes
The (e)Brompton Team
