171: Building the most popular ebike in America - The crazy story of Lectric Ebikes with founder Levi Conlow (also - launch of their XPedition cargo bike!)

171: Building the most popular ebike in America - The crazy story of Lectric Ebikes with founder Levi Conlow (also - launch of their XPedition cargo bike!)

Author: Oliver Bruce and Horace Dediu February 21, 2023 Duration: 53:53

This week Oliver interviews Levi Conlow who is the founder of Lectric Ebikes. This really is one of the most incredible stories of Micromobility in the last few years. Back in 2019 when they were just starting out, they started with an Ebike that they struggled to sell and no-one wanted to buy. Last year they had the most popular model of a bike in America shipping over 150,000 units, all while being profitable. 

It’s stories like this that we love from Micromobility – companies that have really just nailed the product market fit by focusing on the bits that people love - cost and convenience. We love this conversation – Levi is an incredibly impressive founder who is hyper focused on the job the customers are trying to do – in this case selling Ebikes to people with RV’s direct to consumers, and really just nailing that experience. We really hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did. 


Specifically they tackled:

- The background to Levi's involvement in the industry including his first venture in electric skateboards 

- The formation of Lectric including early funding and their failures 

- The explosive growth through the pandemic 

- The specific things that Levi focusses on for the customer that have been most valuable 

- How they think of value engineering and quality

- Their marketing strategy, including how powerful the You Tube influencers are in driving sales

- The new bikes they have coming out, including the announcement of their insanely specced and priced new cargo bike, the XPedition. 

- Tariffs and macro conditions and how they've navigated them 

- What he's excited about in the future

- Their D2C strategy and what that has enabled for them


Check out the Lectric website right here


And with that, here's Levi!


Catch us on TwitterHorace and Oliver are also active on their personal accounts and would love to hear from you.

Catch us on Twitter @MicromobilityCoHorace and Oliver are also active on their personal accounts and would love to hear from you.

Our Micromobility Newsletter is completely free, and you can subscribe to have it in your inbox every Tuesday and Thursday morning. And for those who want more, we offer Micromobility Pro membership that includes exclusive content and conference discounts, as well as live calls with Horace and team.

We’re also on LinkedIn and Instagram.


Ed Niedermeyer, an author and analyst with a sharp focus on the automotive world, guides Ride AI alongside co-hosts Horace Dediu, Oliver Bruce, and James Gross. Together, they navigate the complex intersection where artificial intelligence meets transportation, a space that's rapidly reshaping how we think about movement, business, and urban life. This isn't just a series of interviews; it's a deep exploration of the forces driving change, from autonomous vehicles and electric scooters to the broader economic and societal shifts they trigger. Each episode pulls back the curtain on the strategies and struggles of founders, investors, and engineers who are building the future of mobility. You'll hear candid discussions that go beyond the hype, focusing on the practical realities of investment, the nuances of technological adoption, and the lessons learned from both successes and failures in the field. For anyone curious about the business models behind the tech or the investment theses shaping this volatile sector, this podcast offers a grounded, insightful perspective. Tune in for conversations that are as much about the journey of innovation as they are about the destination.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 100

Ride AI
Podcast Episodes
Bringing ADAS to the Mainstream with Nimrod Nehushtan of Mobileye [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:07
In this episode, Ed Niedermeyer sits down with Nimrod Nehushtan, EVP of Strategy and Business Development at Mobileye, to unpack the company’s push to bring ADAS to the mainstream. From Mobileye’s new partnership with Vo…
End-to-End AI for Autonomy (w/ Alex Kendall of Wayve) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 25:09
Alex Kendall, founder and CEO of Wayve, shares how Wayve's unique end-to-end AI approach allows their self-driving system to generalize across different countries and driving cultures—from London to California. The discu…
Aurora’s Road to Driverless Freight (with Sterling Anderson) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:16
The AV trucking company Aurora is spending the final days of 2024 busily getting ready to start hauling freight without humans on board, a long-awaited milestone. On the eve of this potentially historic launch, our host…
On Cybercab (w/ Timothy B. Lee) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 44:38
Timothy B. Lee of the Understanding AI newsletter joins Ed Niedermeyer to unpack Tesla’s flashy robotaxi unveil.
The Future of Autonomous EV Charging Robots (with Crijn Bouman) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:57
In this episode of Ride AI, recorded live at Micromobility Europe in Amsterdam, we delve into the evolving landscape of EV charging and automation with Crijn Bouman, founder of ROCSYS. Crijn shares his extensive journey…
Lessons from V1 AV (with Stefan Seltz-Axmacher) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 37:19
The latest Ride AI podcast episode features Stefan Seltz-Axmacher, the former founder of Starsky Robotics and current founder and CEO of Polymath Robotics, discussing his experiences in the self-driving truck industry. S…