For those looking to spend less time stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic, electric bicycles have emerged as a compelling car alternative.
Averaging around $2,000, however, the price tag of battery-powered bikes can be a barrier to entry. French startup Upway is trying to make the emissions-free micromobility option more accessible via its platform for certified preowned e-bikes.
“What that means is, concretely speaking, as a consumer you get access to top brands,” Toussaint Wattinne, Upway’s co-founder and CEO, told Tech Brew. “You save over $1,000 on average compared to retail price, and you enjoy a doorstep delivery and a bike that comes with a warranty because it’s been certified by our mechanics, brought back up to the highest quality standards.”
Europe leads the way: Upway launched in Europe in 2021 and entered the US market in 2023.
Most recently, the startup expanded its US presence beyond New York to California, where it opened one of its “UpCenters” to better serve customers on the West Coast.
Since the company started, Wattinne said Upway has refurbished more than 50,000 e-bikes and raised more than $60 million from three funding rounds.
Upway sources its bikes a few different ways: Consumers can sell their old bikes directly to the platform; the startup has a trade-in program with numerous retailers; and it has relationships with manufacturers to refurbish and sell returned bikes.
When Upway gets a bike, Wattinne explained, the product goes through a rigorous inspection, diagnosis, and repair process that involves assessing the status of electronics, verifying the battery capacity, replacing it if it’s below 80%, and replacing or fixing any damaged parts, among other steps.
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“By extending the life of every e-bike that goes to our UpCenters, we can really avoid unnecessary waste and reduce the carbon footprint overall of the industry,” Wattinne said.
According to the company, consumers can save up to 65% compared to retail prices.
So popular: E-bikes are growing in popularity in the US. Lyft, for example, has seen massive growth in the use of e-bikes across its micromobility networks. The company reported a 169% jump in e-bike ridership in Washington, DC, and a 96% surge in Toronto in 2023.
“E-bikes have made biking for transportation something that a much wider range of people can now do,” Caroline Samponaro, VP and head of external affairs at Lyft Urban Solutions, previously told Tech Brew.
A spinoff of EV maker Rivian, Also, recently launched on the premise that there’s significant demand for non-car solutions to the short daily commutes that make up most Americans’ travel.
“What we’re seeing is that, overall, e-bikes are increasingly and incredibly popular,” Wattinne said.
Still, he said, there’s work to be done to make communities in the US more friendly to bikes in general via dedicated infrastructure for cyclists, and to ensure consumers feel safe riding e-bikes and can afford to buy them.
“What’s fascinating is that mass adoption of e-bikes can actually transform American cities, the same way it’s transformed a lot of European cities,” Wattinne said. “The first big way that the US can accelerate its trajectory further…is by having more and more policymakers really embrace and fully integrate the fact that e-bike adoption and light electric mobility can really help ease traffic.”