[Column introduction] “EBRUN Global Goods” is a series of materials planned by Ebrun Power to find good products to be shipped overseas in China. It brings together products and brands recognized by users from all walks of life and tells how their products are born. and respond to users. Demand, how to use differentiated value, etc., so that more people see the opportunity to become a new global brand. At the same time, Ebrun Power also launched the annual “EBRUN Global Goods” selection activity, and joint expert judges selected the final winners from many participating companies.
Segway, the “father” of electric balance bikes, has a famous joke: “If Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is stuck on a desert island and can only bring one thing, it has to be a Segway.” “
Wozniak is a big fan of self-balancing electric vehicles. He is said to be seen riding a Segway electric balancing car while shopping, giving a speech, or participating in a polo match. Segway also firmly believes that electric self-balancing vehicles will take over the market in the same way that cars have taken horse-drawn vehicles in the past.
However, due to various problems, the Segway and its electric balancing car, although popular for a time, were not used by a wider group of consumers. Until there are more products and more players, a large “short haul” market will gradually open up.
Today, short distance vehicle categories have expanded to electric balance cars, electric bicycles, electric unicycles, electric scooters, electric skateboards, etc. Among them, electric scooters and electric bicycles have become popular in recent years. In 2021, global sales of electric scooters will reach 6.351 million units, up 48.3% year on year, and the development towards intelligence has become the general direction of product evolution.
Liu Yubing is also one of the creators of the “smart short traffic” wave. He set his sights on the prospect of this track. After founding “Leqi Smart” in 2016, he plunged into product development for short distance vehicles.
Focusing on the efficiency of short-term urban traffic, Leqi Intelligent has expanded from passenger cars and electric motorcycles to electric scooters and electric bicycles. Its products have been exported to more than 30 countries and regions, and its brand Megawheels (electric scooters) has ranked fourth in global sales volume. It ranks first in Japan with over 2 million users worldwide and has achieved long-term strategic cooperation with global companies such as China Mobile, Huawei, Ferrari, Disney, Fiat, Wal-Mart, Costco, and Red Bull.
“Manufacturing companies need to think about what they can bring to society and what they can bring to users, and must do things of value.” 2 km to the office. With this portable and portable travel tool, it may only take 5 minutes, but it takes almost 20 minutes to drive and park. I save 15 minutes, which can improve my work efficiency.”
Leqi Smart, founded in 2016, was inspired by shared bikes. This is an extremely hot internet industry around 2015. At that time, there were countless bike-sharing players: Mobike, ofo, Meituan, Qingju, Hello, etc. entered the market one after another, and the market was fiercely contested.
The problem that users of shared bikes face is “the last mile of urban travel”, and its original purpose is to compensate for the shortcomings of public transport such as buses and subways. However, behind the “sharing economy” business model, which seemed very attractive at the time, the short-haul carrier may be an industry more worthy of “doing it again.”
“It’s not that I’m going to share and make bikes when I see Mobike live. “It solves the problem of travel convenience. On a deeper level, I think it improves the efficiency of user journeys, which is the most important thing.”
In his opinion, shared bicycles are like the low market demand for short distance transportation, while the medium and high market demand is a smart travel tool with a better experience. This was the starting point for Leqi Smart. “In terms of efficiency, you have an infinite number of things to do,” said Liu Yubing.
By now, the general bike model has cooled down, and the bike loss rate is extremely high. Equipment costs and operation and maintenance costs cannot be avoided. Some large companies in China only consider it as a traffic portal and data collection terminal. The development of intelligent short transport routes has gradually led to the creation of technical barriers in the industry.
Medium and high, IQ and various scores indicate younger people who are more receptive to new things. Faced with such a target group of users, Leki Smart thought: what vehicles do young people prefer in today’s society?
“Coolness, fun, advertising and outdoor sports are all labels for today’s youth,” said Liu Yubing. Therefore, this idea is reflected in the design of Leqi smart products.
Take, for example, the D12 electric scooter, Leqi Intelligent’s award-winning product participating in the “EBRUN Global Goods” 2022 selection. The simple solid color style combines the ergonomic design and Leqi Intelligent’s internal wiring patent, and the wires are covered with a riser. Presents the streamlined look of a horse. This, of course, beats the high expectations of many young users for the appearance of the product.
In addition, in terms of functional design, Leqi smart electric scooter is interconnected with Huawei Smart Life APP, which can provide functions such as real-time remaining mileage prediction, power-on self-test, and abnormal reminders; The car body is also equipped with an LED intelligent instrument panel that displays speed, power and other important information in real time.
In terms of product positioning, he believes that solving the “last mile” problem in urban travel does not mean replacing a particular mode of transport: “Our mode of transport will definitely become an integral part of urban travel in the future.”
The popularity of short-motion smart tracks has not only spawned new stars such as No. 9 Company and Mavericks, but traditional powerful giants such as Yadi and Emma have also released “smart” products, and even many companies have crossed borders. part of the action.
“However, there are still some differences in our industry. Whether it’s some e-commerce sellers or manufacturing businesses in other industries, 90% of them don’t make money. Last year, this year there is a round of industry reshuffles.” Judging by Liu Yubin’s experience in developing smart short-term transportation, the model of creating a wave of hot money across borders will not work.
Technology is a threshold that can’t be bypassed with smart shortcuts. “In this area, it all depends on what kind of connections will contribute to your core competitiveness. For example, with regard to electric vehicles, some of them can provide “driving safety”, and some of them can provide “driving experience”. As far as our Leqi Smart is concerned, more about “intelligence”.
Intelligence is the direction of product innovation for many companies, but a search of various social media platforms reveals that most of the complaints from users boil down to the fact that intelligence is not “smart” enough. “Bluetooth takes a long time to unlock and does not work at all” “Mobile phones are useless without trams”, similar problems inevitably arise in almost all major brands. Intelligence is more like a slogan in the air.
”What does intelligence bring to users? It cannot be reasonable for the sake of intelligence,” said Liu Yubing, “It should be considered from the point of view of real user experience.”
“For example, light perception is relatively dim when entering a tunnel or garage. If you are driving an electric two-wheeler, you must either stop or release one hand to press the power switch, which is very unsafe. our intelligence, it’s more about the safety of travel and the user’s driving experience, and the use of technical means to improve it.”
Based on this, Leqi Intelligent developed the “intelligent light perception” function to avoid the risks of single-hand operation. In addition, the D12 electric scooter is also equipped with functions such as an intelligent gyroscope, which can automatically detect the forward speed, tilt angle, vehicle body position, etc. in scenes such as uphill and downhill, so as to adjust the power output, ensuring sufficient power. power for climbs and descents and to prevent overspeeding.
“Our smart light sensor, gyroscope technology, grip sensor, pressure sensor and other sensor applications, and some algorithms must be the most advanced in this field,” Liu Yubing proudly said.
It is reported that Leqi Intelligent has made a number of achievements in technological innovation over the past few years: in 2017, it established a research and development center specializing in short-distance intelligent travel, and established a joint innovation center with the Chinese Academy of Sciences. in 2018, and sales of its products exceeded 300,000 units this year; three products on the market have passed the ABE certification of the German Ministry of Transport and have obtained relevant international certifications such as UL / CE / PSE; So far, Leqi Smart has obtained more than 70 major patents and software copyrights…
Liu Yubing mentioned that Leqi Intelligent has developed an “ultra-intelligent central control unit” and has taken the lead in its mature application in the field of short-haul transportation. electric bycicle. In the future, the company will continue to build technical barriers around these two areas.
In 2021, Leqi Smart will become the sole strategic partner of Huawei’s intelligent selection ecological chain in the field of intelligent short-term transportation. Liu Yubin believes that this is an important “milestone” in the development of Leqi Smart.
At that time, Huawei’s smart travel team was planning an electric scooter project and was looking for cooperation with relevant manufacturers in the industry. After a comprehensive review of the team, R&D capabilities, delivery capabilities, and product quality, Leqi Smart has finally stood out from a dozen companies and become a partner of Huawei’s ecological chain.
“In the entire industry, our ability to accumulate technology and research and development has reached the highest level. Combined with the blessings from Huawei, we have taught us many product features, which is very important for our future development,” said Liu Yubing. To put it bluntly, since then, the turnover of Leqi Smart in 2022 has increased by 50% compared to last year, and it is expected to continue to grow by 200-300% this year.
The point of growth depends on more channels and more markets. At present, Leqi Smart covers online and offline channels, including C and B channels, mainly in European and American markets. Online includes Amazon, brand-independent stations and some regional platforms, has localized teams in Europe and North America, and has created many distribution channels through a brand agency. Liu Yubing considers the creation of a localization team an important step in corporate branding.
The heavy warehouse in the European and American markets is due to its good development conditions. Outdoor sports used to develop in the markets of Europe and America, and eco-friendly travel has become a universal concept. In addition, many governments provide a number of subsidies for the purchase of related products, such as electric bicycles or electric scooters, and do not restrict the right of passage for electric scooters. Among them, European user groups also have corresponding demand pain points, such as young people’s reluctance to buy cars, higher parking and taxi fees. Statistics show that the market penetration rate for electric two-wheelers in Europe has reached 20%, and in North America – about 4%.
This means that the market still has room to grow. “The whole industry is still doing market research and it’s still in full development of new ones.” Liu Yubing believes that the current important task is to think about more products that meet consumer needs based on understanding user travel scenarios.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a scooter, an electric motorcycle, or any other form of product.” the product will spread. At present, its main products are divided into two lines: electric scooters and electric powered bicycles (i.e. E-Bike). Different products target different groups of people and use scenarios.
“In this market, if you want to enter the global market, you must rely on products,” said Liu Yubing, Leqi Smart will continue to strengthen its position in three aspects: extreme industrial design, vertical innovation capability and product quality. There is no hurry in the pursuit of the “brand”, this is a long-term accumulation process, and Leqi Smart is already on its way.
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Post time: Mar-15-2023
