Hamilton start-up EGO New Zealand is leading the way in state-of-the-art electric mopeds and motorcycles.
Local entrepreneurs Willie Waters, Rahina Shah and Auckland-based designer Corrado Ramada spent many years developing the bikes before launching them on the market.
Like many great business ideas, EGO New Zealand began with a passion, in this case Willies love for motorcycles, and a conversation between friends.
Connections were made, plans were set in motion and EGO (short for Electric Go) opened the first EGO showroom in Hamilton in September 2019.
Think futuristic when you embark on the EGO journey; the bikes are sleek yet robust and the showroom is ultramodern and stylish.
Designed in New Zealand and built in China, there are currently five different moped models, all for urban use with maximum speeds of 50km/h; and they only require between four and six hours of charging – on an ordinary household power socket.
Having always designed for other companies, EGO provided Corrado with the opportunity to be the master of his own design destiny, Willie says.
“Corrado is an incredibly talented designer, he has designed products from aircraft landing gear to the highest quality audio products, and everything in between,” Willie says.
He designed his first electric moped several years before EGO started, and licensed and sold the design to an overseas company who manufactured and sold them extensively through Asia.
The business partners have thought of everything when it comes to EGO, even the furniture and the reception desk are custom designed by Corrado to capture the essence of the EGO brand.
And there’s stylish features being added to the EGO brand all the time; including their own EGO branded audio range designed for use on bikes.
They are already in the process of adding portable audio products that sits over the shoulders rather than for use directly in the ear as an added safety feature for riding.
“You can listen to your music while you’re riding but still be able to hear the noises around you,” Willie says.
Business is booming again after a quiet start to 2021 due to Covid. By the end of the year, they had sold out of all their stock.
The EGO marketing team led by shareholder Kara-lee Tangiau created massive interest through EGO’s social media platforms with a first birthday bike give-away promotion.
Two weeks after the October 1st birthday draw, all bikes in stock were sold out.
Like most businesses relying on products from overseas, EGO has had its fair share of shipping delays and hiked freight costs.
“It’s like modern day piracy on the high seas and doubling of importation costs is sadly not uncommon,” Willie laughs.
Originally from Ngāruawāhia, Willie (Tainui/Ngāti Wairere) was formerly an engineer before working in motor vehicle sales at Royale Cars in Hamilton for 17 years.
Fijian-born Rahina comes from a business and finance background, and worked for First Credit Union.
The pair had known each other for 15 years but met again when they both worked in a motor vehicle dealership together.
They have been business partners since 2017, owning SES Cars & Finance and NZ commodity distributor company NZ Global Distribution.
When Willie was four years old his father built his first motorbike and he has owned many bikes over the years.
His current big bike is a Harley-Davidson Heritage Softail Springer; but his passion for Harley Davidsons doesn’t dim his enthusiasm for electric and he’s looking forward to EGO releasing three open road motorcycles in 2022/23
The new bikes will easily reach 100km/h plus and customers are already keen to get a taste of the larger models.
EGO is also developing a self-charging option; bikes that could be ridden from the top of the North Island to the bottom of the South without charging or a drop of petrol.
With the growing demand for alternative, cost-effective and more environmentally friendly transport, EGO bikes are a great way to enter into the electric motorcycle space.
EGO mopeds can be ridden on any car licence, the bikes are proving popular with people wanting to feel the wind in their hair and not have to go to the trouble of getting a motorcycle licence.
“Around 90 percent of our customers only have their car licence and incredibly 50 percent are females,” Rahina says.
Not a fan of motorcycles initially, Rahina and her two children love riding their EGO bikes.
“They are silent and they look amazing.”
While many of their customers are using their bikes for fun, many are seeing the cost benefits to using an electric bike.
“One of our customers is a Westpac finance manager in Auckland central and he uses his bike to commute. He said he saves $200 a week – $140 in car parking fees and $60 in petrol. And he can skip the motorway queues which also saves him the traffic headache.”
Solely based in Hamilton, most of EGO’s customer base is from Auckland with many of the Auckland clients purchasing sight unseen.
“Often the first time they have seen their brand new EGO is when we deliver it to them,” Rahina says.
Expansion is on the horizon, with Auckland being the first port of call; and not because of any problems they’ve had with online sales, they say it just makes sense to have their next showroom in New Zealand’s largest city.
Alongside this, they have plans to shift manufacturing from China to New Zealand in the very near future with the Auckland base destined to be the manufacturing plant, design studio and showroom all in one.
“We plan to have 95 percent of our frames manufacturing here in New Zealand with componentry coming from China and Japan,” Willie says.
Riding on the strong New Zealand image, EGO already has interest from many overseas markets, with the US alone ordering 10,000 bikes provided they are New Zealand made.
“There’s a lot of trust from overseas that comes with a New Zealand brand. We may not have the cheapest electric products on the market but we can deliver on reliability and quality, customer service, attention to detail, trusted servicing and maintenance, and a bike that is tested to New Zealand conditions,” Willie says.
EGO have a six male, six female team of experienced motorcycle riders that provide testing feedback to the EGO team.
“They can’t wait to get their hands on EGO’s new range of open road motorcycles, with the EGO Racer, EGO Highway II and EGO Ghost, coming soon,” Willie enthuses.
“From our testing we want to know the good, the bad and the ugly so we can constantly improve and deliver quality EGO products to the market,” Willie says.
As well as test riders, EGO also has brand ambassadors they call ‘The Street Team’.
“They are amazing individuals spread throughout the country, who have embraced from the very beginning the EGO philosophy of creating EGO fans out of customers through excellence in all we do,” Willie says.
Enthusiastic about the EGO brand, ‘The Street Team’ are chosen for their willingness to share EGO social media posts and create their own.
“We have always felt that growing a fan base of loyal customers was the goal. People fall in love with their EGOs after one ride and our ambassadors become almost fanatical in their EGO fever.”
Open Wednesday – to Friday, 10am to 6pm and Saturday 10am to 5pm, EGO New Zealand showroom is at 254b Kahikatea Drive, Frankton.
