VanMoof does not rely on third-party sellers. Its bikes are sold directly by the company online or at its shops in cities including London, Paris and Munich. VanMoof designs most of its components itself, rather than relying on suppliers in Taiwan or China, which helps it produce a more integrated design but has added manufacturing and supply-chain challenges. Mr. Carlier lives in Taiwan to oversee the company’s manufacturing and production, while his brother is in Amsterdam.
VanMoof, like many venture-capital-backed privately held companies, is not profitable. Its future success will hinge on continuing to convince customers that spending $3,500 on a bike is worthwhile. Many cities have bike-sharing services from Uber and others. Companies like Ride1Up offer models that are less expensive than VanMoof’s. And foldable commuter bikes like those made by Brompton are increasingly popular.
Theft is another major concern. VanMoof has a robust security-protection system that includes a GPS tracker and a warranty program to replace stolen bikes that are not recovered within two weeks. But bike crime remains a problem in major cities and is a top concern for many would-be customers.
An added inconvenience is that the company has only a few maintenance shops, which means that customers not in one of those major cities need to box up their bikes and ship them to the company for servicing.
Horace Dediu, a technology analyst who has been studying urban mobility, said that e-bikes were still a niche product but that their popularity would continue to grow swiftly. He said the business reminded him of the early days of the mobile phone market, before it was revolutionized by the iPhone and when there were many more brands making different models.
“Somebody will step up,” he said. “It could be VanMoof; it could be somebody else.”
Mr. Dediu said e-bikes had the potential to help reshape urban transportation by giving people the ability to commute across town without the heavy exertion needed to climb a steep hill or race to a meeting. Eager to get polluting cars off the roads to address climate change, governments and corporations have offered incentives to help offset the cost, which has helped drive purchases.
At VanMoof’s store in London — next to the Battersea Power Station, which will soon be home to Apple’s British headquarters — Trey Williams, the store manager, offered a test ride of one of the company’s latest models, the A5.
