Coventry & Warwickshire in business
Profile: Ian OâConnor That was a decade ago and the world was a different place. Electric vehicles had far from taken off; it was preCovid and pre the convenience-delivery boom; and it was before businesses were really talking in net zero terms. But something got Ianâs fire burning. âI came up with the brand Eskuta ten years ago when there was no such thing as an e-scooter,â he said. âI thought it sounded very contemporary, maybe a little bit Italian, and I was playing on the fact they were electric too. âI did some research, found some manufacturers, had some meetings and the manufacturer I met is still the one we work with today. I wanted something that was more like a motorcycle rather than a traditional scooter and thatâs what we found. âBut the product wasnât fit for the European market so we worked with them to develop it and improve the quality and engineering behind it. âI went to the market to try to get some funding, but the money was expensive and it required lots of governance. So, I went to a good friend of mine, Greg Devine, who had a successful automotive engineering company called Cad Cam in Coventry, just for some advice really. âI showed him and his partners the business plan and they backed me straight away. I bought Greg and his partners out about three years ago when they wished to exit to concentrate on other projects but they had a big part to play in the getting the business off the ground.â
âWhat we do is very different. Weâve taken a small, lightweight motorcycle and weâve manufactured that into an e-bike because it has an application that is different.
Eskuta (pronounced a-scooter rather than e-scooter) began trading in 2015 and, fast forward eight years, it is going from strength to strength.
âMost e-bikes are built for leisure but, with our market, it is not about supporting fitness, itâs about getting you from A to B as fast as possible.
The company, which employs 12 people from two units on Bermuda Business Park in Nuneaton, is now into the design throes of its Series Five model and has more than 6,500 vehicles in service across the UK.
âIt has got built-in lights, an immobiliser, motorcycle controls, indicators, suspension, brakes and tyres so the consumer is getting a motorcycle solution â albeit at a lower speed â without all the costs associated.
Ian said: âWeâve got contracts to supply and service Eskutas with Just Eat, which has been a major partner with us since 2017, and we work with Deliveroo and Uber Eats riders. Weâre now in the convenience store market too so we work with Booker Group which is Londis, Premiere, Budgens and Happy Shopper.
âYou donât need a licence. You donât need insurance. These are usually the biggest costs. It looks great too.
âThen we got an influx of more orders from restaurants at the start of the pandemic because deliveries were the only way they could remain open and viable so we really scaled our business. âThe same kind of thing happened with convenience stores, and that delivery market started to grow. Itâs still in its infancy but itâs growing, and the reason for that is that consumers are conditioned to getting deliveries and we want convenience in everything we do. âEverybody is busier in terms of their lifestyle and delivery plays a part in that.â Other sales channels are opening up too. âWeâre doing much more in the health sector,â said Ian. âWe work with care in the community companies where their carers are going out to individuals and they need a form of transport. âMany of those workers are not from the UK â they donât have a driving licence â so itâs giving them the flexibility, itâs reducing costs, helping recruitment and staff retention. Itâs giving something back to the worker. âWeâre working with some large distribution and manufacturing businesses where they have huge sites and they need to get people moving around on them. âClearly, when youâve got highly-skilled, highly-paid people you want them to get around as quickly and easily as possible. âIâd like to say weâve sold to butchers, bakers and candlestick makers but I havenât done the candlestick maker yet!â
âThe basic design came from Honda in the 1990s. They brought out a product that looked similar to what weâve got but there were no takers. It had a massive battery, it was very expensive and nobody wanted it. It was a different world back then, as we know. âOur manufacturer in China took on the patent when it lapsed and we own part of that as well. âWeâve developed it over a period and with each iteration of the product, itâs become more and more on-trend. âIt appeals to a really wide demographic. Weâve got 14/15 year-olds who are using it to go to school and weâve got mums using it to get around, weâve got commuters and, of course, the last mile deliverers.
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âItâs about 80 per cent B2B at the moment but our consumer side is growing and thatâs partially driven by people seeing them at their door and saying âI want one of thoseâ. âThe interesting thing is that when I started the business the world was a very different place. Itâs only eight years ago and when I look back weâve seen a massive sea-change. âConsumers have changed. Every business is, in one way or another, looking to get to net zero. How do we move people? How do we move goods? âEight years ago, there was a real reluctance to take on anything electric because there was a nervousness about it. âBut now the spec is so good and itâs getting better all the time. If the battery is fully depleted it takes about seven hours to charge. If you retain about 30 per cent of the battery it takes about an hour and a half. âIt gets you up to 50 miles but we say to customers it will be around 40. Theyâre electric not magic. âUltimately, we can say to potential customers that we can make them more efficient, save them money, make their employees happier and help in the efforts towards net zero. Yes, you have to buy or lease our product but it ticks all of those boxes for you. Whatâs not to like?â
The USP of our product is that itâs not like a traditional looking cycle. Most electric cycles in the UK are
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traditional in as much that they look like a bicycle.
About Ian OâConnor Married:
No (with partner Natalie for 10 years)
Children:
Two â both grown up, two grandchildren and Natâs daughter, Ruby, who has lived with us since she was three.
Hobbies:
Football, no time for anything else!
On top of that, Eskuta is working with Transport for London and, in the coming years, is predicting a growth in overseas sales in Europe, South America and North America. The products arrive from China around 70 per cent built and then the team at Bermuda does the rest. The company has just invested more than ÂŁ100,000 to improve its storage capacity in order to hold more stock as the consumer market begins to take off. Ian said: âThe USP of our product is that itâs not like a traditional looking cycle. Most electric cycles in the UK are traditional in as much that they look like a bicycle.
www.cw-chamber.co.uk
Favourite Book: Kane & Abel (Jeffrey Archer) Favourite Film: Forrest Gump Last Holiday:
Spain
Gadget:
iPhone
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