The Maeving RM1 is a new small-capacity electric motorcycle assembled in Coventry which combines modern removable battery tech with 1920s boardtracker styling.
Chances are you’ve never heard of Maeving, but their 16-strong staff are predominantly ex-Triumph and they also claim to have sold out their first run of 100 machines after launching their website publicly at the beginning of November.
With a top speed of 45mph (or 28mph if you’re 16) from its Bosch hub-driven motor, the £4995 RM1 comes with a single removable battery, with a second available for an extra £995.
Both batteries can be used concurrently, with one housed inside the faux petrol tank and another directly below. The use of both boosts the motor’s performance from 4.5 kW to 5.7. The batteries can be charged via a standard domestic socket in under four hours.
"We love this removable battery concept, and we’ll stick with that whilst we wait for the charging infrastructure to improve," Maeving co-founder Seb Inglis-Jones told MCN. "Next year we will be starting work on a full-size bike as well. That’s very much waiting for charging infrastructure to improve, too."
The batteries and frame are produced by Chinese firms Greenway and YCM respectively, but 65% of the components come from the UK and the bikes are screwed together at Maeving’s Binley, Coventry unit.
"We went out to China, looked at the kind of bikes out there and thought removable batteries were an amazing concept – but we wanted to do it in a British way," Seb continued.
Away from the batteries, a metal tube running across the left of the bike routes cables to and from the dual battery controller and mimics the exhaust header pipe of a single-cylinder engine.
"When we were thinking about the original concept sketches right at the beginning, we were thinking about what era of motorcycle made sense for producing a light, manoeuvrable bike," Seb continued. "We went right back to the turn-of-the-century, when they were converting bicycle frames into petrol frames."
Adding to that design brief are wire wheels, twin shocks and a single analogue clock. The bikes are only available via the firm’s website (maeving.com), with servicing packages available online and the work carried out at your door.
