Industry Automotive Products Vehicle manufacturers Founded 2009 | Headquarters Munich, Germany Website www.govecs.de Number of employees 65 | |
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Type GmbH (limited liability company) Founders Thomas Grübel, co-founder and CEO; Nicholas Holdcraft, co-founder and VP operations | ||
GOVECS GmbH, headquartered in Munich, Germany, manufactures a variety of electric vehicles distributed under its own brand or developed and produced for other brands. Production of all vehicles takes place in the company’s own factory in Wroclaw, Poland. The main product line is one of electric scooters marketed to private users as well as to fleet operators, such as delivery services, in a transport version under the GOVECS GO! brand. The company markets its GOVECS GO! electric scooters in the US and 17 European countries. The core markets are Germany, France, Spain, and Portugal, as well as the Benelux countries. According to the company, it delivers some 3.500 vehicles every year, pursuing a strong growth course.
Contents
History
GOVECS was founded in 2009 by Thomas Grübel, Nicholas Holdcraft, and Gerald Vollnhals. Since 2010, the company is in a cooperative agreement with the Robert Bosch GmbH which offers vehicle service to GOVECS customers.
In 2012, investment company Gimv invested four million Euros in GOVECS. That year, GOVECS supplied Spanish Company Cooltra with 500 scooters for their rental fleet. In the wake of the deal Barcelona became the first European City with a large-scale rental service for electric scooters. In 2013, GOVECS opened its production plant in Wroclaw. In July 2015 GOVECS acquired the complete manufacturing plants of the e-scooters pioneer Vectrix, which were also located in Wroclaw, expanding output capacity to 20,000 e-scooters annually.[1]
Starting Jun 2015, GOVECS supplied 150 e-scooters to Scoot Network, the leading supplier of base-independent e-scooter sharing services, based in San Francisco.
GOVECS e-scooters are in service with the police in Leiden (Netherlands) and the Domino's Pizza delivery chain. Fleets of rental scooters by GOVECS are being used in the UNESCO natural heritage site of Geirangerfjord, Norway, in San Francisco, Barcelona and Ibiza.
Technology
In contrast to many other manufacturers, GOVECS designed its vehicles as pure e-scooters from day one. The frame was developed for this use specifically.
Typical features of a GOVECS electric scooter are:
- central motor
- belt drive
- lithium-ion accumulator without memory effect, partially removable
As electrical two-wheelers have considerably fewer parts than vehicles with traditional drives, the verdict of the institute for automobile industry and business (“Institut für Automobilwirtschaft (IFA)”) of Nürtingen-Geislingen University of Applied Science is valid for e-scooters as well; that they require considerably less maintenance and at lower cost. [2]
Products
Product lines
GOVECS offers two product lines at present: the GO! S series with four different models of various performance classes marketed to private users, communities as well as rental and sharing service providers. The Go! T series features scooters equipped with a flexible mounting system for all sorts of freight containers specifically designed for delivery services.
Additional OEM models
GiGi
GOVECS designed and produces an electric foldable scooter for Dutch company GiGi.
SWAY
For US-based SWAY Motorsports GOVECS designed and produces the electric sports tricycle SWAY.[5][6]
Awards
2013 - European Scooter of the Year - GO! S1.4 25kph category
2012 - European Scooter of the Year - GO! S2.4 25kph category and GO! T2.4 45kph category
2012 - eCarTec Award - GO! S1.4 in the "Electric vehicle: Motorcycle" category
2011 - European Scooter of the Year - GO! S2.4 45kph category
2011 - eCarTec Award - Bavarian state award for electric and hybrid mobility