At a time when the world’s governments are meeting in Dubai for COP 28 to accelerate the decarbonisation of our economic models, Pink Mobility and easyLi are announcing a partnership to equip electric scooters assembled in the Yvelines region with batteries designed and manufactured in Chasseneuil-du-Poitou. 1,000 new electric scooters in bright tricolour will be available for hire by the minute in Paris from spring 2024.
Since 2016, Pink Mobility, a young company based in the Yvelines, has been designing, developing, assembling and marketing electric scooters for professionals and private individuals. As a driving force behind the relocation and re-industrialisation of France, Pink Mobility is committed to a local manufacturing process, an approach that has been underway since the opening of its final assembly line in the Yvelines in spring 2021, and which has been amplified by the search for French industrial partners.
The battery: a key link in the electric scooter value chain
The battery represents almost half the value of an electric scooter. Production is therefore a strategic issue.By choosing to equip its model dedicated to shared mobility with batteries designed and manufactured by easyLi, Pink Mobility is taking a new step in the industrial relocation of carbon-free mobility in France. This partnership has been made possible by the volumes generated with YEGO, a self-service scooter operator in Paris that has just been confirmed by the City of Paris for the next 5 years.To equip these shared scooters, which are used intensively, Pink Mobility and easyLi are favouring the use of batteries that can be easily dismantled and repaired. The aim is to be consistent with the objective of sustainability and decarbonisation: before considering recycling batteries, the challenge is first and foremost to extend their lifespan.
Unsuspected technical complexity
Beyond the question of autonomy, the battery is a compendium of technologies based on a careful selection of components and a wealth of expertise in electrochemistry, mechanics and thermal management, not forgetting power electronics, control solutions and connectivity with embedded technologies (IoT). Autonomy, lifespan, safety, repairability, recycling – the battery has many challenges to meet. In its Poitevin laboratory, close to Futuroscope and its technology park, easyLi puts all the components of its batteries through a series of intensive reliability tests: conformity, charge capacity, according to a specific usage profile. Between shared hire, last-mile delivery and private use, electric scooters and their batteries are not all subject to the same constraints.
For Pink Mobility, the easyLi batteries meet exacting specifications specific to the shared hire market: dual power output in 12 and 48V, remote battery ignition, CAN communication. This technological success required more than a year of research, prototyping and testing before orders could be launched at the end of summer 2023.
A French mobility industry, go for it!
By helping to reduce the carbon footprint of its range of self-service scooters, Pink Mobility is helping to reinforce the sustainable nature of the sharing economy. In addition, Pink Mobility’s involvement with French manufacturers such as easyLi is fully in line with government objectives and confirms that ecological planning and re-industrialisation are not mutually exclusive. It also shows that, step by step, the future of industry can be written anew in France. Soon, scooter controllers will also be made in France, designed in Nice and produced in the Lyon region. Over the next 5 years, the family business, which has been one of the top 3 brands of electric scooters for the past 3 years, will be setting its sights on a French production line to make mobility truly sustainable.
With zero emissions, electric scooters are practical, economical and easy to maintain. Even if it costs more to buy than a combustion model, the lower fuel consumption per kilometre means that the purchase will quickly pay for itself over time. What’s more, the maintenance costs of an electric scooter are halved compared with its internal combustion equivalent. Only the tyres and brake pads, which regenerative braking protects from premature wear, require maintenance. As for the battery, thanks to easyLi’s engineering, it can be easily dismantled and repaired.
« We are proud to offer a shared scooter equipped with a French battery manufactured in the Poitou region by easyLi. This partnership reinforces our conviction that the sustainable, low-carbon mobility industry has a future in France. We have no choice but to succeed in this technological challenge if we are to contribute to meeting the challenges of climate change. Our discussions with the government confirm the validity of this dynamic and virtuous path. »
« The electric battery is a major challenge for the European green deal and for French industrial sovereignty. Our battery production facilities in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, our eco-design approach and our industrial repair and lifecycle management activities all contribute to the development of a circular battery economy. By equipping the scooters assembled by Pink Mobility, we are proud to be contributing to the relocation of an industrial sector of the future, that of sustainable and shared mobility. »