When Levi Conlow sold homemade electric skateboards in his Grand Canyon University dorm in 2016, he had no idea he’d end up on Forbes 30 Under 30 List in 2022.
After his first e-bike bombed at the Maricopa County Home & Garden Show in 2018, he didn’t expect it to be the best-selling e-bike in North America four years later.
It’s now, he says.
Boy, was his year.
During a recent visit to the sprawling modern office and showroom of Lectric eBikes in Deer Valley, the 26-year-old CEO wore a T-shirt and pulled his long dark hair up into a bun as he laughed and recounted his first failures. “It’s the ultimate start-up vibe,” he said. Phoenix New Times.
The young entrepreneur moved into the former medical equipment warehouse on Utopia Road near 23rd Avenue in June 2021. The company also has a distribution center in South Phoenix.
Just outside his office, an army of twenty-somethings dressed in designer beanies, Phoenix Suns jerseys, Cuban chains and snapback hats clacked at sleek new computers. Others collaborated in meetings around table tennis and conferences in the video game room. A monolithic mural illuminated an interior wall, displaying the message: “It’s a beautiful day to have a beautiful day.
Phoenix-based Conlow’s company is the nation’s fastest-growing e-bike supplier, she claims. Although only three years old, Lectric expects to sell over 170,000 e-bikes this year alone.
“I’m so obsessed with trying to get out as many bikes as possible,” Conlow said. “I want it to be a tool to change the way people move, and it has the potential to do that.”
Capture market share
In recent years, Phoenix has become a hub for electric vehicles. Tesla, Lucid, Polestar, Rivian, ElectraMeccanica and Atlis Motor Vehicles have all moved into the Phoenix metro, and Lucid Motors launched the first all-electric vehicle made in Arizona late last year.
“Phoenix draws people from all over the United States to a common place. You get great talent from across the country,” Conlow said. “That’s what’s so unique about Phoenix right now and what’s driving this massive push for innovation. It’s a big city, but it’s very manageable to have an impact here.
This year, sales of electric vehicles are expected to reach 650,000 In the United States Of these EV sales, Tesla accounts for about 75%, leaving the remaining 160,000 sales to be accounted for by all other EV suppliers in the United States combined.
Lectric sells more e-bikes in a single year than others on the market, including Rad Power Bikes, Heybike, BeeCool Bikes, Hiboy, and VTUVIA.
“Tesla has a strong grip on the electric vehicle market,” said company spokeswoman Ashlee Larrison. “But e-bikes are growing in popularity every year. We have a lot more eyes on the industry as a whole.
The only electric vehicles to surpass Lectric in 2021 were the Tesla Model Y and the Tesla Model 3, Larrison said.
Last year, Lectric’s flagship model accounted for more than 10% of all e-bikes sold in the United States, according to an internal company report. This year, it will hold a market share of over 20%, Conlow said.
Lectric eBikes headquarters and showroom is located on Utopia Road near 23rd Avenue in Northwest Phoenix.
Elias Weiss
The peak of the coronavirus
Business hasn’t always been so good.
In 2018, Conlow was “running on steam,” he said, as he drained his wedding fund to finance one last attempt at launching Lectric. He created a Shopify website that only sold two individual e-bikes.
“After months of not selling anything,” recalls Conlow, the website generated $30,000 in sales a day after it went live. Same thing the next day. On day seven, Conlow’s website generated more than $100,000, thanks to YouTubers shouting about the product, he said.
“It was absolutely insane,” Conlow said.
After 21 days, the young entrepreneur recorded his first turnover of 1 million dollars – with a team of only two employees.
In 2020, the company had a dozen employees. The coronavirus pandemic has proven to be a blessing in disguise for the startup as it finds its footing in a tough business climate in the state. At this stage of the business, about half of startups have already gone bankrupt, according to a Mesa Community College study.
“Everyone was sitting at home bored to death,” Conlow said. “People wanted to be outside on their bikes and they needed transportation solutions to get around big cities like Phoenix when COVID shut down public transit.”
In 2020, the company made more than $30 million in sales, according to internal reports. In 2021, it topped $85 million.
Alex Lo Duca, who oversees the Lectric eBikes showroom in North Phoenix, rides an XP 2.0 e-bike through Deer Valley Park.
Elias Weiss
“Young people serving the old”
Today, Lectric eBikes employs 100 people and claims to sell the majority of all non-Tesla electric vehicles in the United States.
“We are far from done,” he said. “That’s why I get up and choose to work on it every day.”
Most of Lectric’s customers are seniors looking for outdoor recreation and a safe, easy way to shop close to home. As such, the company has had great success selling its product locally in a state that ranked #3 for retirement This year.
As showroom supervisor Alex Lo Duca joked, “We’re the young serving the old.”
The bikes are produced in China and distributed locally. Lectric’s XP 2.0, its best-selling model, can go 100 miles on a single charge, which takes three or four hours. The machine can reach speeds of up to 28 miles per hour and retails for $999.
In Conlow’s own words, “It’s a pretty sick bike.”
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