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Electric bikes with a difference

Electric glide: Businessman Mike Swan at Veelr bikes with his new Velocifero electric bike (Photograph by Blaire Simmons)

Bermudian businessman Mike Swan is a driving force behind green transport.

Now Mr Swan, who owns the Lighthouse LED lighting specialist, has moved into electric scooters and power-assisted bicycles with his Veelr E-motion venture.

And he plans to add electric cars to the range of green machines on offer.

Mr Swan said: “For the longest while, I have been into the whole green thing and I was probably the first person in Bermuda to do LED lighting — that was probably about nine years ago.

“At that time, my plan was to get into electric vehicles, but the options available then weren’t that good — but now you get decent range, decent speed and also decent charge times.”

Mr Swan has just brought in Italian-designed mini-scooter the Velocifero Mad — small bikes with a stylish design and a skateboard-inspired footboard that pack a punch and are licensed the same as 50cc bikes.

He said: “They have various power options between the top of the line 1.6kw motor. It has a top speed of about 28mph and a range, with the lithium batteries, of 20-25 miles per charge.

“It’s a really innovative transportation solution.

“The battery takes three to five hours to charge from empty — it’s perfect for going short distances or just nipping around the neighbourhood. And it’s a lot of fun to ride.”

Mr Swan, whose two businesses operate from the existing Lighthouse store on Pembroke’s Happy Valley Road, added that the Velocifero can also be customised to give it a personal touch.

He said: “There are lots of areas you can put whatever you want on it.”

Veelr also stocks US-produced Prodecotech electric-assisted bicycles, which use batteries to give added oomph to pedal power.

Mr Swan said: “They’ve got off-road electric bikes, foldable bikes and general transportation electric bikes.

“They typically have a range of between 20 and 25 miles per charge and the motors range from 300w up to 600w, with a top speed of between 20 and 25 miles an hour on electric alone. If you pedal as well, they can get more speed.

“Typically we special order, but we do carry a small inventory of bikes. It only takes between one to three weeks to get it here, though.”

Mr Swan added: “We’re breaking new ground here. We’ve sold some of the electric-assisted pedal bikes, which we’ve had for about three weeks.

“The Velocifero is brand new and we’ve had a lot of interest in that — we’ve an order coming in January and part of that order is already spoken for.”

Mr Swan said that he had already brought in one electric vehicle, a small truck-style car with design cues similar to the heavyweight US four-wheel-drive Hummer.

In addition, Veelr stocks small foldable electric ET bikes and the larger Jayray Special, named after the US rapper who popularised the model in America.

Mr Swan said: “They fold and can be put in the car. They’re perfect for popping downtown to do some shopping.”

The store also stocks a unique electric unicycle.