"Butts on Bikes is the Most Important Thing we can do" - Scott Colosimo CEO of US Electric Mobility Startup LAND

The backstory of LAND - a US electric mobility manufacturer -  is really the story of its founder and CEO, Scott Colosimo. He started a motorcycle manufacturing business in 2009, scaled it globally and created CCW (Cleveland CycleWerks). Its mission was simple, to build affordable bikes that felt premium. 

"We made cool bobbers, cafe bikes, scramblers, then expanded into dirt and more modern products. The product was affordable and easily customizable, that's the important part, for under $8,000 you had an amazing custom platform," Colosimo tells Auto Futures.

"We have been doing our own thing in the bike business for years," he adds.

LAND was a hard pivot in 2020 when Colosimo and his team sold the gas business and decided to go all in on electric.

"We saw the consumer demand was finally there. We wanted to focus on US manufacturing, building our own tech stack and exploit electrification for all it is worth. I use the word 'exploit' because that is exactly what we are doing, leaning into the software, leaning into our hardware expertise, leaning into the battery as an energy source not just for our bikes, but for anything." 

LAND's debut e-Moto, The District, combines the ease of use of an electric bike and the power of an electric motorcycle.

"It is the combination of a bike, moped and mid-weight motorcycle. The software allows us to limit the speed and power, or unlimit it. What this does is create a vehicle that can be completely different things to different people. It also gives our user the ability to get into riding, and keeps things fun as their experience level grows."

The e-Moto is powered by a swappable electric battery pack, also designed and developed by LAND, that has a range of 120 miles per battery.

"The battery is the tech that is moving the quickest in terms of performance gains over time. From our perspective the easiest thing to swap into the platform that would improve the performance over the life of ownership is the battery. So now, the question goes from - 'how many years will this battery last' to  - 'how quick does the technology change so I can go from 120 miles of range to 200 miles of range'."

A Sense of Speed

The District features three speed settings - e-Bike (up to 27 mph), e-Moped (up to 40 mph) and e-Motorcycle (70+ mph). Its is aimed at a range of riders, from beginners to experienced motorcyclists. 

"We always say 'butts on bikes' is the most important thing we can do," says Colosimo.

"Anyone who rides one of our vehicles instantly understands the value proposition that we talk about at LAND. This is a considered product with buttery throttle, amazing brake feel, top shelf components and a nimble feel at low speed, planted at high speeds. It is a very unique experience. We have tuned in the chain and belt vibration to give a visceral sense of speed. We do not believe in the completely numb, silent ride experience that is present in so many electric vehicles," he adds.

LAND has also added the on and off-road District Scrambler to its e-Moto range. But Colosimo doesn't think electrification is best for all 2-wheelers.

"We do not agree to this whole electrify everything strategy that we are seeing across the board. First, what are the advantages? Well, from bicycle, moped, small to mid-displacement electric 2 wheelers are already technically better than their gas counterparts. As you start to get to the larger motorcycles such as sport bikes and touring bikes, the gas actually has the advantage from a power to weight ratio and the fact that you can fill in 2 minutes and go 300 miles with gas." 

"Riding is a Bit Tribal"

In September, 2023, LAND announced the close of a Series A funding round. To date, it has raised more than $7 million. It has also expanded its team, and doubled the size of its production staff. 

"We were able to scale production, and we will continue to scale with the capital brought in. We also invested in moving our battery manufacturing to the USA, which is huge for our group, as we have a more vertically integrated platform. We are in the process of manufacturing our own motherboards, and other electrical components, which give us a greater level of control over our product," explains Colosimo.

"We are now moving into our B Round with a $15MM round, as we need to keep scaling into consumer and B2B demand."

In the US, it has have just started to expand into dealerships nationwide, and it's aiming to support local dealers and local communities.

"Riding is a bit tribal, we need to support that base. We will continue to sell online, but (we've) started a channel management strategy that gives the dealers a unique higher spec product, as well as special editions that will be exclusively available through the dealer base," he says.

Restructuring How People Flow Through Cities

Finally, we asked Colosimo for his throughts on what urban mobility will look like by 2030. 

"Personal mobility is about to embark on it's 2nd golden era (the Lithium Age?). Small, powerful, lightweight batteries are enabling personal mobility in ways that the petrol engine can't. Established metropolitan areas where cars dominate are already seeing dramatic increases in trips taken by non-cars, let's call them LEVs (Scooters, Fast E Bikes, E Motos, Low Speed 4 Wheelers)," he predicts.

"Cities are becoming increasingly overrun by electric scooters and bikes. But, we are not going to simply regulate our way out of this issue, people want it and tech is enabling it. We have to establish safe travel lanes to walk, ride, drive. This is going to be messy. Prohibition is not going to work (some cities are trying to ban small mobility), so let's do the work and restructure how people flow through our cities," concludes Colosimo.