SEPTEMBER 2020 COVER STORY
HIGH
VOLTAGE
Brexit pressures saw electric bike manufacturer, VOLT,
open its fi rst UK-based factory earlier this year – but
the company hadn’t counted on the challenges of
setting up shop during a global pandemic
13
BY CHRIS BECK
www.manufacturingmanagement.co.uk
For any company, opening a new, stateof
the-art factory after just ten years
in operation is a moment to be proud
of, and would ordinarily be greeted by
popping of champagne corks, canapés
and a local dignitary on hand to cut a
ribbon with an oversized pair of scissors.
For British electric bike manufacturer
VOLT, however, this wasn’t the case. The
opening in mid-June of its much-anticipated
new facility in Milton Keynes was slightly
abnormal. The fanfare was replaced with a
socially distanced round of applause and a
Zoom call with the top brass.
This has never been a company that does
things ‘normally’, though. Founded a decade
ago by brothers, Lyle and James Metcalfe,
VOLT has built a loyal fanbase amongst the UK
cycling fraternity with an ever-growing range
of high-end electric bikes. Their story takes
in a humble beginning in London, a chance
encounter with two Swedes and a sojourn to
Poland, and ends with a world-class factory in
the UK’s innovation heartlands.
At approximately 1,800m2, the new factory
has the capacity to build up to 25,000 e-bikes
per year and create 30 new jobs in the
local area. It’s a long way from the
brothers’ fi rst steps, though.
Early days
big impression on the UK market. After
some investigation and a year spent
making contacts, they found examples
of such bikes already in production.
“However, they all looked a bit clunky,
and not the sort of thing you’d want to
be seen riding,” says James.
The brothers set to work
developing a more stylish
design. Their eff orts were
helped by advances in battery
technology, meaning they
were amongst the fi rst to
incorporate less bulky lithium
ion batteries into their design
(previously, electric bikes were
mostly powered by lead acid
batteries, which are slow to
charge and provided relatively
little range).
The popularity of the
fi nished product took the
fl edgling company by surprise.
“We’d originally intended
to rent the bikes out around
Central London where the
company was based at the
time,” says James. “However,
once they’d ridden them,
people very quickly started to
ask to buy them – meaning we
urgently needed to fi nd some
production space.”
VOLT has gone from start-up
to a 1,800m2, state-of-the-art
factory in just a decade
Both keen cyclists, the Metcalfe brothers
realised that electric bikes could make a
/www.manufacturingmanagement.co.uk