2020年经济学人 电动自行车冲击(2)（在线收听）

Big firms such as Accell and Giant of Taiwan compete with sporty brands such as America’s Cannondale and affordable city rides from QWIC. Brompton, a British maker of fancy folding bikes, has been making 10% of its ￡42.5m ($56m) in annual sales from the electric sort, and hopes eventually to raise that figure to 40%.VanMoof, which raised $13.5m from investors in May, bills itself as the Tesla of e-bikes. Like the electric-car maker it designs its own parts, motors and software rather than relying on off-the-shelf bits and bobs. The result is a more seamless product, boasts Taco Carlier, a Dutch engineer who co-founded VanMoof with his brother in 2009.

像Accell和Giant of Taiwan这样的大公司，与Cannondale这样的美国运动品牌以及提供经济实惠城市乘车的QWIC展开了竞争。英国高档折叠自行车制造商Brompton，其年销售额为4250万英镑（合5600万美元），其中10%来自电动自行车，并希望最终能将这一数字提高到40%。今年5月，VanMoof从投资者那里筹集了1350万美元，并自称为电动自行车界的特斯拉。与电动汽车制造商一样，VanMoof自己设计零件、电机和软件，而不是依赖现成的零件。这位曾与自己的兄弟在2009年联合创立VanMoof的荷兰设计师塔科·卡莱尔自夸，这样一体化的制造可以使生产更加连贯流畅。

Demand is growing faster than manufacturers can keep up, leading to long backlogs and premium prices, which start at around $1,000. Giant says that its gross margin on e-bikes is around 25%, above its average of 21%. VanMoof’s machines go for $2,000 a pop. Mr Carlier may, however, have to rethink his firm’s marketing strategy. Though its polemic against traffic jams evokes French nouvelle vague cinema, the ad was banned in June by French authorities, for trying to “discredit the automobile sector”.

对于电动自行车需求的增长速度超过了制造商的承受能力，引发了长期积压和溢价，起价在1000美元左右。Giant公司表明其电动自行车的毛利率在25%左右，高于平均水平21%。VanMoof的电动自行车每辆售价2000美元。然而，卡莱尔可能不得不重新考虑公司的营销策略。尽管这则针对交通堵塞的论战让人想起了法国的新浪潮电影，但这则广告在6月被法国当局禁止，因为它试图“诋毁汽车行业”。