Electric bike company gears up to hit £1.5m turnover following new Northumbria Healthcare partnership

Ride Electric, the Tyneside electric bike company, has secured a deal with Northumbria Healthcare as part of its bid supercharge the biking market this summer.

Based at Ballards Smoke House on the North Shields Fish Quay, the business is also on track to turnover £1.5m in the next three years and will roll out a recruitment drive over the next 12 months to meet its growth plans throughout the North East.

The deal with Northumbria Healthcare, part of the group’s commitment to lowering carbon emissions, is the biggest vindication of Ride Electric’s ingenuity so far.

Established by David Anderson and Craig Goff-Cooper, both business leaders and keen cyclists, Ride Electric has plans for bringing eBikes to the masses.

David said: “We both love bikes, so when we recognised that the market was shifting toward electric bikes we wanted to be part of the growth. This is our first year, and we are on target to achieve £250k in sales.

“We wouldn’t be surprised if this figure was exceeded, once the growth in eBikes has taken a hold like it has clearly demonstrated in Holland, Belgium and Germany. Our agreement with our manufacturing partner is unrestricted, so we are already in the process of developing remote, regional operations in Milton Keynes and Liverpool.”

Although the company does provide eBikes to individuals for personal use, Ride Electric has said it is focusing on establishing partnerships with the region’s business community this summer before rolling out its offering to the rest of the UK.

David explained: “Our approach is entirely different from traditional bike shops. We are taking the concept to the market, not waiting for people to wander into a shop unannounced, and we are in the process of helping to educate the market in a concept for which the UK public is blissfully unaware.”

Northumbria Healthcare is now in a position to offer eBikes to staff who are looking for a greener commute to work using a tax efficient salary sacrifice.

Sathish Sethuraman, Travel/Transport Plan Coordinator at Northumbria Healthcare, added: “As a part of the green travel plan, Northumbria Healthcare has a yearly carbon reduction commitment.

“Cycling has been promoted heavily since 2007 to reduce single occupancy cars entering the trust sites, so when Craig and David approached the Trust Travel Plan Coordinator in 2017 to discuss eBikes and the Green Commute Initiative (GCI) cycle scheme, it all fell into place. We’re very much looking forward to our future together.”

Craig Goff-Cooper, Ride Electric General Manager, concluded: “eBikes are a new form of transport. They’re not bicycles or mopeds, they are a unique vehicle opening a new category of personal transportation, which is both great fun and hugely efficient.

“Ride Electric is a specialist company that is working hard to bring this phenomenon to a wider market, and rather than sell through a traditional shop, we promote our service of experience, rent and purchase, direct to the public ourselves with the help of a network of partners.”

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