things with bike in the name or being compared to bikes should have teh capability of being human powered. an e-bike that has no human power is an electric scooter.
This is pedal driven as well. You can see the driver using their legs in the video, essentially this is a very luxurious e-bike. It is both street and bike lane legal in germany, which requires meeting fairly strict limits in how "motorized" it is allowed to be.
Because they're not going to sell a ton of units. Economics of scale work against them. They need to at least break even, and not just on the parts and labour for the unit (which are already higher than they would be on a higher volume product all on their own) but also on the r&d, post-sale support and warranties, administration, etc.
That's a great explanation for why it costs that much, but not for why they think it's a good idea to sell it for that price.
Other companies first build a prototype and gather investment so that they can build a first 1000 (not 60) units and can reach a price that can be attractive for the market. Or build first a niche, super exclusive product so that the lack of economies of scale doesn't matter as much.
In here I just can't see the value proposition really. For half the price I can buy something like a Renault Twizy or Citroen Ami with similar size, twice the speed, twice the range, and still zero emissions. Plus I don't have to pedal, and I get a radio. Why would I ever want this?
Entrepreneurial ego plays a part I think. Unless they already found 60 people that want them for this price.
Developing an agile enough process and factory to make things like this might be an interesting business model. Probably way Too low profit to attract investors though.
