How LAVOIE is Harnessing the Power of Motorsport to Reshape Micro-Mobility - Co-CEO Eliott Wertheimer

LAVOIE may be a micro-mobility startup, but it has the backing of a major player in automotive technology and motorsports, the UK's McLaren Applied. It's just unveiled its debut product, the LAVOIE Series 1 e-scooter, which has been engineered in the same way as a race car to maximise its performance and design.

Eliott Wertheimer, LAVOIE's co-CEO, has been talking to Auto Futures.

"McLaren Applied reached out to myself and my fellow co-CEO at LAVOIE, Albert Nassar, because we have extensive experience in the micro-mobility space, designing and engineering e-scooters and e-bikes," says Wertheimer.

LAVOIE sees itself as a ‘dream team’ of expertise from each of the fields relevant to making micro-mobility products. It also benefits from McLaren's long history in motorsports.

"The boundaries of engineering, design and technology are always being pushed in motorsport, especially motorsport such as Formula 1 or MotoGP. The mindset is to extract as much performance as possible from a specific type of vehicle, and this forces innovation and creativity. Micro-mobility can benefit from this process in so many ways: efficiency, power, lightweight design, strength. All of these things are crucial to optimise performance in motorsport, but also micro-mobility products," he explains.

The team collaborated with legendary designer Ian Callum on colour schemes. His design house, CALLUM, will play a major part in the design of future LAVOIE products.

"The Series 1 is a thing of beauty; we didn’t want to just make an e-scooter that performed better than any other, we wanted to make something people were proud to be seen using, to cherish owning."

"We use automotive magnesium for the construction of the Series 1 which is both very lightweight and highly strong; this enabled us to use a large battery without compromising on the lightweight nature of the e-scooter, maximising range and portability," says Wertheimer.

Developed by Mclaren Applied, one of the key feature of the Series 1 is the Flowfold system. 

"The Series 1 is the first e-scooter to be able to fold both the front wheel and the stem in half, reducing its height and length significantly. This ensures the Series 1 is super compact and portable when folded down, while retaining a large and wide deck and long wheelbase for maximum stability and comfort when in use."

The Series 1 can be folded and unfolded using just one touch. It also enables what LAVOIE calls ‘park mode’, where the owner can collapse and lock the front wheel, so that the deck rests on the floor and the scooter remains in a stable, upright position. This removes the need for a kickstand, which in turn reduces weight.

"It’s a patent-pending system which uses a four-bar mechanism that enables two motions; the first motion folds the stem in half and the second motion moves the front wheel onto the deck, making it incredibly compact in its folded state. We use two automotive latches – literally the same used in cars – to ensure the lock is strong and robust. Each latch is strong enough to secure the lock on its own. It is a complicated mechanism, almost comparable to the internals of a watch, but unlike a watch the inner workings are incredibly powerful and robust, as they would be on a supercar or race car."

Keeping Your Eyes on The Road

The Series 1 is highly connected. It features app-based turn by turn navigation on the built-in screen so riders don’t have to keep looking at their phones, and the location of the scooter can be tracked via a GPS tracking system.

Wertheimer is particularly proud of its lighting system, which not only illuminates the road ahead but also bathes the rider in a pool of light so that they can be clearly seen by other traffic. 

"The deck features lighting strips on each side which further illuminate the area around the scooter. The Series 1 also has indicators and a horn to signal manoeuvres and direction to other road users, and we have app-based turn-by-turn navigation which is displayed on the Series 1’s built-in screen, so the rider doesn’t have to remove their eyes from what’s in front of them," he says.

"Thanks to the Flowfold system, we’re able to have a long wheelbase, wide deck, and remarkably high stem angle compared to industry standards, increasing stability. The safest way to ride an e-scooter is with feet parallel, so we deliberately made the deck wide enough for the rider to do so. Of course, if they wish to use the one-foot-behind-the-other stance they still can."

Resources And Momentum

Battery safety is also of high importance for LAVOIE. The Series 1 is fitted with lithium-ion cell (21700) batteries, sourced from SAMSUNG.

"They are incredibly safe, stable and have outstanding capacity and life. Their cylindrical shells make them particularly strong and they have been tested by SAMSUNG and many other manufacturers over millions of hours for safety, performance and stability," says Wertheimer.

"LAVOIE’s battery management system prevents the battery cells from discharging too much or too fast, regulates the charging speed and manages voltage and current so as to maximise safety and lifetime. The batteries are also fused which further prevents damage in case of malfunction," he adds.

Finally, Wertheimer gave us some insight into what's in the pipeline for his company.

"We will keep developing our e-scooters, packing as much technology as we can into each iteration and make, keeping customers happy. We will continue to work with the best designers in the world to bring game-changing products to market - we will have more than one exciting announcement a year."

"Thanks to the power of McLaren Applied we have huge resources and momentum, and we’re constantly thinking about further development and pushing the boundaries. We have a lot of exciting things planned that we can’t talk about just yet, but soon," teases Wertheimer.