E-moped company Bilis has made retailer Halfords its fleet service and maintenance partner to ensure its B2B customers have access to qualified specialists across the UK.
The Scottish-based micromobility firm offers a commuter e-moped and last-mile delivery e-moped for businesses like takeaways, restaurants and couriers.
Under the agreement, Bilis’s e-mopeds will be serviced by Halfords Mobile Expert (HME) team once a year or every 5,000 miles.
“This partnership will ensure our e-mopeds stay on the road for as long as possible, so there’s less downtime for our customers,” Bilis’s Co-Founder and General Manager Paul Rafferty told Zag Daily.
“By keeping them serviced, we can run a more sustainable business model, and it means we can then confidently sell our e-mopeds on to the used market, giving them a second life so they don’t go to waste.”
Bilis launched its first commuter MO-1 e-moped last year and began by selling direct to customers.
“We wanted to give our customers a really extravagant delivery experience so there’s a fog machine, gold curtains and music playing in the back of the van when we drop them off,” said Rafferty.
Now the company works with dealerships as well, but when moving into the delivery space, it could not find a motorcycle dealership able or willing to service its vehicles.
With Halford’s now taking care of maintenance and servicing, Bilis can put all its focus into scaling the business. So far it has sold just under 100 units, with sales forecast to be between 300-400 units by the end of 2023.
For Halfords, this is an area it wants to invest in more.
“Halfords is in discussions with a number of organisations in the micromobility space about becoming a key strategic partner for the purposes of mobile service and maintenance,” Halford’s Head of Commercial and Business Development Chris Oakley told Zag.
“It’s an exciting time for micromobility and B2B fleets, and aftercare is a key element for helping micromobility companies reach and support more fleet operators. As a leading specialist in mobile maintenance, we are proud to offer our services to companies who are looking to enhance their offering to clients.”
