“The covid period has passed, the PC market has resumed the same dynamics it had before, that is, a dynamic with very little growth,” acknowledges Emmanuel Fromont, director of the EMEA-Africa area at Acer. “You have to be honest, we sell significantly fewer PCs than a few years ago. The market is tough right now and we had to find other levers and other diversification strategies for our growth.”
For two years now, Acer has decided to move towards mobility by launching electric scooters called the Acer ES Series for the first time. “We sold 20,000 e-Scooter models in Europe (Series 1, Series 3, Series 5, Series 7 – Editor’s Note) in 2022. By the first quarter of 2023, we have already shipped so many that they have found buyers”, congratulates Emmanuel Desdeont . And to complete its mobility offer, the Taiwanese brand has recently presented an electric bicycle called Ebii. “We are in a segment quite similar to ours, in full growth. It remains in the hardware, in the values of the company, in the dynamics of respect for the environment and mobility”.
A not so unexpected range, in Acer values
Ebii will arrive this summer and wants to visually differentiate itself from the competition. This electric bike is intended to be quite compact, but not foldable. Aimed mainly at a young, urban target, it presents modern lines, a unique original fork “to facilitate repairs by being easily removed”, but above all a very well thought-out security system. There is an anti-theft system for the large battery (110 km autonomy – full recharge in 2h30) with a key to remove it from below. It has USB ports to allow it to be used as a backup battery for various devices when not in use on the bike. And if you move more than 15 meters from the bike, it automatically locks.
In action, Ebii displays LED lights at the front, but also at the bottom to signal you to other vehicles at night and mark your safety zone on the road surface. A rear radar warns you, through the application to download on your smartphone, that danger is approaching. A brand inspired by computing and gaming, Acer has obviously put RGB colors on the headlamp, but has also given the ability to choose its LED display underneath.
“We put all of our technologies into it, like presence detection, smart lights, a removable battery. We did all the design from A to Z. It will be a bit like our product flagship and a nod to our business”, says Emmanuel Fromont. “We want to show what we can bring to this category”. Ebii will be available in the summer at a price of around 2,000 euros. “Acer also indicates that other models will emerge They will be less “advanced “, with fewer features, to have a “slightly more aggressive” price, we promise from the Asian business side.
“We see no reason not to succeed”
Meanwhile, Ebii comes with a good number of technologies that fans of soft electric mobility should like (steering by artificial intelligence to adapt to road conditions according to pedaling and the level of assistance chosen – assisted driving up to 25 km /h -, optimization of battery use to manage autonomy at destination, etc.), but also in terms of design, quite careful in matt white with recycled materials. It is mounted on solid puncture-proof tires and is fairly light in weight (16 kg).
The Acer Ebii isn’t the only future newcomer in the Mobility category. The Taiwanese also has a new scooter with a rather unexpected look in his bag: the Predator eScooter Extreme. This is the true all-terrain version of the range, equipped with massive suspension, bigger wheels, a fork capable of supporting all surfaces. But mostly it’s what it looks like halfway with a minibike (possible to sit down and lower the fork).
A project with the Predator seal to recall Acer’s high-end games and a rather short autonomy (22 km) for a high weight (24 kg): this real product will soon see the light of day to take the brand to new horizons.
Source: BFM TV
