More than anything, I sensed a collective fire-in-the-belly that would define the country in years to come.
And, then there is motorcycle design. While the other ASEAN neighbours are still taking baby steps, Vietnam leapfrogged over others in electric scooters when Vinfast launched the Klara in 2018. It did not look like a cheap Chinese IP from Zhejiang; it looked distinct, with great poise.
Thank you, Pininfarina!
The Klara may have been born in a European design studio, but Nuen Moto was not. Gia Nguyen, the Founder/CEO/Design Director of Nuen, tips his hat to Scandinavian design. He and his wife, Hai Vo, the second co-founder of Nuen, spent some years in Sweden.
Zoom in at the N1-S and the clean lines hark to Scandinavian design influence. And to Cake. And that's not a good thing, today. But when Gia and his third co-founder Han Hoang talk passionately about the N1-S and explain that they have taken pains to maintain the price point, the Vietnamese ingenuity shines through.
Admittedly, we chased the shy Gia Nguyen for weeks before he agreed to sit down (along with Han Hoang) for this interview. Ultimately, it was worth it all as Nuen is a remarkable fresh breath in electric motorcycling. The potential is immense considering it comes from an Asian market with more motorcycles on the road than the entire Europe.
InsightEV: Hello and welcome to the InsightEV interview. We've been getting a lot of positive buzz about the Nuen N-1S motorcycle. I think it's a fantastic-looking motorcycle. We can't wait to see that in production soon. How did the story start? How did the motorcycle come about?
Gia Nguyen: Nuen Moto was officially founded in June 2023. But then our roots go back much longer than that. All three of us cofounders - myself, Han, and my wife come from an architecture and design background. Our work has always been a blend of engineering and functionality. After graduating, I spent years working in the gaming and movie industry, designing futuristic vehicles and architecture. My wife worked as a general designer for a luxury hotel brand. We both moved to Sweden in 2017.
That's where the Scandinavian design principle of ‘Minimalism-Functionality-Sustainability’ comes from. That profoundly influences our approach to product design. In 2021, we returned to Vietnam to make something tangible after years of working on digital products only. Something that combines our passion for motorcycle design and lifestyle. Initially, we started Nuen as a motorcycle fashion brand focusing on making riding gear - an everyday apparel for motorcyclists. But even then, my love for motorcycles extended beyond fashion. We were constantly customizing my motorcycles, my Ducati, and my Triumph. We used that as a testing ground for design, and eventually, I came to an opportunity to build our first electric bike. We called that project the NU-E, which was meant to be a one-off. But as we kept refining the design, I saw this as a whitespace for the market. I realized it had some market potential. In March 2023, I met Han, and he's the one who shared my vision for a high-quality electric motorcycle that could transform the premium motorbike market in Vietnam.
Han Hoang: That was a significant moment when I realized and started seeing visions in my head. I couldn't get it out of my head, needless to say, but this idea of changing the motorcycle landscape, especially in Vietnam, was very intriguing. My background is similar to Gia's, and it's in the design industry. I went to the school for architecture.
But after architecture, I mainly focus on technology - a lot of information modeling, a lot of data analysis, and stuff like that. Robotics automation, etc. That was my area of expertise and something that I focus on. This idea of having this unique, mobility product that people use to get around. How do we take that typical product and make it to where it's influential in terms of how it looks and how it feels, what kind of technology and things we can bring to it, and how we can change that industry.
I've always been involved in projects and things that are unique, things that add a challenge. Things that are kind of new to the world, if anything. I saw that this could be a unique challenge we could face and wanted to take on.
That was exciting: I met this guy, and I couldn't stop talking to him, and then it just stuck in my head for days and days after that, and that's how I kept pushing it. Gia has always been tinkering with the idea of transitioning to EV motorcycles, making a motorcycle, but I think - I don't want to praise myself - but I think I'm the one who sparked that and said, “Let's do it, let's make this happen.” That was the push he needed, and the push that we needed to get on with it.
Who knows if the timing is right (or not), but I think when (something we'll discuss in a little bit later) the market sort of started transitioning, especially here in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. We thought it was actually a good time to go ahead and do this, and everything kind of aligns.
InsightEV: You started with three co-founders, and all three are from design backgrounds. That's incredible. No wonder the motorcycle has a strong focus on aesthetics. But tell me about the first concept.
Han: Yeah. The NU-E.
InsightEV: I remember seeing pictures of that, and it looked incredible. But what made you change the design direction?
Gia: It was a collaborative process between me and my team. Back then, we only had two guys - me and my engineer, and we shared the same passion for a kind of clean and robotic look. He's also an expert in CNC machining parts and design. We combined the passions into a bike with a look that no one else had in the market. It was just a passion project. We put everything we love into that. We also had to think about how we could effectively make this prototype without burning our pockets. Eventually, it came to something really simple and unique.
Han: Even though it did burn his pocket…I think he's under-toning it, and it's more like he wanted to create something completely different from a traditional motorcycle. You have your typical gas tank, you have the typical, just everything that is what represents a motorcycle. He removed a lot of that with the exception of the two wheels, the handlebar, and obviously the seat. But for everything else, he looked at it in terms of a completely different approach to how to reinvent the look and feel of a motorcycle without looking too futuristic. It's something new, but it doesn't look like it. A lot of our friends look at the bike and say, "Oh man, this reminds me of that bike from Tron."
And I was like, "No, it doesn't look anything like Tron." …
Tron is super futuristic and curvy. But the fact that it brings up that emotion or that reference, it already achieved that idea of something that doesn't exist and it's kind of futuristic, but not too futuristic, in terms of how it was created. So that was the NU-E.
Every time I ride that bike around the neighborhood we're in, and every time I stop, I walk in, I walk out, and there's always somebody standing in front of or walking looking at it and saying, "What is this thing? Where'd you get this?" Or how much does this cost? Every time, it's an eye catcher. I ride it around, and people are always staring at it, and it actually makes you feel very proud and confident.
I think that was one of the things that the NU-E achieved.
InsightEV: I agree with the dramatic part. The NU-E is still very fresh in my memory. When it comes to the technology market, how big do you reckon the market for electric motorcycles in Vietnam is? None currently exist, even though the market for electric scooters has already taken off quite well. Some of the other players - Vinfast, for example - are doing some decent work in terms of scooter styling, but how do you reckon is the bike market?
Gia: Vietnam is one of the largest motorcycle markets in the world. We sell about three million two-wheelers a year. At the same time, there's nothing like the electric two-wheeler market, which is filled with cheap-looking scooters. There's nothing looking like a real motorcycle. While everything has started to gain traction, there's a major gap for riders and people looking for performance, design, and something more premium craftsmanship that they can buy.
But also instead of focusing on that entire market, we just look at the smallest market that we can capture. So, in Vietnam, the premium motorcycle market is around 300,000 units a year. Those are the riders who are already spending around USD 5,000-20,000 for high-end ICE motorcycles already. That makes them the ideal early adopters for a performance electric motorcycle.
InsightEV: Vietnam is the first market to look at, but what's the plan beyond that?
Gia: We are looking at our neighbor markets in Southeast Asia, which are even more attractive. The region collectively sells over 15 million units of motorcycles per year, and as the electric powertrain adoption increases, I think the premium bike segment is going to exponentially grow in the next five years. That's why I see a clear opportunity to establish a new model as the leading premium motorcycle brand in Southeast Asia.
Han: There are a lot of really good motorcycles (scooters) out there. Obviously, a lot of really good electric motorcycles and then even a lot of good brands. However, most are imports into Vietnam. Locally, there are very few options. You mentioned Vinfast, and there are other companies as well. The majority of these companies are building scooters - lower-end models, but we saw that there was this lack of premium models within the motorcycle segment, so that's where we are focusing. There is a very big market, and we feel that if we can tackle the Vietnamese market first and foremost and cement ourselves as a leader, it would be a natural sort of progression to go over to Southeast Asia and then beyond.
InsightEV: That sounds natural and logical. Where are we with the N1-S right now? When do we see it heading to the showroom?
Gia: We completed the prototype of the N1-S in September last year. Since then, we've been rigorously testing and refining it, and we have made some significant improvements in performance and reliability. For example, one of the most notable changes is our improvements in the chassis design. So, we are able to reduce the weight of the frame and the swingarm by around 30%, reducing the overall weight by 20 kg. This improvement has helped increase the range by around 10-15%, from 245 km to 270 km, a significant efficiency gain.
We're also refining the design to optimize for production. We are working with many different suppliers for analysis and simulations to refine our 3D cat model and ensure it will be ready for mass production. This is a very critical step for mass production. For safety and suspension, we are collaborating with top-tier suppliers like Ohlins and Bosch for them to come up with a solution for our bike.
But since these brands are premium, their price is very high. We don't want to significantly increase the costs, so we take a strategic approach that we outsource the tests and data collection to them, and we use that information. We find the most high-quality OEM products in the market with the data that suits our model.
We keep the premium components for our limited edition models and for future upgradeable options for our customers. This, of course, is really for keeping the cost of the bike controllable. And in terms of timeline, we're looking at up to nine months from when we start production with our supplier. Our realistic milestone is around three months to finalize the motorcycle production, receive the sample, and assemble the bike at our partner factory.
We aim to complete final refinements in the coming weeks, start production within the next month, and deliver the first 200 units by Q4/2025.
InsightEV: You have a manufacturing partner who will handle the production? How much time will it take to reach that point? How long is the remaining development process?
Han: We're still going through some testing and trying to finalize the motorcycle. We should be done with that within the next few weeks or so. As soon as that's done, we're going to kick off the production. I would say within the next month or so because we have already gotten a number of pre-orders. We already have it in our plans and timeline to deliver from Q4 of this year. That's our plan.
InsightEV: Yeah. Which is pretty logical because if you start next month, then in nine months, you should be able to.
Han: The majority of that is we're looking at about 4-5 months just for building it and then a few months of testing. We want to make sure our product comes to the market ready, so we are doing a lot of testing before we deliver it to the customers. Testing is a major part of the schedule.
InsightEV: I can see that the plans are already in very advanced stages. How has the funding been? Have you completely bootstrapped or have you raised any money?
Han: There's a lot of funding strategies that we've been thinking about. There are a lot of ways that it has been presented to us through various VCs, so we're looking at all the different angles, and even looking at private investors.
There's a lot on the table for us at the moment. We're actually right in the middle of that process right now. I can't say much about it until it's done. Right now, there are a lot of options that are on the table for us and we are meeting with investors now.
During this time, right after the Lunar New Year, we had a few meetings. Before that, we also talked to a few, and next week we have investor meetings that we are currently preparing for. We're right in the middle of that. We are currently in the process of securing strategic funding to scale production while maintaining our capital-efficient approach. Our goal is to raise just enough to cover production costs without unnecessary dilution.
Gia: I would like to add a little more about our plan. Traditional motorcycle manufacturers spend millions on product development. We've been able to develop our product in just a year, at just 5-10% of the usual R&D project budget. We are making strategic cost-saving decisions - since we are a start-up, we don't have resources.
As we move into production and commercialization, we are preparing for the funding. Like Han said, there are a lot of things happening right now. but our plan is to raise just the minimum amount of capital to cover the papers and production cost of the first batch. We don't want to raise too much and expand our budget and then try to find ways to burn that cash. One of the main reasons is that our business model is strong product and marketing-wise, our bikes naturally attract a lot of attention when they are on the street.
We believe that we can organically grow our brand and traction without too much investment. So rather than constantly raising large amounts of capital to grow, we are just trying to reinvest what we make from the margins that we have from our business.
In the last year, there have been a lot of problems with other electric motorcycle companies being shut down, or not getting funded. A lot of these things would scare off a lot of people when you're an electric motorcycle startup.
That would sort of scare a lot of companies, but we look at it as an opportunity to learn from them. Do cost saving where we can and do things that are a bit different from how they did it. I think, like I said, timing might be bad, but we look at it as it's a good opportunity. The timing might actually be right because there are a lot of lessons that we have learned and we're still learning as we go from here. That gives us some advantage.
Han: As Gia mentioned, our thinking from the very start is to achieve the right premium product at a low cost. Right from when we designed the prototype, when we built the prototype, and when we built the team, our approach has always been like that. Now with a transition over to production, we are thinking about how to minimize costs as much as possible?
Reducing cost does not mean cutting corners on the product but about factors that you can control, things that you can work with, and that you can maneuver. That's kind of our angle, and it's going to be an ongoing approach as a company to how we achieve high-quality premium products at a reduced cost.
InsightEV: You have not raised any capital at all? .
Han: It's all through our angel investors, friends and family, and out of our pocket as well. It's all self-funded at the moment.
InsightEV: Let’s talk a little about the technology on the N-1S. Is the motor something you picked up off the shelf from a supplier, or is it self-developed?
Gia: Our strategy is going to be in the cost-saving way of doing things. For the components such as the battery cells or the motors, those are picked off the shelf and we choose from the most reliable suppliers in the world. We’ve secured reliable suppliers who can scale with us as production increases, ensuring consistent quality and performance.
InsightEV: And… same goes for the battery pack? I'm sure the cells have been sourced from somewhere, but is the pack design and construction yours?
Gia: Since we source the battery cells, we pick the most suitable capacity cells and for the pack architecture we do everything ourselves in-house. We have a team of engineers and they do all the structural design of the battery packs, how we can put all those cells, how we can optimize the safety, how we can put all those safety features: we have heat sensors, pressure valves for the battery pack, etc.
Obviously, the parts and the components of it, we source them, but we source the specific type of battery cells and so forth. but we pick the one that's most optimal and most efficient based on our motor and our usage,
InsightEV: How big is the motor? What is the peak? And what is the size of the battery pack?
Gia: Yeah, the rated power is 12kW and peak power is 24kW. The pack is 8 kWh.
InsightEV: What is the cell format?
Gia: Currently, we are using prismatic NMC cells. It's a 72V architecture.
InsightEV: When you start manufacturing, are you planning to continue with the same cell supplier and format? Do they have the capacity to support you in Vietnam?
Gia: As we follow a light CAPEX approach, our main focus will be using all of our resources into design engineering and branding while we outsource and leave the manufacturing part of the business to the most reliable and cost-efficient partners.
Instead of building our own factory, we choose to partner with an established manufacturer who has excess capacity. In Vietnam. 80-90% of them are over capacity. We want to leverage their infrastructure to reduce our CAPEX requirement. For the rest of the components, we source from different countries, and then assemble them at a local factory.
InsightEV: The frame is quite innovative. I think you have worked significantly on the frame. Can you take us through that?
Gia: We are really proud of our chassis design. I think that is also one of our unique selling points. What sets it apart is our approach to design engineering. For the chassis, we designed it with the most distinctive shape and with the most premium materials compared to the rest of the bike. We are the only brand actually in that price segment using aluminum. Everyone mostly uses steel.
We focus on improving our rider experience, so that's one of the components (frame) that we focus most on. The swing arm, and everything else, connects to it. You have to optimize the weight of it without sacrificing the rigidity.
Han: Yeah, I think that the iconic feature within our design is the chassis. I want to elaborate a little bit more on Gia’s take. The motorcycle chassis is often overlooked. It's a structural component, but usually hidden away, and it's covered. You don't know what it looks like, you don't really care what it looks like.
Our design approach: we flipped things around, and this is now brought up to the front - the frame is like an exposed skeleton. That's why we call the naked one, the N1. That's something that we feel like it's our signature piece and something that we're really proud of to come up with. On the right side, you can see it spells out the N for Nuen.
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