CLEVELAND — “It's been growing at warp speed. It's been a lot of fun,” said LAND’s Head of Design, Evan Painter.
LAND knows what it’s like to move fast. This young company focused on light electric vehicles and batteries, has taken the lead in Ohio’s EV space. With a newly renovated 30,000-square-foot manufacturing facility that came online a couple of months ago, they’re accelerating.
“This line behind us is going to allow us to do a couple thousand bikes a year, depending on staff,” said Painter. “So right now, we have pretty high expectations for it.”
“We've tripled our staff. We have exponentially grown our production,” stated Chris Davis, the Head of Production for LAND. “We've gone from building a bike monthly to six, seven bikes a week.”
LAND’s flagship product is The District, a category-bending vehicle that is three bikes in one; an e-bike, an e-moped and an electric motorcycle. In e-bike mode, you don’t need a license to ride. Controlled through software, it allows the EV to grow with the rider.
“Which is a huge benefit if you're curious and you want to try motorcycling, but you've always been hesitant,” said Painter.
The District can travel up to 120 miles on a single charge and ranges in price from $7,200 to $11,000. LAND’s R&D, design, and manufacturing are all under one roof in Cleveland’s Gordan Square District.
“There's no framework, there's no standard on exactly how to build an electric motorcycle,” remarked Davis. “So, everything we're doing here is new and innovative and outside the box.”
They are getting noticed, turning heads at area EV conferences, winning design awards and taking Gear Junkie’s Best in Show at CES this year in Las Vegas. LAND’s approach and product made Chris Davis move from Austin, Texas, to help build the business in Cleveland.
“Taking a startup company from just a handful of people and growing it into a manufacturing facility where we're producing hundreds and thousands of bikes a year. It's a big challenge and it is very interesting to me,” said Davis.
Attracting talent and keeping it here is also part of the blueprint. Working with the Greater Cleveland Partnership, LAND gets interns from Cleveland State and CASE Western Reserve Universities.
“We want to keep that those talented young people here in Cleveland instead of sending them to the coast because, like Tesla or Rivian or whoever they're going to, they're going to pull from this area for their engineering talent,” explained Painter. “And it's been a trend for a very long time. And we're trying to shake that up a little bit.”
“The versatility of electric battery power is really where LAND is going to make a difference in the EV space,” said Davis.
Attracting customers includes tapping into their feedback to build an EV community, from design to the assembly line to hitting the streets.
“We're all passionate about sharing this experience that our bike creates. And you know, it's so much fun to come to work every day,” said Painter.
LAND hopes to make some announcements about new projects soon. The company is committed to staying in Cleveland.
