Charging Stack Podcast: ÆMOTION and The 79 cm EV Built to Slip Through Traffic

ÆMOTION is a French startup building a super-narrow, tilting electric two-seater designed for real city congestion. At just 79 cm wide, it aims to bring motorbike-level agility (including lane filtering where regulations allow) with car-like protection, including a rigid safety cell, seatbelts, and front/rear crash boxes.

In this episode, we sit down with CEO Alexandre Lagrange to unpack how the vehicle works, who it’s for, and what it takes to bring a new vehicle category to market in Europe.

Everything about ÆMOTION in one place

Read our deep dive on ÆMOTION

Explore ÆMOTION company profile

This episode is for you if:

• You commute in a dense city and you’re done losing hours in congestion
• You work in urban mobility, micromobility, or L-category vehicle development
• You care about road safety, especially for two-wheeler commuters
• You operate a fleet where time saved matters (service, moto-taxi, urgent delivery)
• You’re curious how “made in France” manufacturing changes the startup playbook

In this episode, you’ll learn:

⚡ Why Alexandre started ÆMOTION after winter accidents as a fast bike commuter in Paris
⚡ What 79 cm width unlocks in daily traffic, parking, and lane filtering (depending on local rules)
⚡ How tilting works in practice, including stability, braking, crosswinds, and rough roads
⚡ The two battery strategies: swappable short-range vs fixed longer-range (70 km / 200 km)
⚡ How ÆMOTION thinks about safety, from crash boxes to a rigid cell, even beyond minimum L-category requirements
⚡ Why training is part of the product, even for drivers with a standard B license
⚡ The go-to-market plan: early pilots, leasing-first pricing, and the path to certification and production

Topics covered include

• The “agility vs protection” tradeoff in today’s options, and why Alexandre thinks the market still forces compromises
• Where ÆMOTION fits compared to scooters, three-wheelers, microcars, and full-size EVs
• What makes the driving experience different: handlebar steering, tilting feel, and low-speed features like tilt locking
• The door design: why the two-step “elytra-style” opening matters in tight city parking
• Weather and comfort: aerodynamics around the open lower section, heated contact points, and windshield defrost
• Safety approach in plain terms: what they designed for, how they think about crash scenarios, and why they benchmark against cars
• Who wants it first: city commuters, professional riders, and high-value service operators (not free-floating sharing)
• Manufacturing and sourcing: what “80% of value created in France” means, and what still comes from outside Europe
• Ownership model: leasing-first, target monthly cost, and how they frame total cost of ownership vs a small city car
• What a city gains if vehicles like this scale: less space taken, less noise, fewer emissions, and fewer “one person in a big car” trips
• Timeline and rollout: prototypes vs industrialization, pioneer series timing, and what production scaling actually involves

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