NOVUS handed over the first production units of the NOVUS One Founders Edition to its inaugural customers
On March 24, 2026, NOVUS held a launch event in Munich that marked the end of a very long road, and, as the company is quick to point out, the beginning of a much longer one. At the gathering, which brought together the NOVUS Club community and early supporters, the German startup handed over the first production units of the NOVUS One Founders Edition to its inaugural customers. It was, by the company’s own description, a moment of historic emotional impact.
“Our team has reached the historic moment that our founder René made possible with his visionary sketch of a Lightbike and the founding of NOVUS: series production and customer delivery,” the company said in a statement. René Renger, the founder and CEO, summarized his philosophy in a single line: “Create a product that people love, now make it accessible to them.”
The story behind that moment stretches back to 2010, when Renger and co-founder Marcus Weidig began working on an electric light motorcycle concept as a university bachelor’s thesis. Their ambition was straightforward but demanding: merge the lightness and agility of a bicycle with the performance and sovereignty of a motorcycle, and wrap it in a design that felt genuinely futuristic. Both men went on to careers as designers at Volkswagen: Renger as lead interior designer on vehicles including the Golf 8, the Polo, and the ID. Buzz, but they never let the idea go. For nearly a decade, they developed the concept on the side.
In January 2019, they brought a prototype to CES in Las Vegas. The response was striking enough that, reportedly, Tesla and Elon Musk’s office expressed interest in acquiring it. The founders declined. Instead, they founded NOVUS GmbH, left Volkswagen, and committed to the vision full time. What followed was years of engineering, certification work, fundraising, and a series of delayed delivery targets that tested the patience of early believers.
The NOVUS One is unlike any conventional motorcycle. Its defining feature is a full carbon fiber monocoque frame, a single structural piece weighing just 6.9 kg, which also houses the battery, inverter, and control electronics. The fork, swing arm, and wheels are likewise carbon fiber. Everything is integrated inside the bodywork, with no visible cables, switches, or mechanical clutter. The result is something that sits in its own category, which is precisely what Renger and Weidig always intended. NOVUS now describes it as ‘the first premium lightweight e-motorbike’ = a new vehicle class that combines elements of e-bikes, scooters, and motorcycles.
The drivetrain is built around a wheel hub motor developed with GKN Powder Metallurgy, using a transverse flux design with 3D magnetic flux architecture. It delivers 400 Nm of torque and up to 25 kW of peak power, which the company claims is unique in the 125cc class. The bike goes from 0 to 50 km/h in 1.9 seconds and reaches a top speed of 130 km/h. A 5.5 kWh battery provides a claimed urban range of around 150 km, with an 80% charge achievable in roughly 90 minutes. The bike weighs around 103 to 108 kg and can be ridden under European license classes B196, A1, A2, and A.
Three power configurations are available. The Base model is limited to 7 kW and 90 km/h. The Super version offers 12 kW and up to 95 km/h. The top-tier configuration, which NOVUS calls “God,” unlocks the full 25 kW and the 130 km/h maximum. All models are managed through the NOVUS OMNI system and a companion smartphone app, My NOVUS, which serves as the digital key, navigation screen, and vehicle monitor. As the rider approaches the bike, it enters a ready-to-ride state automatically via NFC, no physical key required.
The Founders Edition being delivered is a highly exclusive product. Only 100 units are being produced, and the customization options are extraordinary: NOVUS states that the configuration combinations available in theory exceed 500,000 unique designs. Customers who take delivery of one of these bikes will be listed as founding partners of the company, and Renger is personally giving them a combined 1% stake in NOVUS.
The company has attracted buyers well beyond the traditional motorcycle world. More than 45% of pre-orders have come from people who do not currently ride motorcycles, and over 400 prospective customers had joined a test ride waiting list. That crossover appeal is central to NOVUS’s ambition. Renger has spoken openly about wanting to create an ‘iPhone moment’ for urban mobility, making NOVUS the “Apple of the motorbike world” and, in his words, finally getting first-time riders excited about two-wheeled urban transport.
The March 24 event in Munich was, in the company’s framing, both a finish line and a starting gun. The Founders Edition deliveries complete a chapter that began with a sketch and a university thesis. What comes next, NOVUS says, is the journey toward becoming a premium manufacturer of urban mobility at scale, one that inspires people who have never thought of themselves as motorcycle riders to reconsider how they move through cities.