A means of personal transportation that is comfortable, easy to ...
A means of personal transportation that is comfortable, easy to manufacture, mantain and use by the average city dweller. An electric two wheeled vehicle that could make sense in today's world. The increasing population in cities carry a series of unresolved urbanistic and transportation problems. A 1+ ton combustion car is just simply no longer a smart choice for urban transport. We believe a means of personal transport shouldn't be heavier than the person it is carrying our vehicle weighs under 100kgs. Avoiding a combustion engine isn't in our opinion the 'ecofriendly choice', it is the 'only choice posible' when thinking about the future of transportation. An electric motor has zero emission, is light and is completely silent. Moreover, using an in-wheel motor, we avoid chains, gears and mechanical parts, resulting in a cleaner product easier to mantain. The smooth driving and fixed incremental acceleration of the motor results in a safer and pedestrian friendly means of transportation within the cities. We understand that technology moves fast, that is why we didn't create a single product, but instead created a platform of electric vehicle that can be adapted to future changes. When thinking about electric vehicles you have two driving components: the batteries and the motor. In both of which technological upgrades are being made year by year. We created a battery cage detachable from the chasis, which can be pulled out and opened to repair or replace the batteries. Today, the cage can hold either a series of lead or lithium batteries. The exact same cage could be adapted to fit more advanced batteries that aren't yet in the market. Similarily, the inwheel motor can easily be detached and replaced by a more powerful or more compact brushless motor.
Therefore, the vehicle can be adapted to a series of different motors and batteries, without changing its overall structure. In the process we had two major components in consideration. The end consumer's satisfaction and the driving price range. We where looking to create an affordable electric vehicle that could be accepted by today's market. An extensive research sugested to us that most concept electric vehicles are decontextualized and thought for a hypothetical future. We wanted to create an advanced vehicle which would convey its electric drive, yet be accepted by today's market. In terms of manufacturing, we had an extremelly rationalistic mindset of using simple processes, namely doing more with less. Our goal was that this vehicle could be built in micro factories with simple technologies and a minimum of overall investment and this would be refelected in the final price range. The chassis is composed solely of curved steel tubes and laser cut steel sheets. The battery cage and extra components are all laser cut and folded steel sheets. The result is that the complexity of building the chassis isn't significantly higher than building a bicycle frame. The rest of the vehicle is complemented with a subtle use of plastic carcases and a foam seat, in which the amount of plastic used was reduced to a minimum. All lighting was done in high performance LEDs feeded by the battery cage. Additional components are all commercial parts (ie brakes, handlebar, horn) in order to maximize unversality and limit production costs. The project intends a urbanistic shift: a silent clean reliable small vehicle with an easy and smooth driving, confortable enough to comute every day. The project intends a production shift in the transportation industry: an alternative to the big branded motor companies with a simple product built in micro factories complemented with commercial components (batteries, motor).
Therefore, the vehicle can be adapted to a series of different motors and batteries, without changing its overall structure. In the process we had two major components in consideration. The end consumer's satisfaction and the driving price range. We where looking to create an affordable electric vehicle that could be accepted by today's market. An extensive research sugested to us that most concept electric vehicles are decontextualized and thought for a hypothetical future. We wanted to create an advanced vehicle which would convey its electric drive, yet be accepted by today's market. In terms of manufacturing, we had an extremelly rationalistic mindset of using simple processes, namely doing more with less. Our goal was that this vehicle could be built in micro factories with simple technologies and a minimum of overall investment and this would be refelected in the final price range. The chassis is composed solely of curved steel tubes and laser cut steel sheets. The battery cage and extra components are all laser cut and folded steel sheets. The result is that the complexity of building the chassis isn't significantly higher than building a bicycle frame. The rest of the vehicle is complemented with a subtle use of plastic carcases and a foam seat, in which the amount of plastic used was reduced to a minimum. All lighting was done in high performance LEDs feeded by the battery cage. Additional components are all commercial parts (ie brakes, handlebar, horn) in order to maximize unversality and limit production costs. The project intends a urbanistic shift: a silent clean reliable small vehicle with an easy and smooth driving, confortable enough to comute every day. The project intends a production shift in the transportation industry: an alternative to the big branded motor companies with a simple product built in micro factories complemented with commercial components (batteries, motor).
