“An Electric car on two wheels”
As the 86th Geneva Motor Show closes its doors, we escaped the bustle and looked for a not so sweaty urban alternative: the E-bikes.
As surprising as it may sound, over the past few years, car manufacturers have been off to the e-bike race. Ford has got an entire line of concept bikes: MoDe:Flex, MoDe:Me and MoDe:Pro. Audi, BMW, Toyota, VW, Mercedes, Porsche, Honda and even Lexus are pushing the limits too. Having taken off in Europe and Asia, the e-bike market has been quite stagnant in the US — not surprising, as in the land of Uncle Sam people are still strongly attached to their automobiles.
Mando Footlose, part of Mando Corporation (linked to the korean Hyundai) has the particularity of having neither a chain, nor a belt drive. Designed by Mark Sanders, it distinguishes itself by its cool urban look.
The designer behind the wheel
Mando Footlose was not Mark Sanders’ first attempt. Mark has designed quite a few interesting folding bikes over the years.
The Strida (1985) is still the bike that Mark is best known for. Designed and engineered while he was an Industrial Design Engineering graduate student at the Royal College of Art, the Strida has greatly influenced the new generation of folding bikes.
Unlike the original Footloose, the IM version does unfortunately not fold.
Hello Future!
The Mando Footloose IM can power itself, as the mechanical energy generated by pedaling is transformed into electrical energy to charge the battery. The range increases by simultaneous battery power and self-generated power.
Totally removable, the battery can reportedly cover up to 60 km (37 miles) on one charge, depending on the riders’ assistance usage. The IM reaches a maximum speed of 25 km/h (15.5 mph) for a weight of 21.5 kg (47.3 lb).
Three words to control the beast: Human Machine Interface (HMI). HMI works as a key that once detached from the handle will securely lock your ride. Indeed, your IM will not operate when the HMI is dismounted. A serial key matching feature helps to prevent theft. HMI LCD display also provides diverse information such as range, riding speed, battery status, calorie consumption, self-generated power level, and break-down alerts.
Mando Footloose IM comes in a variety of five stylish colors and is now available in the US, UK, France, Netherlands, Russia, Ukraine, South Korea and Germany.
Source: Mando Footloose
Question Mark ?
1. How did this adventure start? How did the collaboration with Mando Corporation come about?
A colleague and fellow design award judge, Han Goes, introduced me to Mando. At that stage, they had working technology i.e. an early version of the hybrid drive system. This was built into a crude prototype frame. I respected Mando enormously: as a major automotive supplier (think ‘Asian Bosch’), they had the ability to look into the future and see that as populations migrate to cities, they cannot all have cars — cities would simply become gridlocked, and even more polluted. It was a brave move as a 1st tier automotive supplier to move into 2 wheeled space and time saving transport. They also had the vision of a completely electronic drive system: a chain-less ‘ride-by-wire’ system. Apart from the obvious cleanliness, it has huge advantages to enable the controls to be better matched to the user — no agricultural chains or gears, no dirt, no need to think about or change gears, no need to pedal harder than you’d want to, even on hills and over longer distances. In short, a ‘human friendly’ bicycle.
2. What was your vision? What was the brief?
My vision and their brief was the same — to design the bike around the technology to make it really human focused. This has several aspects, I wanted it to be appealing in the widest sense: good looking and easy to use. To package the amazing technology without aerials, knobs and bolts sticking out of the case — similar to how technology is smoothly packed in a smartphone.
3. How did you come up with the design concept ?
Two natural things influenced me:
a. Smooth pebbles, as objects that are non threatening even to the naked human form.
b. Birds such as seagulls, because their shapes, honed by aerodynamics in flight, are both beautiful and smooth. Also, birds are nature’s perfect folding structure — a folding bike designers’ ultimate inspiration! They are elegant and smooth, both in flight and when ‘folded’, i.e. on the ground.
5. Why should people buy /ride a Mando Footloose ?
- Easy practicality: like a bicycle, but simplified. You can pedal to control the speed with the effort you choose.
- Modern elegant transport: why put up with 100 year old technology — oily chains, sharp bits, hard edges, complex gears, and messy design!
6. What makes it unique from competitors?
Simplicity, clean design, and ‘ human focused’ not seen on any other e-bike. Would you put up with a smartphone if it had wires hanging out, oily bits, and sharp nuts holding it together? I didn’t think so!
7. You designed the 2 first Mando footloose models. How is the IM different from the previous model? Why is it non-foldable?
The IM pushes the smooth, clean design of the Generation 1 even further. Removing the folding function makes it more affordable (2/3 the price), so more people can benefit. It also makes the frame design even smoother and more human friendly. Adding a removable battery helps with portability, as the battery can be taken into the office for charging for example, along with the option of extra battery packs for long range rides. IM also pioneered a new adaptable frame construction, like early mobile phones: a core structural frame, clad in a coloured moulded outer case. This offers a wide range of colours so people can express their own style, as well as having a smoother, softer, and warmer polymer case next to their bodies.
9. Why do you think that car manufacturers are getting more and more involved in e-bikes ?
As 70 to 80% of global populations live in cities, it is becoming obvious to everyone that the car makers’ promises of ‘freedom’ to go ‘anywhere, anytime’ is looking a bit hollow in cities. Cities simply don’t have the space. So instead of ‘freedom’ in cities, cars give uncertain journey times, frustrated users and become can become almost useless as personal transport. The more progressive car makers understand this and are even re-branding themselves as ‘mobility providers’, including more city appropriate 2-wheelers.
10. Europe and now Asia are adopting e-bikes in a big way, but the US seems to be still quite reticent. Do you think that this is a cultural thing, or do you see a change happening in the near future ?
US is a vast country and its cities were designed around cars, so they have a little higher tolerance to gridlock than Europe and Asia. Americans also put greater importance on the prestige and individualism of cars. But even US cities are getting grid locked, and so places like New York and Portland are ahead of others with new segregated bike lanes, which e-bikes can use.
So it looks like e-bikes are becoming a more and more trendy alternative adopted by commuters around cities. This trend might accelarate the mobility transformation especially among urban “2-wheelers” in the very near future. Would traffic jams finally be a thing of the past?
