The answer to the problem of pollution-spewing vehicles is a bike that runs on human muscles.
IT’s been called a transport revolution. A bolt of lightning on wheels, it is one of the quickest forms of inner city transport on the planet. Best of all, it is environment-friendly. Meet the eROCKIT, poster child of green mobility.
Basically a motorcycle that you have to pedal like a bicycle to move, the eROCKIT is initially difficult to wrap your mind around. Like the Superman dictum of “Is it a bird? Is it a plane?”, the nifty two-wheeler is neither bicycle nor motorcycle. Instead, its ingenious inventor has come up with its own category: the human-hybrid motorcycle.
That’s because you need human muscles to power (through pedalling) the electric motor. The motor multiplies your muscle power by a factor of up to 50, allowing you to accelerate astonishingly quickly – comparable, in fact to motorcycles. The faster you pedal, the stronger the motor rotates and you can reach speeds of 80kph – that’s how fast a 250cc conventional motorcycle goes. If you stop pedalling, the vehicle will come to a stop.
Mean machine: ‘I came up with an idea of a bicycle that can overtake cars,’ says eROCKIT creator Stefan Gulas (left).
That car manufacturers are heading in the wrong direction, is one reason behind this invention, says eROCKIT’s creator, 39-year-old Stefan Gulas. “Over the years, they haven’t thought about what the driver needs. Everything’s computerised and they keep making cars faster, but it’s not about that. People want to feel they are an active part of the driving.”
There is more to it, though, and a hint of it is in the twinkling eyes and the big laugh of this tall, loose-limbed Austrian. “There’s a pyramid of transport on roads in terms of power,” says Gulas. “The cars are at the top, and bicycles at the bottom. But morally, in terms of the environment, bicycles are at the top. It’s unfair. So I decided to bring something to the market that overturns the pyramid, and came up with an idea of a bicycle that can overtake cars.”
It was with glee that the BBC, for instance, showed the eROCKIT nonchalantly overtaking a Porsche using pedal power, a laugh-out-loud sight.
Many also long to lower their carbon footprint, hence Gulas’ loving attention to the eco-friendliness of his “personal contribution to fighting global warming”.
The eROCKIT uses no petrol. Therefore it has no carbon dioxide emissions. It is also surprisingly silent and you can use either a horn or a bicycle bell to warn people you are coming. The high quality lithium-ion nanophosphate batteries claim to last approximately 50,000km or 10 years, and a battery management system maximises their life cycle. Batteries are recharged when you pedal and brake. When stationary, the bike can be plugged into a normal socket and get fully charged in three to four hours. Battery disposal comes as part of the price you pay for the vehicle.
With a background that includes automobile obsession, rabid environmentalism, mining engineering and multinational management consultancy, Gulas has worked out that the human-hybrid concept is what will make the eROCKIT attractive to greenies as well. “The biggest hurdle for electric vehicles is they’re very boring. Here, you’re not just adding a motor to a bicycle, you’re involving the human in the propulsion.”
Because it handles like a basic bicycle, the bike is also more manoeuvrable than a motorcycle. Anyone who can ride a bicycle will be able to ride an eROCKIT, bearing in mind only that it is heavier, tipping the scales at 110kg. In fact there are no gears or even a clutch.
I keep testing the solidity of Gulas’ concept. I remind him of the Segway, another mould-breaking eco-transport. It never lived up to its potential.
“If you want to sell something, you shouldn’t force people to change their behaviour,” says Gulas. The Segway requires users to shift their body weight to propel it. “And they took out the movement of walking, whereas we’ve put in the movement through cycling.”
All of which makes the eROCKIT very cool, but the thing that takes the cake is that it looks cool as well. Its elegant, vintage lines won it a place in
BusinessWeek’s 20 coolest bike design list, among others (its technology has garnered numerous other international awards).
At the moment, the plan is to come out with 10 to 20 vehicles by the end of this year, largely hand-made in a low-roofed 10-man Berlin workshop. Production will be ramped up to 500 next year.
“We are now developing cell production processes and considering production regions, but the factors that need to be in place are the right investors, people understanding the concept and a demand for the product,” says Gulas chief operating officer, Andy j. zur Wehme.
In Germany, the pair is exploring three business channels: partnerships with businesses such as renewable energy utility providers; making a presence in the German Environment Ministry’s 12 electric mobility regions (field-test areas for electric mobility); and developing dealerships for end-user sales.
The timing for this product could not be better. Germany’s national development plan for electric mobility kicks off this year, aiming to have one million electric vehicles on German roads by 2020.
Unfortunately, I never did get the chance to propel an eROCKIT, my too-short 163cm allowing me to merely perch on it, balanced on tip-toes. Gulas is profusely apologetic about this, but sets a two-year target for a smaller, lower-horsepower, simplified model.
What’s more, other products are in the pipeline; keep an eye out for “four wheelers” and “water transport”.
If they succeed, the eROCKIT will be to human-hybrid transport the way Coke is to soft drinks, and the face of urban transport changed.
