By Rivka Borochov
A congested, polluted and fast world demands alternatives to the traditional automobile. People on the move like bikes, scooters and mopeds but there are drawbacks with storage, theft, mobility and connectivity between cities and countries. Do Israeli industrial designers hold the key to designing our future mode of transport?
Amir Zaid and his partner Benny Shimon have designed a new way of getting around. The MUV-e is an all-electric three-wheeled foldable scooter that has the power of a moped, the smarts of a family car’s computer, the convenience of a folding bike and the custom-ability of a skateboard.
With a cost of $2,000 to $3,000 depending on the features, MUV-e is expected to go into production by the end of the year.
Unlike the pricey Segway, which was a novel idea but never really took off for several reasons, including storage and weight issues, the MUV-e’s light weight - about 26 pounds - makes it easy to carry up stairs or on and off buses.
“It’s a solution that the public really needs,” says Zaid, who was recently on the team that designed the interior of Ferrari’s latest ultra-luxury car, not yet on the market.
Cutting down inner-urban transport time
When he was working as an automotive designer in Italy, Zaid saw how his MUV-e would be perfect for Italian and European cities.
“I was working for a few years in Italy, first at Fiat and then at Ferrari, and saw many people commuting to the city. I did it myself. But it’s not easy traveling from one city to another while spending most of the time, sometimes up to two hours a day, on the last five kilometers inside the city.
“I thought about a personal transport system that you can carry with you to the train or when you park the car outside the city -- because it always seems like a nightmare traveling inside cities like Tel Aviv, Milan, Torino or Rome. It comes from a need, a very big need, and the solution is simple.”
Unlike Segways, which have a complicated gyroscope that responds to a person’s gestures and body movements, Zaid wanted something that could bypass the learning curve for both old and young.
He purposefully made the riding, folding and driving mechanics of the MUV-e simple.
Based on the fact that public transportation doesn’t work well in big cities and that people are used to hauling around trolleys or small suitcases on wheels anyway, Zaid opened his mind to another way: “I thought, why not combine the trolley idea into the MUV-e? The design was born from functionality,” he says.
A workable prototype is to be unveiled in mid-March.
The answer to urban personal transportation?
Talks with your smartphone
The MUV-e can travel up and down escalators to the subway, it can be stored in the office, taken on the bus or put in the truck of the car.
With three wheels, the MUV-e is more stable than a conventional scooter, and is easy to store and stand upright. Riders can put both feet on the platform side by side instead of one after the other on regular scooters.
Also, MUV-e’s customizable skins and seats could turn it into a head-turning item, while the electric power it needs can be charged on a regular outlet at home or in the office.
Some 1,000 units are expected to hit the local Israeli market by the end of the year if the Zaid and Shimon can secure a half million-dollar investment, he says.
“We have a patent pending on the folding system, which is unique. Plus the battery packs are personalized and can be selected from three different sizes to fit all needs. Our production technology comes from the automotive world and ensures a high level of rigidity with minimum weight, while our covers can be personalized in different colors and graphics,” he notes.
Estimated speeds are 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) per hour depending on road conditions and driving laws.
Upgrade to the premium version and the MUV-e scooter can be open and shut using your phone. The cell phone can then be mounted right on the handlebars and - presto - you’ve got a dashboard that shows data about the charge, navigation, speed and sites of interest.