Rehau will become the latest German auto suppliers to enter Europe's booming e-bike industry this week when it presents a production concept at EuroBike 2015 it says will enable competitive manufacturing of e-bike frames in Germany.
Together with partners Storck Bicycle and the Institute for Lightweight Engineering and Polymer Technology (ILK) at Dresden Technical University, Rehau will present “nam:e:,” an innovative and fully recyclable bicycle frame concept.
The partners have developed a new process using innovative composite materials to produce a frame which can bear a load of up to 280 kilograms and be easily customized to suit users needs, whether that be color or surface structures needed to work with accessories such as a child seat or a fold-out bag. At the same time, it also allows secure, elegant stowing and charging of a smartphone in the body as well as offering concealed in the housing plenty of space for accessories.
Because all common functions can also be integrated optimally, the smartphone can be easily networked with the components of the E-BikeBody and thus controlled with apps. Moreover, the owner can have an impact on the weight of the bicycle by deciding how many batteries will be required for the journey and connecting them via a plug and play system.
Nam:e was created as part of a research project by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy.
