MATERIALS
STAINLESS STEELFOR SUSTAINABLE MACHINES
Susan Trast explains how one innovative company is using a new technique to create durable e-scooter frames
A design statement and structure in one A
new approach to sheet metalworking in stainless steel has been developed by Swedish e-scooter startup
Stilride to bring style and sustainability to two-wheeled transport. As lifelong scooter enthusiasts,
Stilride’s founders, Jonas Nyvang and Tue Beijer were excited by the growing popularity of e-scooters. However, they realised that there was huge untapped potential to develop a new breed of e-scooter with a design that harnessed aesthetic appeal, as well as integral sustainability. Currently, market-leading e-scooters are built on a chassis made from
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carbon steel tube, with the addition of external bodywork and components in multiple types of plastic and rubber. However, this leaves a lot to be desired in terms of looks, as well as sustainability. While it keeps the price down, it’s hard to make a polymer shell into a design classic, and the mixed plastics are hard to recycle. In addition, the carbon steel tube has a high environmental impact and is vulnerable to corrosion, which limits the e-scooter’s life. Therefore, when developing this
alternative e-scooter design, Stilride put the circular economy and carbon footprint at the heart of its design
choices. Its CEO, Jonas Nyvang, explains: “Many people are unaware how much manufacturing contributes to the environmental impact of the products they buy. We knew that our manufacturing process had a clear environmental lead over the market- leading electric scooter from China. Therefore, we decided to quantify it.”
INDUSTRIAL ORIGAMI Instead of the usual approach of using tubes to build a frame, Stilride has developed a new design and manufacturing technique called Stilfold. It is inspired by origami, where sheets of paper are folded to form complex
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