New French company Zoov has worked with Parisian design office Eliumstudio to develop a system of electric share bikes that lock on to each other for parking, creating minimal intrusion on streets and footpaths.
Zoov aims to address one of the complaints about dockless share bikes like Mobike's, which users park virtually anywhere once they're done riding, but which some see as "littering" the urban environment.
At the same time, its stations take up significantly less room than traditional docked bike hire schemes such as London's Santander Cycles and New York's Citi Bike. Rather than sliding into a dock, the bikes simply lock onto each other, a bit like horizontally stacked shopping trolleys.
Rather than sliding into a dock, the bikes simply lock onto each otherThe Zoov docks can store 20 bikes in the space typically occupied by one car, while a traditional bike parking system would take four times that space. "The aim of Zoov was to propose a shared e-bike service that would be respectful of the urban environment and designed to integrate seamlessly into city life," said Eliumstudio founder Pierre Garner. "It is a public-spirited approach, and it takes up the challenge of user respect for the urban space, which is particularly encouraged by the design of the bike, which facilitates the use of lightweight, ultra-compact stations that reduce urban impact."
The bikes are distinguished by a sky-blue curved line that runs the length of the ...