Advances in electric propulsion have opened up some interesting possibilities when it comes to moving goods through busy urban areas, from all manner of electric cargo bikes to more peculiar creations, like scooters that carry their loads inside their frames. Automaker Polestar has leveraged its expertise in this area to cook up an electric cargo mover of its own, a sleek and minimalist three-wheeler named Re:Move.
Having launched all-electric cars designed to compete with those from Tesla, Volvo-owned Polestar is now expanding to include more mobile transporters of cargo and people. The Re:Move concept was designed in collaboration with electric motorbike-maker Cake, aluminum-maker Hydro, Wallpaper magazine and industrial designer Konstantin Grcic. It is described as a dynamic urban "sled."
Crafted primarily from low-carbon and recyclable aluminum, the Re:Move is designed to be compact enough to travel in most bike lanes. Despite this small stature, it is claimed to have a carrying capacity of 600-lb (275 kg), which is a substantial load for everyday folks carrying their groceries home or moving a few boxes. This paired with the flatbed design might see the Re:Move find more use among professional couriers and delivery services.
“The horizontal platform and the vertical shield is something you don’t see in vehicle design," says Konstantin Grcic. "This is how you’d build a table or a shelf. I think the simplicity and directness, the pragmatism, is nice. Good design has always been sustainable, because it’s lasting. Things that have a long lifecycle are sustainable.”
With only renders and no other specs to look at for now, it seems a real-world deployment is a while away for the Re:Move. Polestar does say, however, that a fully working version is in development and will be revealed later this year. It also says more of the thinking and the story behind the Re:Move concept will be shared at the SXSW festival on March 17.
“This is only the beginning,” says Polestar CEO, Thomas Ingenlath. “The electric drivetrain is only the first step, then we have to look at the whole supply chain and what materials we design with. This is so much more exciting than the last twenty years when designers were just making things pretty.”
Source: Polestar