With a quite unique patented frame design, construction and environmentally-friendly production credentials to go with, Novbyx is joining the limited ranks of those laying claim to the production of a sustainable e-bike.
First, the numbers behind the urban e-bike’s construction.
You’ll not have missed the unique double tube, asymmetric frame design which is cold bent to its shape and weld-free. This construction process bypasses traditional welded frame conventions and with it is claiming to drop CO2e from an average of 84.2kg to just 0.58kg – a 99.3% decline in emissions.
By the calculations of Novbyx, the total pre-consumer footprint versus a conventional electric bike has a 23.9% carbon saving at 146.8kg to an average of 192.9kg.
Novbyx is even stacking some sustainable shipping credentials on top of it’s e-bike production, stating that it believes its method of shipping two flat-pack courier boxes could drop CO2e emissions by 85.8%, from 44.3 kg CO2e to 6.3kg. This is in part down to the bulk of fully-assembled bike boxes and 150kg pallet minimums required in logistics.
Set to launch very soon as a Kickstarter project, the target weight for the elliptical aluminium frame, it’s seat mount and fork is as little as 3kg for a small size. Importantly for a bike where the seat tube is absent, Novbyx claim to have passed ISO fatigue testing, structural load path verification and road durability trials.
Novbyx says that without conventional tube production there is no heat distortion, while waste material is vastly reduced.
Backers to the Kickstarter may be able to access this sustainable e-bike in its first batch form, limited to 77 units, for around $1,999, each unit being engraved with its position in the production.
It appears from the prototype imagery that a Zehus hub will be leaned upon for the drive system and battery, with both found inside the expanded rear hub shell.
The Novbyx project is the result of a collaboration between Tadeusz Lacny, an automotive engineer and Filip Lacny, whose Masters in Social Impact and Sustainability has helped guide the e-bike project. Lacny Engineering GmbH is behind the development.
Further reading: Find out how choosing a bike and in particular an electric bike can sharply drop your transport emissions.