Electric scooters are great at reducing the number of car journeys people make in cities and reducing emissions as a result, but they're not perfect, as most e-scooters are made in China and have an environmental footprint that comes with manufacturing and shipping from the other side of the world.
Äike is looking to fix that with the first-ever electric scooter designed, manufactured and assembled entirely in Europe using solely renewable energy.
This comes at a time when the best electric scooter race is hotting up, e-scooter trials proving immensely popular in the UK with 180,000 people taking over half a million trips in London alone from June 2021 - February 2022 and the UK Government aiming to legalise private ownership of electric scooters later this year.
As well as creating a sleek and sexy electric scooter, Äike is committed to making zero-emission commuting accessible to everyone, with the company actively seeking materials from responsible local recycled suppliers, ensuring a supply and distribution chain that is as close to the manufacturing facility as possible, free of conflict and fully reliable/traceable while ensuring 92% of the materials used to produce its e-scooters are recyclable.
Kristjan Maruste, Co-founder of Comodule and now CEO and Head of Product for Äike, commented: “I find it crazy how the e-bike boom in Europe has brought us to around 5 million e-bikes sold per year with more than 50% made in Europe, whereas with over a million e-scooters being bought annually, virtually no one manufactures in Europe."
The Äike T is weatherproof, durable and can be ridden smoothly over potholes and curbs thanks to its 10-inch pneumatic tyres.
On one full charge, the Äike T has a 40km range, and, when you do need to charge again, Äike has made its removable battery compatible with any port using a USB-C laptop charger, which eliminates excess charger waste. That's a really useful feature that I haven't seen before.
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The Äike T can be safely left on the street thanks to the threefold anti-theft GPS lock protection system. Any unauthorized movement of your Äike launches an immediate notification on your app, triggers the automatic brake lock and sounds a loud and proud alarm.
On top of GPS protection, each e-scooter gives you exclusive access to the Äike app and enables remote customer support, instant firmware updates, and e-scooter performance monitoring, offering commuters a unique connected riding experience.
The Äike e-scooter is available for pre-order now with a €69 deposit. The final prices start from €999 and shipping will start in Q4 2022.
This article is part of The T3 Edit, a collaboration between T3 and Wallpaper* which explores the very best blends of design, craft, and technology. Wallpaper* magazine is the world’s leading authority on contemporary design and The T3 Edit is your essential guide to what’s new and what’s next.
As the Style and Travel Editor at T3, Spencer covers everything from clothes to cars and watches to hotels. Everything that's cool, stylish, and interesting, basically. He's been a part of T3 for over seven years, and in that time covered every industry event known to man, from CES and MWC to the Geneva Motorshow and Baselworld. When he's driving up and down the country in search of the greatest driving roads, he can be found messing around on an electric scooter, playing with luxury watches, or testing the latest fragrances.
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