THEBIG IDEA
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“My early sketcheswerebasically amicro
car on fourwheels,” he says, “but itwas a
real challenge to get theweight down.”
Is a“Eureka!”moment coming?
It sure is. Folkessonwas inMumbai in
2008 and saw autorickshaws everywhere.
“I realised that, first of all,Mumbai’s
trafficwouldbe adisaster if these
nimble rickshawswere replacedby cars.
Secondly, it occurred tome that noone’s
reallymade aneffort toengineer the
rickshaw since the first Piaggiodesign
in 1948–Mumbai’s autorickshawswere
heavy (400kg), crudely engineered and
pollutingbecauseof thesehorrible two-
strokeengines.”
Enter theZbee…
Folkesson formed
theCleanMotioncompany inGothenburg
in2009, and set about adesign thatwas,
inhiswords, “simple, clean, lean and
safer than anything in its class,” using
thebest available technology.Most of
theengineering andmanufacturing is
outsourced, andCleanMotionhas just five
full-timeemployees inGothenburg, with
more in Indonesia and India. Folkesson
adds, “Wedon’twant to replace the family
car; wewant theZbee tobe the second
car, theone youuse todo the groceries
anddrop the kids off.”
Sowherecan I getone?
A limited
numberhavebeenmadeavailable in
“Noone’s reallymadean
effort toengineer the
rickshaw since the first
Piaggio in 1948”
Below
⁄
CleanMotionCEOGöranFolkessonwith the
Zbee,whichhehopes familieswill useas a secondcar
W
hat’s thebig idea?
AZbee.
Awhat?
Okay, it’s
basically an electric-
powered, three-wheeled
rickshaw for a driver and
twopassengers. At 230kg, it is six times
lighter than amedium-sized car and
uses sevenper cent of the energy. It can
travel near-silently up to50kmonone
battery charge, at amaximum speedof
about 45kph.
Howdid it come about?
Founder
Göran Folkessonhasworked as an
electrical engineer in the automotive
industry hiswhole career, including stints
at Volvo and an armof IBM that creates
software for cars and aircraft. He says
the idea hadbeen in theback of his head
for 20 years: “I thought it was absurd
that we use this huge, 1.5-tonnemachine
for everyday transport. Ahugeportion
of trips areonly a few kilometreswith a
singlepassenger.”
What happenednext?
In2007,
Folkesson started tomakeconcreteplans
for a lightweight, zero-emission vehicle.
Sweden, costing€9,000 (NOK74,000),
but it’snotwidely available yet.Whenwe
spoke, the first of abatchbeingmade
in Indonesiawascomingoff the factory
floor. “We think theZbeewill beanatural
fit in temperatecountries andemerging
markets,” saysFolkesson,whoalsoplans to
launch theZbee in Indiabeforeexpanding
tootherpartsof Asia.Healsohopes to
havean impactonEurope. “In five years,we
hope tohave factories inSpainand Italy,
and tohavemadea realmarkoncities like
Delhi andJakarta.”
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