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Thorough Industrial Design Student Work: An E-Bike Charging Station for Garages

The Ultium Lift, by Matthew Quejada

By Rain Noe - October 23

in design.edu | Bikes

This GM-sponsored project is by Matthew Quejada, done while pursuing his Masters of Industrial Design at Pratt Institute.

Prompt

"Design the garage of the future."

General Motors provided the brief to design a new garage technology using their Ultium platform, a branding umbrella for their entire electrification ecosystem.

Sketch Ideation

Distilling a wide variety of concepts, I arrived at four distinct directions that could represent completely new product categories for GM. While evaluating each idea, I realized one concept stood out from the others for its greater implications: an electric bike charger.

Electric bikes are significantly more common in urban areas compared to suburban areas, even though the average trip is only slightly longer. Having personal experience with the car-centric culture of the suburbs, I wanted to look for a way to encourage the use of a lower energy-intensive mode of transit.

A full scale cardboard prototype helped me evaluate the placement of touchpoints, overall sizing, and interactions with the concept.

Product

Ultium Lift is an electric bike charging station for the suburban home, powered by General Motors. Designed to encourage more sustainable transit, Ultium Lift makes electric bike ownership elevated and desirable.

Charging Stages

Engage

Lift

Charge

Signal

Purpose

Mixed mode transit is the future of mobility. General Motors provided the prompt to envision the garage of the future, and I sought an opportunity to challenge car-centric culture.

Streamlined storage and status at a glance make electric bike ownership easier than owning a car. E-bikes are significantly heavier than traditional bikes, so an automated lift system makes storage effortless while doubling as a mantel for a prized possession.

The Ultium Lift app seals the deal with smart charging features like AutoCharge and Battery-to-Grid charging. Using these features, Ultium Lift can contribute significantly to the electrified home and lead owners into the energy transition.

Smarter charging. Effortless storage. Status at a glance.

You can see more of Quejada's work here.

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Comments

Anders H

a month ago

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I think for sure this is an area to explore and he's highlighted some of the issues with ebikes, but I think this is an unnecessary complicated solution. I use my ebike every day, role it into the garage and plug it in. It's very simple. This solution would still require the same ground space when then bike is docked and undocked, so why do I need this extra piece of expensive equipment? The real beauty of an ebike compared to a car, is it's simplicity, so let's keep it as simple as possible and focus on lowering the threashold for picking the ebike over the car.

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- Dee An
  
  Anders H
  
  a month ago
  
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  Bicycles make more sense in densely populated areas where not everyone has a garage. If wall mounts make sense for bicycles, then they also make sense for ebikes - which are often heavier. Heavy to the point of not being practical for all users to lift up manually.
  That said, a human-powered winch would likely be cheaper and more reliable than a motorised lift.
  
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Zach W

a month ago

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Good exploration but it seems like they took it too far without any feedback.
-Most e-bikes are either extra heavy, extra long or have all sorts of racks and panniers on them rendering the entire idea kind of useless.
I'd also be willing to bet a good portion of e-bikes don't even live in a garage and if they do, they're not going to install an entire charging hub thing....

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Richard Schneeman

a month ago

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I was just thinking “I would love to put my bucket bike on the wall but it is too heavy. This is a neat idea though I doubt it would be long enough (if it was ever commercialized).

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- Dee An
  
  Richard Schneeman
  
  a month ago
  
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  I dare say you could construct a rack and pulley system for storing your bucket bike vertically from standard parts and materials, a hack saw and a drill.
  
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