Vienna, Austria
Designed by EOOS Next, the new ZUV Zero Emission Utility Vehicle is a tricycle with a 3D-printed chassis made from 70 kilograms of plastic packaging waste sourced from supermarkets.
ZUV Zero Emission Utility Vehicle recently won a 2022 Green Good Design Award from The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
“We wanted to design around local, affordable production,” states EOOS founder Harald Gründl.
“Because of the high labor costs in Europe, almost every bike frame is produced in Asia. But we want a local ZUV production facility in every city around the world.”
EOOS Next envisions cities around the world having their own ZUV production facilities. Once the bike frame is printed, a user could take it to a bike shop where a motor would be bolted at predefined positions.
The tricycle seats two passengers at the back while the box at the front can either hold two small children or cargo.
In order to reduce complexity and cost, the vehicle has no pedals and it’s driven by a rear hub motor.
It has a top speed of 25 km/h in urban areas, classifying the vehicle like a bicycle, and can travel 50 km on a single battery charge.
In total, ZUV weighs approximately 100 kg and can carry a payload of 200 kg.
The Zero Emission Utility Vehicle intends to contribute to a circular economy and the self-empowerment of people to produce complex objects of daily use using digital technologies.
Using an industrial robot, the studio has created the new raw 3D-printed self-supporting chassis using 100 percent recycled plastic.
The strongly simplified construction allows for swift repair and simple recycling; the ZUV can be shredded, and 3D-reprinted in a local economic cycle.
Additional components such as wheels, electric motor, handlebar, and brakes can be found in bike or motorbike workshops across the world to complete the tricycle locally.
The zero-emissions mobility concept has been developed as an alternative mode of transportation that can be produced economically and locally.
Project: ZUV Zero Emission Utility Vehicle
Designers: EOOS NEXT GmbH.
Manufacturer: EOOS NEXT GmbH. and The New Raw
