An e-bike for Deutsche Post by Luke Guttery

Deutsche-Post-ebike-side1Luke Guttery, of Axon56 design lab, recently sent me these images from a project that he has been working on for Deutsche Post. The electric bike, designed specifically for use by the postal service in Germany, is a collaborative design effort with Grace GmbH and Nicolai GmbH (a company that Luke believes is the highest precision bicycle manufacturer in the world).

Deutsche-Post-ebike-warehouseLuke can’t release too many detailed specs on the bikes at the moment, but he points out that there are quite a few “working prototypes cruising the streets Berlin streets as we speak.”  The bikes are currently under testing and a second design revision is underway, so it won’t be much longer before these bikes are commonplace in Germany

Luke explains that the “design started with simple sketches on paper, looking at symmetrical shapes and how to maximize storage capacity on the bike.” As with most design projects, quite a few sketch and 3d rendering revisions were required to get to the engineering phase of the development process. The sketches, renderings, and photos shown here give you a glimpse into that design process, and we can look forward to seeing the final design once it is completed and put into use by German postal carriers.

Deutsche-Post-ebike-sketches

Deutsche-Post-ebike-renderings

Deutsche-Post-ebike-concept

Deutsche-Post-ebike-side-2

Deutsche-Post-ebike-prototype

Deutsche-Post-ebike-product


Comments

15 responses to “An e-bike for Deutsche Post by Luke Guttery”

  1. Vincent Avatar
    Vincent

    I think that Luke is right, Grace belongs now to MIFA, and their bike factory shouldn’t have anything comparable, at least in Europe (I let Luke responsable for his saying for the rest of the world!). The smart ebike also comes out there, Daimler had probably good reasons to choose them.
    This would be great to see such finest design for the postal service. The hard specification makes them interesting products. I’m looking forward also!

  2. Impossibly Stupid Avatar

    One noticeable difference between the concepts and the actual bikes seems to be having front “panniers” that are attached to the frame instead of the fork. Makes me wonder how long it took before they listened to someone who has actually tried to ride with an overloaded front wheel! 🙂

    I do like the containerization approach. Allows for very flexible management of the sorting/delivery of the letters. The logistics behind their efforts are probably as interesting as the bikes themselves.

    1. Prof.Prodromal Avatar

      I believe that the steering fork could be a bit steeper also. I have a lot of experience of building cargo bikes that carry heavy weights on the front end.

  3. padd Avatar

    I used one of the older postbikes for a while: https://www.bvdp.de/uploads/pics/080429_Fahrrad_DPAG.JPG
    The stand attached to the front rack worked amazingly well. Because it rotated up and backwards you could kick it down with your feet before the bike stopped. Why has Luke given up on that concept?

    1. fritz Avatar
      fritz

      hi there, i am about to purchase a used postbike, wich doesent have battery and charger anymore. the current owner is a pretty old lady and she has no idea of the technical data of the motor. according to the received pictures it looks like the same generation which you used to ride. so i would be grateful if you could maybe give me some info in the technical data of the motor? (or a hint where i could find such?) thanks a lot in advance, fritz

      1. Prof.Prodromal Avatar

        If you live in Europe you are probably limited to a one third HP motor. move to america, where you can use at least one full HP, more in Washington state.

  4. Luke Avatar
    Luke

    Hi there, many thanks for your comments on my work.
    Padd, we took a lot of inspiration from the old work horse that you used to use 🙂 . I am afraid to say I did nto have much to do with the kick stand. By this point it was fully in the hands of the Engineers at Grace. However I can vouch that the kick stand on the prototypes is very effective and there has been no complaintes from the postal service.

    Luke

  5. Iain Avatar

    Wow, that is a fantastic design.

    I would love to see Canada Post using this type of system more often. I think the problem they would run into might be the snow, but for a good part of the year this could be used.

    I love the design very slick. We haven’t seen a huge increase in the number of electric bikes in Canada yet.

    At the moment it is more of a niche. However, I think that over time it will become more prominent.

    Thanks for sharing

  6. […] kerékpárról a fejlesztőmérnök, Luke Guttery szivárogtatott ki pár részletet. Kattints a képre a […]

  7. […] is tested at some district of Berlin already. We have some news from Luke Guttery, who disclosed some details about the new bike. Click on he picture to […]

  8. […] https://bicycledesign.net/2013/03/an-e-bike-for-deutsche-post-by-luke-guttery/A bike designed specifically for postal service. This particular bike is both innovative, and creative. With large equipped compartments and an alternate fuel source, this vehicle will be a nice alternative to the van that is often used. […]

  9. […] An e-bike for Deutsche Post by Luke Guttery […]

  10. […] delivery in some parts of London – do so using bikes, while Deutsche Post has recently been testing electric bikes on the streets of […]

  11. Prof.Prodromal Avatar

    It looks like the new design is much lighter weight….correct? Possibly a good thing for the motors that Europeans are limited to, one third HP.

    Do you know if they are going to allow a stronger motor for the post office?

  12. Sergej Sokolov Avatar
    Sergej Sokolov

    Hi There
    I am from Lithuania
    Just wondering about Post Bikes
    interesting to know more about them
    are they only for Deuche Post?
    Characteristics?
    Price?

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