Another European Mobility Week has come and gone. Taking place annually from Sept. 16-22, this weeklong event is designed to raise awareness surrounding sustainable urban mobility and encourages active mobility, public transportation, and other clean, sustainable transport solutions in favor of traditional ones like gas-powered cars.
A week of activities for participating cities and towns that included guided walks, bicycle rides, street games and public lectures culminated in World Car-Free Day. Cities and towns are asked to close one or more streets to traffic and open them to cyclists, public transportation, pedestrians and other sustainable forms of mobility.
This year’s theme for European Mobility Week was “Better Connections,” which highlights how people and places can work together to forge change regarding mobility and use their connections to reach existing groups and new audiences.
What is spurring events like European Mobility Week? As the world becomes more environmentally conscious and aware of the massive amounts of carbon emissions caused by cars, there is increased pressure from stakeholders, policymakers, and engineers to provide alternative options for transportation. With emerging technology changing the game when it comes to development and production, we can expect industry leaders to continue innovating unique mobility solutions across the globe. In fact, according to the Boston Consulting Group, the global mobility market is expected to increase by 60% by 2035 to reach 11,000 billion euros.
We at Dassault Systèmes are an active part of the mobility industry’s pivot to sustainable solutions. From our amazing customers who have utilized the 3DEXPERIENCE Cloud platform to create sustainable urban mobility solutions to our upcoming The Only Progress is Human (TOPIH) Act for Cities & Urban Sustainability, we are steadfast in our drive to inspire and reinvent the way we move through the day.
Following the spirit of this year’s theme “Better Connections,” we’re highlighting three incredible stories – from e-scooter startup Simple Energy, electric vehicle and research company I-FEVS and magnetic train maker Transpod – that showcase how making the right connections can produce powerful mobility outcomes and reduce reliance on cars in our cities.
Simple Energy
When Simple Energy founder Suhas Rajkumar first began developing its electric scooter in 2019, he quickly realized there was an opportunity to fill a gap in the market. His goal was to create a high-powered e-scooter that was comparable in performance to a conventional gas-powered scooter that also outperformed the existing competition in terms of range, speed, charging time, and affordability.
What they achieved with their first prototype was a range of 233km, which was unmatched by any other e-scooter at that time. Since then, they’ve developed four riding modes – Economy, Ride, Dash, and Sonic and have created their own battery management system to achieve optimal efficiency.
As e-scooters continue to be embraced throughout the world, Simple One needed a platform that would streamline product development from start to finish. They chose Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE® platform on cloud for the job and have deeply benefited from the platform’s capabilities.
“By 2030, almost all vehicles in India will be electric and the government is pushing for this to happen,” said Suhas Rajkumar, Founder and CEO of Simple Energy. “We wanted to get ahead of the competition and realized we needed to accelerate our product development. That’s where the 3DEXPERIENCE Cloud platform has come in. We know that leading companies across the automotive industry depend on the platform, so we’re in good company. We felt confident it would support us now and in the future. The entire design of the Simple One has been handled on the platform, including all metal and plastic parts.”
I-FEVS
As bicycle and electric bicycle (e-bike) usage rates continue to increase in cities like Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Antwerp as a form of urban mobility, there is still one factor that’s keeping people from fully ditching their cars: safety. That’s why I-FEVS, an electric vehicle and research company, has set out to create a new e-bike with safety top of mind.
I-FEVS’ e-bike has three wheels – one at the front and two at the rear – in order to make the e-bike more stable, easier to turn, and reduces the risk of riders becoming unstable in snowy or icy conditions. The goal is to make the bike as safe as possible while still delivering peak performance. It is intended for those young and old and to serve multiple purposes including daily commuting, day-to-day family travel, and urban delivery.
While still at the pre-funding stage, I-FEVS has designed and developed the entire bike through the 3DEXPERIENCE Cloud platform where they are able to manage the entire product development lifecycle with one solution.
“Traceability was a key reason we turned to the 3DEXPERIENCE Cloud platform,” said Pietro Perlo, co-founder and president of I-FEVS explained. “We must care for the e-bike from design to end of life. Traceability is not just to comply with regulations. We need to have full control of what we propose to our customers.”
They even have hopes of taking safety one step further by utilizing virtual twins to monitor the e-bikes on the road. They’ll use the virtual twin to gather live data and use it to optimize underperforming parts and identify worn-out or outdated components.
“The virtual twin will help us to identify when to change parts and update firmware, how to effectively manage predictive maintenance, how to best manage the battery pack and deliver future product refinements,” said Marco Biasiotto, head of the mechanical department for I-FEVS. “We are pursuing a strong collaboration not only with our industry partners but also with our customers. We want them to be actively involved in our vision for a new world and the virtual twin will help to nurture that relationship.”
Transpod
Canada and French-based company Transpod have big dreams for the future of urban mobility. In fact, the concept of a magnetic levitation train, often only depicted in the works of science fiction, might soon become a reality for Transpod founders Sébastien Gendron and Ryan Janzen, who are aiming to develop a new generation of affordable and environmentally friendly high-speed transportation.
Facing the issue of congestion in cities head-on, the TransPod system is based on a network of low-pressure tubes where pods are magnetically levitated and monitored by a computer. These pods can reach a top speed of 1,200 km/h and are optimized to cover routes up to 1,000 km.
In order to meet numerous technical challenges that come with creating a network of this magnitude, the team at Transpod has utilized Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE Cloud platform to design the system. The team has particularly enjoyed its coordinated approach and simplified data management.
“I don’t have all the skills of a 3D modeler,” said Augustin Boisleux, director of design at Transpod. “However, I don’t need to go through or change the model created by an engineer. I don’t need to wonder if it’s up to date or complete. I can open the 3D model to check the details and virtually test new proposals, at any time and from anywhere. A simple graphics tablet or laptop is all it takes. This is one of the benefits of 3DEXPERIENCE. It’s a really new way of working for me. I find it very efficient for my daily tasks.”
Find more customer stories showcasing the latest innovations in mobility. Learn about Dassault Systèmes’ industry solutions for Transporation and Mobility.