As Electric Road continues on its journey exploring what is happening around the world with zero-emission cars, we spoke to Lupi Love, CEO of Infinite Mobility (IM), manufacturers of solar-powered vehicles.
About Infinite Mobility
Infinite Mobility is a Norwegian company developing lightweight tricycles powered by solar energy. They design and manufacture 3 and 4-wheeled vehicles for urban mobility. Integrated Solar PhotoVoltaic (PV) cells provide up to 10,000 km/year (40 km/day) of extended range. This naturally achieves a significant reduction in total cost of ownership and ultimately better convenience. Their vehicle design is modern and futuristic that integrates invisibility solar cells into the car roof, rear and sides of the car. Their cars are also designed for battery swapping too. They are currently building their 3-wheeler prototype which will be ready in July 2021.
The idea was born in April 2020 as a result of Lupi brainstorming with what are now his co-founders. They had been looking for a solution for micro-mobility that was safe, provided protection from weather conditions, was affordable and visually appealing. It also had to be lightweight and run by renewable energies, of course!
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Lupi is passionate about what they are doing at IM and said, “I got involved because I wanted to utilize my educational and work experiences in industrial manufacturing and supply chain management. In my professional career, I witnessed how many GHG emissions result from transporting people and goods. We need to rethink how we move. We need innovation that is environmentally friendly without compromising on comfort.”
Infinite Mobility was founded with the objective of enabling the vision of energy-positive vehicles in which a vehicle will produce more electricity than is required to operate the vehicle.
The key benefits of these vehicles are:
They’re quicker
Micro-mobility vehicles are agile, can use cycle lanes, take shortcuts and park with ease. Meanwhile, traditional vehicles spend three times longer stuck in traffic and drive around looking for parking spaces. Drivers of micro-mobility vehicles hardly needed to walk at all to their destination given they are often able to park right outside the door whereas some drivers of more traditional vehicles have to walk much further.
They’re more energy efficient
These vehicles consume 74% less energy than traditional vehicles for the same distance. Vehicle weight is the key factor here.
Their footprint is smaller
The amount of emissions from manufacturing micro-mobility vehicles is far lower than traditional vehicles due to less consumption of materials required to build them.
They are cheaper
In terms of both costs and environmental impact, micro-mobility vehicles have a distinct edge. Depending on where you’re based, micro-mobility vehicles sales are often supported by subsidies from local, regional and/or national governments.
In terms of manufacturing, IM’s process is quite decentralised as they are trying to locate the assembly line as close as possible to key markets. They are already in the process of establishing two manufacturing units: one in the Philippines to serve the Asian market and one in Tunisia to serve the European market. By creating small assembly units closer to the market, they will have more flexibility in adapting the methods and products to local conditions. Their headquarters are in Oslo where the engineering, marketing and procurement departments are based.
We look forward to catching up with Lupi again later this year to see how they are getting on. For more information on Infinite Mobility please visit www.infinite-m.com
