JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #98 - July/August 2015 - 18

sports & leisure

Ultralight composite scooter
for sustainable urban mobility

The aptly named e-floater is an ultralightweight
electric scooter powered by solar electricity that
consists of more than 80% composite materials.

C

ommuting to and from
work for ever-increasing
distances has become
very common nowadays. At
a time when sustainable solutions are not only encouraged
but sought out, more and
more commuters use public
transportation, their own bicycles or electric scooters. Such
a scooter has to be as light as
possible since when not in use,
the user needs to carry it. To
this end, BASF and Floatility
have developed a solar-powered scooter: the e-floater.

resist crash loads. The e-floater
also uses Ultramid® B3G10,
which presents a higher fibre
content without sacrificing high surface quality. The
Ultramid® resin is reinforced
with various grades of glass
fibre. BASF's new Ultracom®
composite materials range is
featured on the front body as
well as the deck. Finally, the
tyres and handlebars consist
of Ellastolan® thermoplastic
polyurethane (TPU).
These high-performance,
versatile plastic materials have
allowed the e-floater's design
to be as efficient and stream-

Versatile plastic
materials and glass fibre
A mineral-filled polyamide resin already widely used in the
transportation industry was
BASF's first choice. The resin
is declined in either Ultramid®
B3M6 form - for parts where
distortion needs to be as low
as possible - or Ultramid®
B3ZG8, an impact-modified
grade that combines toughness and stiffness in order to
reinforce the parts that have to

lined as possible. Thus, the
e-floater boasts a full weight
of 12 kilograms, allowing the
users to both carry it easily
and, per the device's description, "give them a sensation of
floating."

The importance
of sustainable urban
mobility
This project would never have
come to light without the
close collaboration between
BASF and Floatility. BASF,
a chemical company with a
portfolio ranging from chemicals, plastics, performance
products and crop protection
products to oil and gas, was
the ideal partner for Floatility, a urban mobility specialist
whose goal is to make cities
less car-centric and more
people-friendly.
This alliance worked out
perfectly with BASF's 150th

The e-floater : a solar powered
scooter

birthday celebration in 2015,
which was a great opportunity to introduce their global
programme covering energy,
food and urban living. The
ultralight e-floater fits right
into this programme with its
zero-emission policy thanks
to its solar-powered motor and its aim to introduce
commuters to other ways of
transportation when covering
the "last kilometre" between
home and work.
The e-floater project, developed jointly by the two
companies, combines BASF's
materials and know-how with
Floatility's innovative capabilities, addressing a key challenge
of urban environments: shortdistance journeys. n

The e-floater is stable, durable and safe

18 jec composites magazine / No98 July - August 2015

More information:
www.basf.com
http://www.basf.com
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #98 - July/August 2015
