The “Comfort, Safety, and Flexibility” of a Car, in a Bike — CityQ @ MOVE 2022

People love cycling when the weather is nice but, should it turn even slightly inclement, you’ll see people put their lycra and helmets away and reach for their car keys.

However, Norwegian company CityQ has designed a bike that it believes offers the “comfort, safety, and flexibility” of a car whilst retaining the footprint of a bicycle. CityQ’s bikes are around 100 kilos in weight but retain all-around weather protection, four wheels, and disc brakes. 

Auto Futures caught up with Morten Rynning, the founder and CEO of CityQ, to find out more about its bikes and the company behind them.

Rynning explains that the bikes are part of a modular platform that can be adapted to meet the needs of consumers, whether they need cargo boxes or other features. 

Similarly, the bikes, whilst occupying the same roads as cars, do not need the same type approval or expensive and time-consuming safety testing. This might sound concerning to some but, as Rynning says, the bikes won’t be travelling as fast or on open roads as cars — these are designed for the tight inner-city streets and can only reach 25 kph.

The bikes will launch in Germany, the UK, and across Scandinavia starting with small-scale production this year, before expanding into “scale-up production” in 2023.

CityQ wasn’t the only company offering electrified solutions for inner cities at MOVE this year.

Bolt’s Johnny Munro, for example, told us that while tolling the death knell on private car ownership was “unrealistic,” the company’s mix of ride-sharing, e-bikes, and e-scooters provides city dwellers with a perfect low-cost option to get around cities. 

Similarly, Rachad Youssef, BrightDrop’s Chief Product Officer, explained how his company’s Zevo 600 electric vans and electrically propelled Trace cargo boxes were helping to humanise last-mile delivery for the often underpaid and overworked employees in the industry.