IKEA isn’t just about flat-pack home-assembled furniture. In at least two stores in Vienna, Austria, they’re also selling the IKEA FOLKVÄNLIG electric bicycle.
We might be used to seeing IKEA’s flat-pack furniture that you assemble at home, their quirky little language-less assembly instructions, and those Swedish Meatballs, but the innovative company has been throwing a lot of new stuff our way. Of course, flat-pack itself is a very green solution, reducing waste and packing materials, as well as reducing transportation costs and emissions. IKEA stores have even been offering affordable home solar power solutions, so why not an electric bicycle?
The IKEA FOLKVÄNLIG costs just €749 (≈$1,000), comes in frame designs for men and women, and weighs about 60 lb, but don’t let those specifications throw you. The FOLKVÄNLIG is an electric bicycle, so you’re not going to be pushing those 60 lb all by yourself. Aided by a 250 W electric motor and rechargeable in-frame lithium-ion battery pack, you get a total pedal-assisted range of up to 45 mi per charge. The Shimano transmission and electric motor provide six different levels of assist, and it takes about five hours to recharge.
A store renowned for its highly useful items, IKEA’s products may defy translation, but the FOLKVÄNLIG electric bicycle really needs to translation. Google Translate gives this English translation of the Swedish Folkvänlig as “Democratic,” yet I still have no idea what that means in reference to an electric bicycle. However, anything that makes emissions-free transportation easier, removes cars from the streets, and makes for better pedestrian and commuter health, really doesn’t need a good translation, does it?
Image © IKEA
