Q-Rack E-Plug: Bike Rack and Charging Station for E-Bikes in One

In 2013, Angela Merkel set the goal of putting one million e-cars on German roads by 2020. According to the market research company Statista, this had not even turned into 450,000 by the end of July 2021. Nevertheless, the discussion about the lack of charging stations regularly comes up again. E-bike riders can only laugh in agony at such figures. In 2020 alone, almost two million new ebikes were purchased in Germany. The charging infrastructure in public spaces lags significantly behind this number. In some regions, it is probably easier to charge an e-car than an ebike.

Maruan Attia wants to change this. That’s why the designer from near Munich has designed a bicycle stand. Of course, there are already many of these. But with the Q-Rack E-Plug you can park two ebikes and charge their batteries at the same time.

For a smart future

The idea was born at the Munich Urban Colab. This is a place where start-ups, companies, science and city officials come together to develop projects and test their results that are aimed at the vision of the smart city. So, it’s not surprising that the Q-Rack is reminiscent of the frame of an iPhone. However, in the days when the display still measured four inches ?

The Q-Rack looks a little more elegant and a little taller than the models commonly found in the city centres of our country. Its narrow contour describes a zero with the rounded corners. Or an O. For a Q, the little extra line is somehow missing. No matter. More importantly, the Q-rack has a bigger heart for bicycles than its widespread counterpart. The heart here, however, is in the form of a rubber. This runs along almost the entire outer edge of the rack. The black buffer is supposed to ensure that your bike does not get any annoying scratches from being parked.

The Plug & Load solution

Maruan Attia designed the Q-Rack back in 2020 and applied for a patent. Now he presented a further development, so to speak, at the IAA Mobility in Munich – the Q-Rack E-Plug. In this case, a rectangular, flat column rises up in the middle of the stand. On both long sides there is a socket at the top. You can plug the mains plug of your charger into this and then charge the battery of your ebike.

If such a stand were to be installed as a charging station on station forecourts and in pedestrian zones, the question of charging stations for ebikes would be solved in the foreseeable future, at least in urban areas. However, we as a society would still have to work a bit on our attitude for this. After all, the Q-Rack E-Plug does not have a locker or anything similar. The charger must therefore remain freely accessible to everyone, for example in a bag on the bicycle. The good thing about this is that each of us only needs to show our honest side and it will work.

Amazing diversity

However, Maruan Attia has already made provisions for the other case. Besides the E-Plug, there is also the Q-Rack E-Lock. The column grows into a box in the middle. In turn, two chargers can be stowed in the box and locked while charging. If your bike lock is big enough, you can use it to secure the bike to the stand along with the box.

Another version is probably aimed exclusively at commercial users. In the Q-Rack E-Charger, the chargers and cables for a specific drive are already integrated. So you can comfortably drive up with your ebike and find the stand already pre-assembled for systems from Yamaha, Giant, Brose, Shimano, Bosch, Fazua and who knows who else. Of course, this option bears the risk of favouring certain manufacturers. Nevertheless, the approach sounds exciting.

Nicely resistant

In addition to the exterior, Attia Design, as the developer, has also paid a lot of attention to the material. The rack is made of stainless steel. This not only looks chic, but also defies all kinds of weather. Visually, there is a choice between polished stainless steel and a powder coating. The latter has the charm that you can specify RAL colours of your choice during production.

Although the Q-Rack is obviously also available for private customers, in this case you have to rely on experts. According to Attia Design, assembly and especially electrification have to be carried out by professionals.

Also conceivable as a temporary solution

The Q-Rack proves to be extremely clever in another respect. The stand is fixed to the floor with the help of various anchors. The base is always a pedestal on which all other components are mounted. However, you can also dismantle these in the meantime so that only the base remains in the floor. If you do not need the parking site in winter, simply dismantle it and store it. In the meantime, you can use the freed-up space for other purposes. An ordinary car parking space is enough to put four such racks on it. In total, eight bicycles could be parked there.

The manufacturer mentions two important limitations. Firstly, the sockets of the Q-Rack E-Plug are not suitable for charging electric cars. Secondly, the stands need a roof for protection if you want to charge ebikes in the rain. On the Attia Design website, the prices for a single E-Plug range from 1,359 euros to 3,459 euros. If you want to see the whole thing live, head to Landsberg am Lech in Bavaria at the next opportunity. There, at the IndustrialMakerSpace, a local innovation workshop, the first examples are parked in the parking lot near the main entrance.

No newcomer to the bicycle industry

With the Q-Rack, designer Maruan Attia enters the stage of the bicycle industry for the second time. Previously, he had co-designed cargo trailers for bicycles. The manufacturer Hinterher has received several awards for this, for example the European Business Award in 2017. Let’s see what prizes the Q-Rack might soon grab?

 

 

Pictures: Attia Design