Designing for Green Urban Micro-Mobility

Mahindra GenZe

Traditionally, scooters have filled a niche in personal transportation by being easy to park and cost effective to run & maintain in urban settings. Today, the needs and lifestyles of young urban riders go beyond this by demanding sustainability as a must-have benefit. As a result of this project, the GenZe Electric Scooter by Mahindra employs a suite of innovative features delivering urban transportation that’s exceptionally convenient and sustainable.

 

Market

New Mobility

Services

Design Research • New Mobility • Portfolio • ProductDesign • UI Design

Sundberg-Ferar worked with Mahindra to identify consumer needs that would define the scooter’s competitive feature set, as well as the design of the overall vehicle, packaging, graphic user interface, and rider accommodation.

To determine the ideal characteristics for the scooter, primary user research was conducted on college campuses in the US and Canada. Participating students both provided feedback and took part in the brainstorming process. This approach yielded key insights, such as the option to raise the seat to ride in a semi-standing position, the incorporation of a large storage compartment module, and a satchel-size removable battery that can recharge at any typical wall-socket at home or on-the-go.

Mahindra GenZe Electric Scooter

The final design was one of the first on the market to incorporate a 7” TFT display instead of traditional gauges. This screen, with its thoughtfully designed UI, represents a significant development in the competitive positioning of the scooter. By selling advertising on the screen GenZe was able to reduce cost as a barrier to entry for potential student customers.

“The GenZe 2.0 electric scooter is one of those rare vehicles that doesn’t just excite me, it actually makes me hopeful about the future of urban transportation. I’ve spent the last two months using it as my daily driver, and it has fundamentally changed the way I get around town.”

Micah Toll

Electrek

Human Impact

GenZe’s users, which have expanded from students to professionals, tourists, delivery drivers, and more since its release, are testament to the impact this the scooter has made for urban riders worldwide. The scooter effortlessly combines the most essential needs of urban personal transportation like storage, safety, environmental friendliness, and convenience, while eliminating harmful emissions from the equation, and showing riders that sustainability without compromise is possible!

Business Impact

Since its launch, the Mahindra GenZe e-scooter has been adopted by consumers and micro-mobility fleet services in urban centers across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, moving the needle forward for business profitability and urban sustainability. The team’s work also led to subsequent design & development projects to add other green micro-mobility vehicles to the Mahindra portfolio.

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