Project description
New snowmobiles turn green
Snowmobiles are noisy, difficult to drive, expensive and bad for the environment. But they are also indispensable for snow resorts and in remote off-road areas. Snowmobiles can also be fun. With the aim of revolutionising the snowmobile, the EU-funded MoonBikes project developed the first electric, ultralight snow vehicle. Lighter than conventional snowmobiles, they are also easier to operate, make no noise and are 100 % green (i.e. no emissions). Tapping into the existing market and opening up a new market of hundreds of thousands of accessible users, MoonBikes targets ski resorts (utility vehicle, individual mobility) and people residing in snowy environments.
Objective
Founded by a former Dassault Aviation engineer, MoonBikes is born from a simple fact: snowmobiles are big fat polluting machines, noisy, smelly, difficult to drive and expensive. While their use in snow resorts and remote areas would bring significant advantages (limit the use of cars, solve accessibility problems, introduce new fun uses for all without pollution or noise), their democratization requires a new approach to reduce its cost, noise, size and pollution level.
To revolutionize snow-mobility, MoonBikes conceptualized the snowmobile experience and created an electric, ultralight & silent snowmobile, foldable to ease its transport, simple to use and affordable. MoonBikes are 4x lighter & 2x less expensive than regular snowmobiles, and are 100% green (no emissions).
MoonBikes targets Ski resorts (utility vehicle, individual mobility), Snowmobile rentals (MoonBikes Parks at the bottom of ski slopes - like a karting circuit), and Individuals living in snowy environments. MoonBikes will tap into an existing market amounting to 37 000 sales/year, and open up a new market representing an additional 750 000 accessible users.
Several major French ski resorts have shown a strong interest in MoonBikes, and trials will take place this winter in these resorts.
MoonBikes targets to grab 10% of this new market with its affordable & simple product, making snowmobile an accessible commodity for all.
MoonBikes’ solution is currently at TRL6, with 2 demonstrators developed and tested in real conditions and in labs (more than 100 hours of testing), two new prototypes under development, and 2 patents pending.
Our goal is to deliver the first MoonBikes to pilot stations in December 2019.
Created in 2017 and Incubated at Station F & the Arts et Métiers incubator, and supported by the “Cluster Montagne” (Mountain Cluster), MoonBikes employs 4 people.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinator
75018 PARIS
France
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.