Swedish electric motorbike manufacturer Cake has teamed up with Volvo’s electric car spin-off, Polestar, to produce what is essentially a new take on the park and ride. Cake’s Makka moped docks and charges on the back of the Polestar 2, allowing the user to park on the edge of town and complete the urban stretch of their journey on a smaller, lighter vehicle.
It sounds, on the face of it, like a bit of a hassle for a private vehicle owner who’s probably used to going door to door without changing mode of transport. However, the two firms highlight Paris’s city centre car ban and Barcelona’s low-emissions zones as being indicative of the way urban travel is heading.
Cake launched the Makka moped earlier this month, pitching it as a practical urban vehicle suitable for carrying goods or passengers.
It’s available in 15.5mph and 28mph versions and offers either 31 or 37 miles of range, depending which version you get.
“The lightweight bike connects with Polestar 2 via an ‘umbilical cord’ that allows it to charge from our car, ready to tackle inner cities as well as have fun off-road,” said Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath.
Cake CEO and founder Stefan Ytterborn added: “Our new electric mobility bundle comes as a unique first step to solve the worldwide problems of city mobility as well as to accelerate the transition towards an emissions-free future.
“Instead of wasting time in a car queue, struggling to find a parking spot or squashing up in a crowded subway train, we, together with the team at Polestar, want to make the future of mobility flexible, accessible and emission-free – while aiming to create cities for people, not for cars that pollute.”
