JOHN MCDOUGALL





ARIV COMMUTER E-BIKE

.
Design Lead

Team: Jess Bailey, Thiago Afonso, Wade Bryant

Led the design and development of General Motors’ first full-size e-bike, launched under the Ariv brand. The project showed that a legacy automotive company could enter the urban mobility space with a human-centered, sustainable product.










RETHINKING
THE WAY
GM MOVES YOU 




HOW WE CONVINCED A CAR COMPANY TO BUILD A BIKE


Key opportunities we identified to successfully bring a bike to market, inside a car company.

ZERO EMISSIONS MOBILITY

100x fewer emissions than a car, aligning to GM’s vision for clean mobility.


GROWING URBAN MOBILITY TRENDS 

From highways to bike lanes, GM’s mobility strategy can evolve with shifting urban habits.

LEVERAGE AUTOMOTIVE SCALE + MFG

 we showed how the company could produce premium 
e-bikes with never before seen shapes.










GLOBE TROTTING RESEARCH


We dove into the bike culture first hand with research trips in Detroit, Amsterdam, and Copenhagen to soak in every lesson, and gain key insights.


IN DETROIT

We saw the transformative power of bikes to move people in a city that is notoriously car-centric.



IN AMSTERDAM

we commuted to work on bike highways, endured the elements and found the functional beauty in the classic dutch bike.



IN COPENHAGEN

 We saw that durability is a design language, and that simplicity is the ultimate sophisication. 









SO WHAT 
CAN WE IMPROVE? 




THE PROBLEMS


After our research, we identified three key areas where GM could innovate and improve the rider experience.

RETROFITTED BATTERIES

Traditional bike brands simply took pedal bikes and retro-fitted batteries, rather than asking what an E-bike could be from the ground up. 


SECURITY WAS AN AFTERTHOUGHT

Security is ignored on most bikes, leaving your bike exposed or clutttered with aftermarket locks.

KEY DETAILS WEREN’T INTEGRATED

 You would never buy a car with headlights and components bolted on aftermarket, yet this is how bikes are presented, with no integration.










FINDING A NEW FORM


To signal our bike’s innovation, we wanted the silhouette to be unmistakable.










FRAMING THINGS UP


We quickly went from sketch to CAD to run frame rigidity and mass tests, narrowing the design to a pair of high and low step.









PROTOTYPING THE PERFECT BARS


With three distinct riding positions, integrated lighting, and security, we re-imagined your connection to the bike.

The loop bar allows for alert, casual, and performance grip positions, changing the character or your ride with one simple design. 

The loop lock adds built in security, so you’ll never have to worry about packing your lock.

The dot matrix light welcomes you on approach, gives lock indication messages and functions as your headlight.








PRECIOUS CARGO

In our research, a lack of cargo capacity was one of the primary reservations people had about giving up their car, so we created a modular front/rear cargo system that can adapt to fit all your precious cargo. 

TWO FRAME CHOICES, FOR YOUR IDEAL SILHOUETTE

The High and Low step variants give customers the flexibility to match their style and needs.  For a classic profile, choose the high step.  For a more accessible step-over, and front cargo, choose the low step.





GO RIDE A BIKE

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