Danish bike designer Biomega unveils SIN urban EV concept

Here’s an interesting entry in the increasingly crowded

EV

market. It’s a funky-looking urban

electric vehicle

from the design-forward Danish bicycle and electric bicycle makers

Biomega

.

It’s called the SIN — reportedly short for Singapore — and the company unveiled it this week at the CIEE trade fair in Shanghai. Resembling a wooden children’s toy car, the four-door

crossover

follows the less-is-more ethos of Scandinavian design, with a few noteworthy ideas. First off is the lack of traditional wheel wells to allow for a skateboard-like flat floor, which Biomega says makes the vehicle easier to navigate in tight urban spaces and keeps its interior, which features four independent seats, simplified and full of space. There’s also no hood or trunk. It also uses what it calls a fascia window, where the window glass extends all the way to the floor behind the brake and accelerator pedals, to maximize the road view.

The SIN is designed to be made of lightweight composite materials including modular carbon fiber, with a curb weight of around 2,090 pounds. It’s priced for now below $23,000 (20,000 euros) and a release date could be anywhere between 2021 and 2023, the company says, with applications including ride sharing and traditional

leasing

.

An accompanying video shows us glimpses of a futuristic-looking, minimalist interior, a windshield that runs the length of the vehicle and doubles as a panoramic glass sunroof, that fascia window behind the foot pedals, rectangular steering wheel and a center touchscreen. Base specs on the concept say it carries a 20 kWh battery pack, including a 14 kWh permanent unit and a 6 kWh removable pack, presumably for replacing with a fully charged pack for extended range, plus 15-kilowatt in-hub electric motors on each wheel, good for 82 horsepower and 118 pound-feet of torque. It has a driving range of 99 miles and a top speed of around 80 mph.

Biomega’s founder is the Danish designer

Martin Skibsted

, who co-chairs the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Design and Innovation and is chairman of the Danish Design Council. The SIN is reportedly the company’s first four-wheeled vehicle design.