From Two Wheels to Three in the ELINDRA Project: A Flexible Zero-Emission Vehicle for Everyday Use, Logistics, and Car-Sharing

The goal of the ELINDRA project is to develop a versatile, highly innovative, and internationally unique zero-emission vehicle. ELINDRA is intended to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in transportation and contribute to a sustainable, interoperable, and highly inclusive mobility system. The enormous range of potential use cases, as well as integration into existing solutions—such as in the areas of car-sharing or logistics—address the systemic perspective.

The core of the innovation lies in combining the advantages of an electric two-wheeled vehicle and an electric three-wheeled vehicle into a single electric cargo bike. The two-wheeled vehicle offers significant advantages in terms of maneuverability and space requirements (in both moving and stationary traffic), while the three-wheeled vehicle excels in terms of transport capabilities (as a replacement for private cars and in logistics) and driving stability (e.g., for transporting children or the mobility of older adults). A plug-and-play system is being developed in two variants to allow switching between 2- and 3-wheel modes as easily as possible, with minimal effort and without technical requirements.
The vehicle is intended to be as cost-effective as possible (purchase and operation), have the best possible carbon footprint (production and operation), be highly inclusive (e.g., for older or physically impaired people), and have a very broad range of applications. ELINDRA also aims to develop a platform technology to enable the future development and construction of various variants, e.g., as a basis for vehicles for people with disabilities, special requirements for urban logistics, etc.

The planned research design includes (1) the development of requirements based on use cases and specific needs (gender & diversity), (2) the creation of an overall concept as a plug-and- play system, (3) the development of a digital powertrain and all other system components, (4) the production of the vehicles for (5) a large-scale field test in the city of Klagenfurt (EU Cities Mission 2030), and (6) accompanying scientific research, the evaluation of impacts, and the estimation of economic and ecological effects. To ensure the project’s success, the topic of gender and diversity will be integrated into all project steps throughout the entire project. The project itself is led by a woman—women make up 50% of the project team and the project management, which is well above the industry average.

ELINDRA builds on numerous previous projects, primarily ZeroFlex (Zero Emission Mobility). If funding is secured, this will enable the further development and continued use of the ROCK-e vehicle and the mobility station in Klagenfurt, among other things.
The project design and consortium are ideally suited to developing and testing the vehicle, assessing its impact, and, most importantly, bringing it to market through the industrial partner after the project concludes. The involvement of the City of Klagenfurt and its access to a wide range of field testing opportunities, as well as thinkport-Vienna, the Carinthian Chamber of Commerce, and 3LOG, guarantee a project outcome relevant to implementation. ELINDRA is a demonstration of Austrian technological expertise and innovative system design in the field of electric mobility.
The vehicle to be developed in ELINDRA is thus ideally suited to replace as many fossil-fuel vehicles and trips as possible with electric ones, for example through car-sharing or use as a cargo solution.