Mellow’s Electric Skateboard Drive wins German Design Award 2018

After winning the Red Dot Design Award in 2017 Mellow Boards now has been honored for its outstanding product design with Germany’s most important design price. The German Design Award affirms the path of the Hamburg based company, which is one of the few success stories of hardware start-ups that actually made it from crowdfunding to the market. Mellow Boards produces a custom-made drive to electrify any skateboard to challenge the trend of our throwaway society.

"By developing the Mellow Drive on automotive standards we reached a new level of quality, sustainability and design. Not producing in Asia but in Germany, we emphasize the perfection of each individual part to ensure the highest level of safety, longevity and enjoyment of the product,” explains Christoph Philipp Schreiber, product designer and engineer for Mellow Boards.

The Mellow Drive and each of its components have been developed from scratch. From the first drawing to the final product, engineers and designers worked closely together. The innovative electric skateboard drive turns any skateboard or longboard into the smallest and most flexible electric vehicle. Mounting the drive to the deck like a normal skateboard truck is just a matter of four screws. Two motors are hidden inside the drive’s skateboard wheels that accelerate to top speeds of up to 40km/h. A magnesium frame holds and protects the electronics and the swappable battery pack. With a second battery, the range of 15km can easily be extended and via the integrated USB port electronic devices can be charged on the go.

"Our focus was to create a holistic user experience. The drive as well as the handheld remote control are designed for intuitive use. The handling is so natural that you can completely focus on enjoying your ride and still have full control in important situations,” says Andi Kern, UI & UX designer for Mellow Boards. “To give you a deeper look inside your drive and to round up the experience we created the Mellow App. You can plan your trips, according to the battery capacity and selected riding mode. To keep the product you bought always state of the art you have the opportunity to update the whole system via the App.“

In the future, urban transportation won’t focus on cars anymore. Innovative, sustainable solutions will reduce the traffic chaos and make our cities a better place to live. Mellow does not only do that but also turns our daily commutes into a joyride. No matter if used as a last mile solution in combination with the bus, train or plane or for the daily ride to work, the Mellow Drive brings the sense of the Endless Ride from surfing to the streets.

“The surprisingly powerful electric drive can easily be mounted on any conventional skateboard and offers incomparable riding fun. The motor is so compact that it’s hardly visible underneath the board,” says the jury statement. Mellow Boards received the German Design Award for Excellent Product Design in the category Sports, Outdoor Activities and Leisure at today’s award ceremony in Frankfurt.

The German Design Award presented by the German Design Council is only awarded to projects that truly represent pioneering contributions to the German and international design landscape. The highly esteemed, international jury guarantees this. A company can only enter the competition for the German Design Award by nomination and if its product has already been awarded a national or international design prize.

About Mellow Boards

Mellow Boards is a Hamburg based start-up providing a smart alternative for urban transportation. It all started with the dream of the Endless Ride – bringing the feeling of surfing and snowboarding to the streets. Three years of design, prototyping and fine-tuning of more than 300 custom-made individual parts followed. The result is a mountable electric skateboard drive – a high quality product for high-performance use, made in Germany. With the help of a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2015 and the cooperation with investor and production partner TQ Systems, Mellow Boards launched the final Mellow Drive in March 2017.

About the German Council

The German Design Council, the expert for brand and design in Germany, bestows the German Design Award. Commissioned by the highest authority to represent new developments in the German design industry. Established on the initiative of the German Bundestag (the lower house of German parliament) as a foundation in 1953, it supports the industry in all matters consistently aimed at generating an added brand value through design. As a result, the German Design Council is one of the world’s leading competence centers for communication and brand management in the field of design. The exclusive network of foundation members includes in addition to designers and design associations, in particular the owners and brand directors of numerous renowned companies.

Mellow Drive Product Video

https://youtu.be/lLWgQMvTimk

Pictures (Award Ceremony & more)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/143790339@N08/

Further information

https://www.mellowboards.com/en/press/

Press Contact

Sanna
Public Relations & Press
Email press@mellowboards.com
Mobile +49 40 882 1592-0

Mellow Boards GmbH
Budapesterstraße 49
20359 Hamburg, Germany
Website mellowboards.com