Bicycle power

The nifty design of Cape Town’s Ideso design consultancy, a bicycle-charged battery has won a prestigious international Red Dot “Best of the Best” award for industrial design.

While human power generation and storage is not new, Ideso’s PowerPac is the world’s first product to offer a removable power storage unit that becomes a portable charging unit for use anywhere in the home or office.

With 80 minutes of cycling the hour-glass shaped battery will be fully charged and can be used to power an iPhone, a power tool, a PC, a tablet or a camera, all from this stored personal energy. So you can get a full workout while working up a charge too!

Established in 1955, the Singapore-based Red Dot awards recognises world-class design achievements and is one of the world’s most sought-after international seals of design quality.

Said Ideso MD, Marc Ruwiel: “With 58 countries competing, it’s great to receive this prestigious accolade, especially as we are the fourth South African company ever to win in the past 57 years.”

Ideso is now seeking an investment partner with an existing brand in the cycling industry to enable it to develop the PowerPac product further and get it into mass production.