Pedalling for power
The company WeWatt is bringing the spinning bikes of the gym to offices and to airports, where they allow you to charge your own batteries while charging those of your phone or laptop. In the near future, these We-Bikes could increase the activity levels of schoolchildren and elderly people in rest homes.
WeWatt cycle desks provide offices and public spaces with a new source of energy
After stimulating creative entrepreneurship as the Flemish minister for economy and innovation until 2009, Patricia Ceysens decided to walk her own talk. The Flemish MP founded the company WeWatt, which now produces the We-Bike – a desk that doubles as a stationary bike. Pedalling generates electricity to charge mobile devices or a wi-fi connection.
Just like many other professionals, politicians spend much of their working hours sitting at a desk, a conference table or in the car. “Because not everyone has the motivation or time to exercise in their free time, we integrate the exercise into working life,” explains Ceysens.
Studies show that 30 minutes of gentle cycling a day helps improve cardiovascular health. It has also been shown to improve your mental sharpness – your reading speed, for instance. This is making the We-Bikes popular additions to meeting rooms.
Digital nomads
Several We-Bikes were installed recently at Brussels Airport and at Schiphol in the Netherlands. Montparnasse railway station in Paris has also installed them for travellers. “Many entrepreneurs these days are ‘digital nomads’, who are happy that they can get in a little recreation and quickly charge their principal tools of work between destinations,” says Ceysens. “But other passengers also need their smartphones charged. In the future, our wallets and passport will probably become digital as well.”
You can comfortably generate 230 volts of electricity, which fully loads most mobile phones in about half an hour. That makes the pedalling as efficient as plugging the devices into an electrical socket.
The We-Bikes have also become part of the furniture in a number of Flemish businesses, libraries, congress centres, hotel lobbies, shopping centres and restaurants. The International Congress Centre in Ghent sports some, as does the Provincial Library Limburg in Hasselt. There is also interest from abroad: one Swedish hotel has already installed We-Bikes.
The WeWatt team hopes to soon introduce the cycle desks to schools, where they could help students to let off steam but also increase their concentration. “For me as a child, it was easier to memorise multiplication tables while walking around,” remembers Ceysens. “Most children, and definitely those with ADD, have trouble with sitting still for too long.”
Another plan is to install them in rest homes for the elderly and in hospitals for patients or visitors. Private homes could follow, but a price tag of more than €3,000 each makes it not a consumer product quite yet. Every We-Bike is hand made at a sheltered workshop in Flanders, with eco-friendly materials.
