.png){kind=small}
The story of PowerShelter
When you first walk into Melkweg, the iconic Amsterdam music venue, you’re met by a wall of hundreds of lockers. These black sheet metal boxes are entrusted nightly by concertgoers to safeguard their valuables. Holding almost anything you wouldn’t want to dance with, they play an overlooked yet valuable role at the well-known venue. It was standing in front of these lockers one cold December night that the idea for PowerShelter was sparked.
If people could store necessities like jackets and bags, what else might be possible?
Walk outside the venue during any given show and you will see more electric bikes than you can count. People come from across the city to see their favorite bands & DJs play, often riding in on their Cowboy, Veloretti, PhatFour, Tenways, Stella, Rad Power, Gazelle, Swapfiets or any of the other 30+ bike brands that cruise our streets.
The scale of this opportunity quickly becomes clear: Melkweg is just one of countless destinations within a city that is one of many in Europe…
Amsterdam, like many cities today, is a city with booming adoption of e-bikes. In fact, a staggering 57% of bikes sold across the Netherlands in 2022 were electric. When we first heard this fact, it became clear: the future is undeniably two-wheeled.
But to get there as a society we need more than just an increase in e-bike availability. We will need the e-bike battery charging & storage infrastructure required to enable effortless e-bike ownership. After all, what good is a ferry without a dock or a Tesla without a charging station?
Our purpose breaks down into three parts.
1. Enable a simpler journey for riders
You’d hardly take notice if there were multiple gas stations on a city street. We've accepted that certain infrastructure is essential for our daily lives. But if we are to enable a shift to more sustainable, healthier forms of transport, we’ll need to rethink the experience we offer people. It all starts with providing the charging & storage infrastructure riders need, where they need it. Offices, apartment buildings, night clubs, and grocery stores will all have a part to play in building this network.
2. Sustainability matters more than ever
We need to continue greening our roads. E-bikes do have a larger environmental footprint than regular bikes, so it's not about advocating for everyone to buy one. Yet if we as a society are to collectively reduce our environmental impacts, we will inevitably need to support a wide range of sustainable transportation options. Per km traveled, e-bikes produce a tiny fraction of the emissions of a gas car. My belief is that when fully empowered, people will feel more comfortable ditching dirtier transportation for more sustainable options.
3. Address battery fires & safety
While incredibly rare, battery fires do happen. Cities like New York and London have already seen tragic fires destroy property and claim lives. This is something cities, companies, and communities are grappling with as the adoption of e-bikes increases. But it doesn’t need to be either-or. With the right precautions integrated, we can harness the tremendous potential of this new technology while ensuring the safety of all.
In reality, our lockers aren’t something most would dwell on. Few people besides Brett and I fall asleep thinking about how to put these metal boxes on street corners across Europe. Yet the impact that they stand to have on how we travel as a society will ultimately influence the way people live their lives. Our hope is that e-bikes become the default once safe & convenient charging infrastructure becomes as overlooked as the wall of lockers at Melkweg.
Power to the riders.
Want to learn more about PowerShelter? You can reach out to us here!