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NAON Zero-One Electric Scooter Zooms Toward Zero Emission Sustainability

03.10.22 | By
NAON Zero-One Electric Scooter Zooms Toward Zero Emission Sustainability

Berlin-based NAON Mobility‘s two-wheeled aspirations aim to bring short distance urban transportation with zero emissions, all packaged in a streamlined form inspired by principles extolled by the Bauhaus school – a handcrafted battery-powered prototype embodied in anodized aluminum intended to communicate “a harmony of style, quality and consideration.”

Side profile of rose bronze and black aluminum scooter parked against wall with window backdrop and ground with circular concrete.

Alongside evoking the Bauhaus’ “form follows function,” NAON also cites Dieter Rams’ 10 commandments for good design as the guiding principles that help shape their Zero-One’s sleek minimalist approach to mobility.

“…our aluminium parts are anodised to protect against corrosion and the transparent windscreen is treated with a multi-resist coating to protect against abrasion and UV radiation. Not only does this increase the lifespan of individual components, but it ensures that they continue to operate at their maximum efficiency.”

Detail of scooter's floorboard foot platform where batteries are stored underneath, imprinted with NAON logo.

The scooter can store up to two removable battery packs under the floorboards, each 2.4kWh battery offering 70km of range and up to 140km when both are fully charged. Each battery can be charged in place or removed using a supplied charging unit.

The Zero-One is primarily comprised of the aforementioned aluminum, alongside recycled PET plastic for non-structural components of the scooter. Aluminum sections are laser cut and pressed to construct the main frame of the scooter to minimize waste. Additionally NAON mirrors the trend within the automotive industry toward using recycled and ecological materials across parts where rider and machine often touch; for example the handlebar and footrest grips contain recycled shredded rubber, and the organic faux leather seat trim is manufactured from cactus skin.

The Zero-One will come in two flavors, the first L1e offering a more sedate top speed of 28mph, and the L3e’s larger 13hp engine capable of a top speed over 62mph.

The Zero-One’s suspension combined with a low center of gravity produced by the battery storage across the floorboard offers a stable and balanced ride at any speed or across most urban road surfaces.

NAON’s designers also factored in aspects of end of life considerations when speccing their two-wheel vehicle, making the Zero-One not only easy to refurbish, upgrade, or replace any components over its lifespan, but also manufactured with materials that can easily be separated and recycled when the scooter has reached its final mile.

All this forward thinking design and zero-emission electric motor technology does come at a price, $5,625 for the pokier L1e model and $7,340 for the much zippier L3e, with batteries costing $1,140 each to own or also available on a monthly rental fee for $28. NAON plans to make pre-orders available towards the end of 2022 with additional updates and details at their website.

Gregory Han is a Senior Editor at Design Milk. A Los Angeles native with a profound love and curiosity for design, hiking, tide pools, and road trips, a selection of his adventures and musings can be found at gregoryhan.com.