ENV bike: gold winner at America’s IDEA Awards

Intelligent Energy’s ENV, the world’s first purpose-built hydrogen fuel cell motorcycle, designed by leading British designers Seymourpowell, has won a coveted Gold Award at America’s leading product design awards – The IDEA Awards – presented by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) and sponsored by BusinessWeek.

The ENV began its life as a fuel cell technology demonstrator and was launched to the world in March 2005.

Juror Alistair Hamilton (IDSA, VP, Corporate Innovation and Design, Symbol Technologies Inc) commented on the bike for BusinessWeek: ‘It was designed to sell the new technology. People will understand that it is viable and use it.’

A jury of eighteen leading thinkers in the design world spent many days previewing entries online and two days of intense, face-to-face evaluation and debate on the IDEA awards, one of the world’s most prestigious design competitions. Judging criteria for each entry focused on five areas of industrial design excellence: design innovation, benefit to the user, benefit to the client/business, ecological responsibility, and appropriate aesthetics and appeal.