Harry’s switched on

By GEMMA REDDELL - North Harbour News

A solution for Auckland’s road congestion problems comes from Whangaparaoa student Harry Henriksen.

The 22-year-old Massey University graduate has created Switch – a hybrid transport model that morphs between a car and a motorbike.

Harry’s design has been accepted as one of 25 international finalists at the Michelin Design Challenge in Detroit in January.

This is one of the most prestigious automotive design awards in the world, and the entries have been chosen from 291 designers from 59 countries.

Switch is Harry’s futuristic solution to traffic jams, transforming from an electric powered car to a motorbike with the push of a button, allowing the driver to zip between lanes.

The driver’s pod automatically lowers for a more sporting experience when in motorcycle mode.

The concept vehicle has the model name Switch and the Austrian manufacturer KTM brand, which Harry chose as the best fit for an innovative vehicle.

"It was part of the criteria for our final design project to research and find the company with the values most consistent with the language displayed by the design.

"I chose KTM because they’ve always done extreme machines. They started with extreme dirtbikes, then built extreme roadbikes, and now they’re just built an extreme car – the X-Bow."

Harry says when designing Switch he did considerable research on commuter problems and looked ahead to 2020.

"The population is going to keep growing, and so will traffic congestion," he says.

Harry did a survey of vehicle occupancy on a busy stretch of the North Shore motorway and noticed most cars have just one occupant.

Switch is designed for one person to choose between the comfort of a small car and convenience of a motorbike.

"It runs on rechargeable batteries with a hydraulics system to shift it between car and motorbike modes," he says. "It would be equipped to operate with newly emerging electronics technology, used in computer games, for self-navigation and car-to-car, or bike-to-bike communication."

He says by 2020 much new infrastructure will be in place, with more recharging stations and more car computerisation.

Ensuring his design has a green footprint was a major concern, he says.

It was also a condition of entry for the Michelin Challenge Design, which specifies a design that is "electrifying, beautiful, innovative and radiant" as well as being a concept that could dramatically improve energy efficiency, minimise environmental impact and satisfy consumer demand for an attractive, usable vehicle design.

Mr Henriksen will travel to Detroit in January for judging as well as the chance to meet transport industry leaders.

He says his suitability for a future career in the global auto industry will also be assessed as the challenge’s jury of judges includes the design ex-ecutive directors for Ford, General Motors and Volvo.

He says he’d ideally like a job and to gain more of an understanding about the automotive design world outside of what he knows in New Zealand.

"I’d like to gauge where I stand skill-wise and career-wise with the rest of the world."