Every year, the Red Dot Award jury receives more than 18,000 submissions from designers, companies and organizations from over 70 nations. The Platzhirsch — the first e-bike from the 3D printer — also caught the attention of the international jury this year. As one of 50 young professionals, Sebastian Meinecke was able to secure one of the 50 highly coveted tickets for free entry to one of the world’s largest design competitions as the designer of the Platzhirsch. Sebastian’s work was also immediately rewarded, seamlessly following on from his success with the Stadtfuchs, which won the Red Dot Award: Product Design Best of the Best in 2019. The top dog now adds another Red Dot Award in the Bicycle Design category to the creative team’s trophy collection and makes Sebastian’s team really proud.

With the Platzhirsch, the 3D printing pioneers from Magdeburg are really shaking up the e-bike market. For the electrification, the manufacturer had already brought the innovation driver MAHLE ebikemotion on board last year. A decisive key partner that contributes the electric components of the top dog So this can climb neatly forward with 40 Nm of torque at the rear wheel in three precisely tuned driving modes. The powerful rear hub motor is supplied by a battery discreetly integrated into the down tube, which with 250 Wh allows up to 80 km range. On longer forays through urban territory, a 208 Wh range extender with a range of up to 60 km can be switched on as an option. The top dog is navigated digitally via the corresponding MAHLE app.

The sophisticated design with all the technical refinements also made the hearts of the 50-member international Red Dot jury beat faster. Each product is extensively tested, discussed and individually evaluated. While the constellation of the jury changes annually, one thing always remains the same: All members commit themselves to the “Code of Honour”, which states that they may not participate in the evaluation of products in whose creation they were involved. True to the motto “In search of good design and innovation,” the Red Dot jury evaluates all submissions and only awards the Red Dot to products that impress with their very good design quality.

We already had the opportunity to test Uwahn’s Platzhirsch extensively — you can read the article here.