The Banatti Green Falcon is a Filipino Electric Motorbike Made Out of Bamboo
With the Philippines’ government mandating the planting of 10 million hectares of bamboo by 2020, CEO and design director of Modular Energy Efficient Portage (MEEP), Christopher Lacson, has devised an unorthodox machine made of - you guessed it - bamboo.
(All photos taken by Christopher Paris Lacson)
Lacson had stated that in the time the bamboo takes to grow, which is about 3 years, he wanted to come up with a use and application for the organic material that has the strength ‘similar to steel’ by 2020. While this may sound ridiculous, the designer also pointed out that when composited, bamboo does become incredibly strong.
And thus, the Banatti Green Falcon was born.
Together with Eduardo Cañete doing the painting and Jess Alimbo in charge of engineering, the trio conceptualized, fabricated and got the Green Falcon up and running.
The Green Falcon comprises of a two layered bamboo structure and is laminated with marine grade epoxy that covers the bike’s batteries and electric motor. Lacson says the bike has a range of around 45-50 km on a single charge, and was geared to go up to 60 km/h as that is the speed limit of the city. Because of that, the acceleration actually improves and not as much power from the battery is used.
This unique bike even offers a music system!
“It’s not about making money. It’s about wanting to provoke and inspire our country that we can have our own Ducatis, we can have our own Ferraris. We should be doing that. We’re creative, we’re smart, we’re intelligent. If a bike like this can inspire the young, the old, the leaders, the countrymen, the industries to say: ‘Kaya paya lan’,” Lacson said in an interview with Top Gear Philippines.