Elbee is a globally unique product developed by the Czech company
ZLKL. It is specially designed to meet the needs of people with physical
disabilities. Its uniqueness is mainly due to the way the driver gets
into the vehicle – with built-in remotely controlled front-opening doors
and a special ramp to roll into the vehicle. Elbee is suitable for both
electric and mechanical wheelchairs. When inside the vehicle, the
wheelchair is placed comfortably into a special docking system, and by
closing the entire front of the car using the remote control, the
wheelchair user is ready to drive away. That is why Elbee is a valuable
means of transport for people who are confined to a wheelchair and do
not want to depend on other people to help them get in and out of the
vehicle. Obviously, it is also perfect for those who are bothered by
having to change seats all the time - with Elbee you automatically have
the advantage of driving directly from your wheelchair.
We introduced Elbee to the market a few months ago and it already has its first happy and satisfied owners.
Elbee is a two-seater – a foldable passenger seat is situated in the back right behind the wheelchair. The vehicle weighs 400 kg, drives on gasoline and its average fuel consumption is only 4.5 L/100 km. Elbee can be driven in towns and cities, as well as on highways, as its maximum speed is 80 km/h. The recommended price is roughly €20,000 plus tax (approx. $26,000 CA), including all standard modifications for hand control.
Elbee is designed for all types of wheelchair users, however it will certainly become the most valued helper for those who are not able to handle their wheelchair on their own or cannot manage to move to a regular car seat without someone else assisting them. Typically, it includes those using an electric wheelchair, the elderly and heavier individuals. Our goal is to make Elbee accessible for all physically disabled people confined to a wheelchair, who are able to get a valid driver’s licence. Given the specific needs of different wheelchair users, each Elbee has to be individually adapted according to the user’s health condition, specific abilities and preferences.
The success of the recent introduction of Elbee to the market is a result of more than ten years of development. The idea for its production dates back to 2003. The actual prototype of this special vehicle for wheelchair users was constructed in cooperation with the designers four years later. It then took another seven years to remove all of the bugs and put together the Elbee that you see today. Even though the plan is to start the serial production of hundreds of vehicles annually in the next two years, each piece is still going to be an original to a certain extent.
Elbee is categorized as a heavy quadricycle – a so-called “quad.” In Europe, it is possible to drive one from the age of 17, and a Class B1 driver’s license is all you need. Elbee offers a new level of freedom to wheelchair users by giving them an unlimited range. To achieve this, the option of a gasoline engine was a clear choice for the development team. The vehicle’s engine is a performant 300 cc engine, allowing the quadricycle to drive at a speed of 80 km/h. Highway trips will not be the slightest problem anymore. Unlike electro-mobiles, Elbee does not require charging; therefore, it is perfect for longer trips as well.
Elbee was designed and constructed with the safety and independence of the passenger in mind. Wheelchair users are able to fully operate the vehicle without any help from anyone else, which increases their quality of live substantially. It is one of the most frequent desires of those confined to a wheelchair – to become more independent and self-reliant.
All of the necessary features ensuring maximum passenger safety have been integrated into Elbee. The most important feature is the location of both where you open the vehicle and where the entrance is located at the front of the “quad.” Wheelchair users can simply roll into the vehicle. When they reach their target destination, they can park their Elbee directly on the sidewalk and roll out without having to enter traffic.
Among the other great advantages, it is possible to adapt the driving controls and ramp individually, according to the abilities and health condition of each specific driver. We always try to find the best possible solution – every single customer is important to us. That is also one of the reasons why we do our utmost to make Elbee accessible to our clients. We even provide our own advising services to inform our clients about eligibility for state donations and grants, as well as other options for financing their purchase and modification of the vehicle by other sources.
Elbee follows the latest technological processes and trends. From a technological point of view, the most complicated aspect was implementing the steering wheel onto the opening doors. To allow users to enter the vehicle through the front, it was necessary to disconnect the steering system from the front axle – that means the entire vehicle control system would have to be disconnected and reconnected functionally twice every time the vehicle is driven. Fortunately, our Elbee development team found a solution for this challenging feature. No wonder the team won numerous awards in innovation contests. In the Czech Republic, Elbee won the Innovation Star 2013 award and came first in the prestigious competition CAD for Innovators 2014. Most currently ZLKL has received honours and a title of the Innovator of the Year 2014 for design and production of Elbee.
While corporate social responsibility is a relatively new idea in the Czech Republic, in particular among smaller companies of Czech origin, ZLKL’s management is promoting its great value and importance. That is the reason why it has been supporting the Elbee project for over 10 years. So far an investment of over CZK 100 million (more than $4.5 million CA) has been put into the project to sustain its gradual progress.
ZLKL, the company developing and producing Elbee, is a family business specialized in engineering. The main purpose of the project is for ZLKL’s efforts to bring new possibilities to the lives of wheelchair users. Our key mission is to offer an unknown level of freedom of movement without limits, this principal aim being aptly expressed in the slogan of Elbee – Your freedom of movement. It is our goal to make Elbee accessible to the highest possible number of disabled people in different countries, whereby we would be able to support the local community, as well as the whole global society in addition to that. ZLKL has been awarded many times for its determination. We were given the respected title of The Responsible Company of the Year 2013 and, in accordance with corporate social responsibility, we have won the prestigious award of TOP Responsible Company of the Year 2014 in our category.
To increase awareness on Elbee, we decided to take part in a few selective tradeshows, 2 of which were international. Because the vehicle has a valid homologation to be driven on roads in the entire European Union, it is now possible to offer it to foreign markets as well. We are currently working on cooperation with distributors and resellers in Europe. That way, we can aim to make Elbee accessible to the world – we are planning on offering specific locations outside the Czech Republic where it would be possible to get full support for Elbee. These contact places would provide an all-around service for customers, including supplying customers with all of the necessary information, expositions in showrooms, providing test drives or helping to design a unique model of Elbee adapted to the customer. We have recently entered into cooperation with France as our first exclusive foreign distributor. We are also looking forward to meeting with representatives in Germany, Italy, Russia and other countries.
For more information, please see our website: www.elbee.cz/en. We have launched a page on a social media network where our fans will be able to follow news on Elbee and share it with their friends – visit and like our “Elbee vozidlo” profile on Facebook and we will keep you posted.
We introduced Elbee to the market a few months ago and it already has its first happy and satisfied owners.
Elbee is a two-seater – a foldable passenger seat is situated in the back right behind the wheelchair. The vehicle weighs 400 kg, drives on gasoline and its average fuel consumption is only 4.5 L/100 km. Elbee can be driven in towns and cities, as well as on highways, as its maximum speed is 80 km/h. The recommended price is roughly €20,000 plus tax (approx. $26,000 CA), including all standard modifications for hand control.
Elbee is designed for all types of wheelchair users, however it will certainly become the most valued helper for those who are not able to handle their wheelchair on their own or cannot manage to move to a regular car seat without someone else assisting them. Typically, it includes those using an electric wheelchair, the elderly and heavier individuals. Our goal is to make Elbee accessible for all physically disabled people confined to a wheelchair, who are able to get a valid driver’s licence. Given the specific needs of different wheelchair users, each Elbee has to be individually adapted according to the user’s health condition, specific abilities and preferences.
The success of the recent introduction of Elbee to the market is a result of more than ten years of development. The idea for its production dates back to 2003. The actual prototype of this special vehicle for wheelchair users was constructed in cooperation with the designers four years later. It then took another seven years to remove all of the bugs and put together the Elbee that you see today. Even though the plan is to start the serial production of hundreds of vehicles annually in the next two years, each piece is still going to be an original to a certain extent.
Elbee is categorized as a heavy quadricycle – a so-called “quad.” In Europe, it is possible to drive one from the age of 17, and a Class B1 driver’s license is all you need. Elbee offers a new level of freedom to wheelchair users by giving them an unlimited range. To achieve this, the option of a gasoline engine was a clear choice for the development team. The vehicle’s engine is a performant 300 cc engine, allowing the quadricycle to drive at a speed of 80 km/h. Highway trips will not be the slightest problem anymore. Unlike electro-mobiles, Elbee does not require charging; therefore, it is perfect for longer trips as well.
Elbee was designed and constructed with the safety and independence of the passenger in mind. Wheelchair users are able to fully operate the vehicle without any help from anyone else, which increases their quality of live substantially. It is one of the most frequent desires of those confined to a wheelchair – to become more independent and self-reliant.
All of the necessary features ensuring maximum passenger safety have been integrated into Elbee. The most important feature is the location of both where you open the vehicle and where the entrance is located at the front of the “quad.” Wheelchair users can simply roll into the vehicle. When they reach their target destination, they can park their Elbee directly on the sidewalk and roll out without having to enter traffic.
Among the other great advantages, it is possible to adapt the driving controls and ramp individually, according to the abilities and health condition of each specific driver. We always try to find the best possible solution – every single customer is important to us. That is also one of the reasons why we do our utmost to make Elbee accessible to our clients. We even provide our own advising services to inform our clients about eligibility for state donations and grants, as well as other options for financing their purchase and modification of the vehicle by other sources.
Elbee follows the latest technological processes and trends. From a technological point of view, the most complicated aspect was implementing the steering wheel onto the opening doors. To allow users to enter the vehicle through the front, it was necessary to disconnect the steering system from the front axle – that means the entire vehicle control system would have to be disconnected and reconnected functionally twice every time the vehicle is driven. Fortunately, our Elbee development team found a solution for this challenging feature. No wonder the team won numerous awards in innovation contests. In the Czech Republic, Elbee won the Innovation Star 2013 award and came first in the prestigious competition CAD for Innovators 2014. Most currently ZLKL has received honours and a title of the Innovator of the Year 2014 for design and production of Elbee.
While corporate social responsibility is a relatively new idea in the Czech Republic, in particular among smaller companies of Czech origin, ZLKL’s management is promoting its great value and importance. That is the reason why it has been supporting the Elbee project for over 10 years. So far an investment of over CZK 100 million (more than $4.5 million CA) has been put into the project to sustain its gradual progress.
ZLKL, the company developing and producing Elbee, is a family business specialized in engineering. The main purpose of the project is for ZLKL’s efforts to bring new possibilities to the lives of wheelchair users. Our key mission is to offer an unknown level of freedom of movement without limits, this principal aim being aptly expressed in the slogan of Elbee – Your freedom of movement. It is our goal to make Elbee accessible to the highest possible number of disabled people in different countries, whereby we would be able to support the local community, as well as the whole global society in addition to that. ZLKL has been awarded many times for its determination. We were given the respected title of The Responsible Company of the Year 2013 and, in accordance with corporate social responsibility, we have won the prestigious award of TOP Responsible Company of the Year 2014 in our category.
To increase awareness on Elbee, we decided to take part in a few selective tradeshows, 2 of which were international. Because the vehicle has a valid homologation to be driven on roads in the entire European Union, it is now possible to offer it to foreign markets as well. We are currently working on cooperation with distributors and resellers in Europe. That way, we can aim to make Elbee accessible to the world – we are planning on offering specific locations outside the Czech Republic where it would be possible to get full support for Elbee. These contact places would provide an all-around service for customers, including supplying customers with all of the necessary information, expositions in showrooms, providing test drives or helping to design a unique model of Elbee adapted to the customer. We have recently entered into cooperation with France as our first exclusive foreign distributor. We are also looking forward to meeting with representatives in Germany, Italy, Russia and other countries.
For more information, please see our website: www.elbee.cz/en. We have launched a page on a social media network where our fans will be able to follow news on Elbee and share it with their friends – visit and like our “Elbee vozidlo” profile on Facebook and we will keep you posted.
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