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Sustainable for tomorrow's urban mobility: Innovation to the power of three with Grammer Ubility One
- Seat family for buses meets the needs of passengers, mobility providers and society
- The Ultra-lightweight construction in sustainable design: good eco-balance thanks to high CO2 savings potential, recycling, and recyclability
Grammer AG, October 06, 2023 – Grammer is providing answers to the requirements of urban passenger transport of the future at Busworld 2023 with its innovative Ubility One passenger seat family. All three seat models – Ubility Light, Ubility Air, Ubility Shift – surprise with unusual design, innovative lightweight construction, consistent design for circular economy and aha effect when taking a seat.
“With Ubility One, urban passenger transportation is significantly more sustainable,” explains Thomas Schleuchardt, President Division Commercial Vehicles, Grammer AG. “We achieve this through innovations in design, comfort, materials, and recyclability. In addition, the development focused on people and their usage profiles of urban transportation. We tailored our passenger seat concept to them.”
Three zones, three seat models
Current studies of passenger flows identify the following occupied zones in bus interiors: standing/leaning around entrances/exits, flexible seating for high switching frequencies, and seating areas for passengers with longer dwell times. For each of these three zones, the Ubility One portfolio offers the perfect solution.
The most striking new feature of the Ubility Light is that it can be used in both directions without conversion, making it particularly suitable for flexible use in high-traffic interior zones. Its ultra-lightweight aluminum frame consists of only five components (instead of 50 as in comparable seats) and is covered with a hard-wearing knitted fabric. Aha effect: minimalism with surprising seating comfort.
The Ubility Air is a lightweight seat in so-called twinsheettechnology: it consists of an outer and an inner shell that are joined to form a highly stable air-cushion structure. It is designed for seating areas for medium and longer distances in urban transport. Aha effect: comfortable seating feeling without any padding at all.
The Ubility Shiftimplements a next-generation solution for standing and leaning in entry/exit areas with a high frequency of changes: the leaning and sitting island is a combination of upholstered, body-high supports for leaning and ergonomically guided grab handles. Aha effect: the upholstered part slides down when body pressure is applied and unfolds a small seat surface with the help of new kinematics.
Proven and awarded: sustainably innovative
Sustainability is a must for Grammer on its way to becoming a Green Company: Ubility One fulfills this requirement regarding product design as well as material use and service life. Take lightweight construction, for example: With its smart design, the Ubility Light achieves a weight advantage of 60 percent compared to seat shells commonly used today. Thanks to its extremely material-efficient design, the double shell of the Ubility Air sets standards with a complete weight of just 4 kilograms. In addition, it is up to 100 percent recyclable thanks to its single-grade material, which can be made from recycled materials. Take life cycle assessment, for example: the Ubility Light is the first seating series for buses to be “circular ready” with its complete product life cycle, that means it is designed for recyclability and material separation.
“We commissioned an independent institute to calculate the carbon footprint of all three seat models in comparison with a Grammer series seat,” says Schleuchardt. “The results already show significantly lower values when looking at an initial product life cycle: they are approximately 20 percent lower for the Ubility Light than for the reference model. If the seat is used as planned through remanufacturing in two to three life cycles, its carbon footprint can drop by up to 75 percent.”
Innovative power that inspires:for example, Ubility One was awarded the 2022 Innovation Prize in the readers' poll of the German trade magazine “Busplaner”.
Company profile
Grammer AG, headquartered in Ursensollen, Germany, is active in two business segments: Grammer develops and supplies high-quality interior and operating systems as well as innovative thermoplastic components for the global automotive industry. For trucks, trains, buses, and off-road vehicles, Grammer is a full-service provider of driver and passenger seats. Currently, Grammer AG employs around 14,000 people in 19 countries worldwide, with sales of around 2.2 billion euros in 2022. Grammer shares are listed in the Prime Standard and traded on the Munich and Frankfurt stock exchanges as well as via the Xetra electronic trading system.
