Conscious Commuter launches Kickstarter campaign

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Conscsious Commuter has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise money to make an electric, folding bike. Here are the latest prototype images.

Portland startup and Cleantech Open finalist Conscious Commuter announced Tuesday that it launched a campaign on Kickstarter.com to crowdsource the funding and final design of its electric-powered bicycle.

Started by Bob Vander Woude and Gabriel Wartofsky, Conscious Commuter aims to pry more people out of their cars by building bikes with an electric motor assist and an easy-fold design for public transit users. As reported in Sustainable Business Oregon in June, the bikes would be built in Portland, but the design is being finalized in Southern California where Wartofsky, a graduate of the Art Center College of Design, is based.

The campaign through Kickstarter, an online platform for raising project money through individual donations, accepts pledges from $1 to $1,395 — the high end amounts to a pre-order of a bike — with different benefits for various levels. The promise: "By backing my project you can help shape the future of commuting."

The Kickstarter page goes into detail about Wartofsky's background. His mother was locally famous in Washington, D.C. for not owning a car and using a bike for her sole mode of transportation.

The Cleantech Open Pacific Northwest Awards Expo is scheduled for Oct. 3.

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