EAV gains Sam Bernard, former Dyson and Pure Electric designer

Sam Bernard, formally of Dyson and Pure Electric, has joined British industrial bike business EAV as its new director of engineering whilst also giving him a seat on the board.

Having spent three years as Pure Electric’s chief technology officer and four years developing Dyson’s hair care segment, Bernard will start his new chapter with EAV to add to his career.

Chris Temple, EAV’s managing director, said: “To have somebody of Sam’s calibre on our team bringing years of insight from his senior roles with household names like Dyson has really energised the team. We’ve seen already his mind at work refining some of our processes and bringing to the table fresh ways of looking at adapting around our customer’s needs. His methods for watching how a product is used and then thinking outside of the box about how to take hardware to the next level have been inspiring. I look forward to working with him and seeing the new benchmark for quality I’m sure he’ll set for EAV and the cargo bike industry.”  

Bernard has worked internationally having worked in teams in Malaysia, Singapore, The Philippines and China. During this time he worked on everything from submarines to kitesurfing equipment. His early life studying chemistry gave him a good foundation for this work.

As the director of engineering at EAV, Bernard’s role will be to listen to feedback from regular users, using this data and information to make changes to the design with the end goal of adapting the bikes to deal with the often rough use that delivery vehicles absorb for hours on end. Streamlining production and adding functionality is also on the agenda, as Bernard has already identified methods to achieve this. His role will mainly revolve around EAV’s heavy-duty cargo bikes, most well known for being seen with EVRI’s banding on the side of the cargo box.

End-user feedback has been a cornerstone of Bernard’s career, leading him to develop the analogy: “If you asked people 100 years ago they would have asked for a faster horse, but what they needed at the time was the evolution towards the car. If you go out and ask consumers what they want, often they will not be able to tell you, so we have to make the most appropriate tool for their revised needs.”

Having now spent several months redesigning the 2Cubed vehicle, Sam Bernard said: “I am very pleased to have recently had the opportunity to join EAV as Director of Engineering and as a board member. I am passionate about the changing transport systems that we see in cities, the speed of evolution is incredibly fast and EAV is at the forefront of this. Whilst no one at the moment can predict the vehicles which will be the fittest and survive in ten years time I am sure that two-ton vans delivering 50-gram letters, pumping out poisons and loudly heating the atmosphere are not the answer. EAV has a great pedigree in product design and with my experiences at Dyson (Global Product Development Director) and Pure Electric (CTO) I look forward to driving our vehicles to offer an even more efficient system for their owners and even more delightful experience for the riders.”

Bernard’s enthusiasm for cycling will make him a good fit for this role, as a keen mountain biker he often tinkers his own bike in his workshop. However, the tinkering doesn’t end with his bikes, as he also works on his 70-year-old tractor. Bernard’s previous work has thrown challenges at him that will prepare him for anything this new role may throw at him. From his days at Dyson where Bernard had to sit on numerous boards and standards committees to improve products. His time with Pure Electric saw Bernard petition the Government to introduce sensible regulations for electric scooters.

Speaking of this process, Bernard said: “While committee sessions are not always super interesting work, it’s valuable and I’d be happy to get involved because it’s these things that ultimately make the difference in helping an industry flourish. I would love to see new regulations give this industry long-term security to invest. We need small zero-emissions vehicles to get assurances on the building of infrastructure both at home and further afield too. This needs to be homogenised with other markets.”

Bernard added: “Already the electric cargo bike market has grown very steadily from a small base. The reality is that if each city has 10,000 vans operational at present we could and should make small steps, backed by the Government to replace those with the right vehicles. EAV is investing heavily in such a vehicle so that in ten years’ time no city will look as it does now.” 

Last year, EAV became available via the Zoomo last mile electric fleet solution.