Imagine if you could charge a dead mobile phone while out and about using energy from your own body, conveniently, sustainably, and for free.

 

Brooklyn-based designers David Krawczyk and Navjot Kaur did, and the idea was so exciting that they decided to find a way to make it happen.

The Charge Cycle is a unique bike that can function as a power source, converting kinetic energy from the act of pedaling into electricity for anyone to use.

 

“Remember the last time your phone died and you didn't have a way to charge it?” reads the project’s website. “The Charge Cycle is a sustainable, human powered phone charger available around NYC for free.”

Outfitted with a dock that offer micro USB, 30-pin or 8-pin connectors, the bike is able to charge a phone in roughly the same amount of time that it would take if the phone were plugged directly into a wall.

 

Five minutes of steady cycling will charge most devices by about 5 per cent, according to the project’s website.

When somebody is riding the bike, they can charge their phone at the same time. When the bike is docked, it becomes a free charging station for anyone to use. Those looking for a place to charge up can locate the nearest docked Charge Cycle using an iPhone app

The Charge Cycles are set to be available in at least 30 locations across New York City by May of 2013 if the design team hits their $50,000 fundraising goal on Kickstarter.

 

A gallery on the website shows fully operational Charge Cycle prototypes in action, and creators have been snapping shots of it in various locations around the city on Instagram.

While the project has only raised just over one thousand dollars to date, many online are in support of the idea, both in New York City and far beyond the five boroughs.