Last year we saw a UK Volvo dealership offer bicycles as loaner vehicles when customers' cars are in for service, and recently one of our spotters alerted us to something similar in Spain. Specifically, Fiat now offers owners of its Fiat 500 an electric bike option while their car is in the shop.

Launched in May, Fiat's offering is now available in its Barcelona, Valencia, A Coruña, Sevilla and Madrid locations through a partnership with bicycle maker Trek. There's no charge for borrowing the electric bikes, which have a 70 km range and recharge during braking as well as through plug-in power. The motivation for the move, Fiat says, is to demonstrate its commitment to sustainable mobility; the company also offers an eco:Drive service to help consumers use their cars more efficiently.

If the electric-bike loaner program proves popular in Spain, Fiat will reportedly extend it to other European countries as well. Other car makers and dealerships: what about you? And since this is a relevant and appealing way to let consumers try out a product that's still unfamiliar to most consumers, electric bicycle brands would do well to seize the opportunity and initiate similar partnerships. (Related: Bicycle trailers on loan at IKEA.)

Website: www.fiat.es
Contact: www.fiat.es/contacto

Spotted by: Leticia Pérez Prieto

Now that mobile phones are ubiquitous, public phone booths are fast becoming obsolete. In a bid to find a viable new use for its 13,500 phone booths around the country, Telekom Austria has begun converting them into battery recharging stations for electric cars, scooters and motorbikes.

Unveiling its first phone booth-turned-recharging station in front of the company's Vienna headquarters in May, Telekom Austria announced plans to convert an additional 29 phone booths by the end of this year. During the initial trial period, recharging is free. The company eventually plans to charge a single-digit euro sum for the recharging service, with payments to be made via mobile phone.

Telekom Austria’s forward-thinking scheme comes at a time when, of the total 4.36 million cars on Austrian roads, there are only 223 electric cars and 3,559 hybrid cars registered. Yet the Austrian motor vehicle association, VOeC, predicts that the number of electric vehicles in Austria will rise to 405,000 by 2020. Telecommunications companies around the globe: a leap into the widely forecast EV-prevalent future worth following? (Related: Charging infrastructure for electric vehicles — Free car charging at new, greener McDonalds.)

Website: www.telekom.at
Contact: www.telekom.at/contakt/email

Spotted by:  Cecilia Biemann

The safety hazards of bicycle and scooter travel may demand protective gear, but that's no reason to stop being stylish, as we've already noted before. Recently we came across a new innovation for participants in either mode of transportation in the form of reflective lace that can be sewn into or worn over traditional clothing.

Reflective Lace, also known as “LFLECT,” is available in lengths of 120cm or as a set of two ruffled elastic rings to be worn directly over socks, gloves or hair; both are priced at GBP 20. Eight colours are available—including antique beige, antique mint green, black, bright fuchsia and canary yellow—as are two designs, including one with a bicycle pattern and wavy border. Reflective Lace is currently available only from London-based Lost Values, but its maker welcomes inquiries from potential retail partners. Bicycle-related stockists the world over: one to offer your fashion-conscious customers...?

Website: www.reflectivelace.com
Contact: elena@lostvalues.com

Spotted by: Green Thing

P.S. Along with three other companies we've featured (Sugru, Make Do and Woolfiller) Reflective Lace is in the running for Sustainability's Next Top Model, a contest organized by our friends at Green Thing. Head over to the competition's Facebook page to vote for your favourite.

The attraction of cycling as a green, healthy, and cost-saving form of transport is huge for consumers, especially so at a time when the environment and world financial woes dominate the zeitgeist. Businesses doing something a little different for cyclists are a strong bet for success. Here's five we recently spotted:

1. GREEN GOOSE — As part of their package of web services allowing users to track healthy lifestyle achievements, Green Goose's bike-mounted sensors record cycling activity and upload the data over wifi. The company also provides services to help employers encourage cycling to work.

2. E-WERK — The energy generated pushing those pedals has long been tapped to power lights using a dynamo. But why stop there? German manufacturer Busch & Müller sells a dynamo-powered power supply allowing users to charge phones, MP3 players and other mobile devices. E-Werk comes with a selection of connectors including USB.

3. VELOCOMPUTER — Some cyclists may prefer not to fit an assortment of paraphernalia to their bikes, be it for security, aerodynamic or purely aesthetic reasons. VeloComputer is a mobile phone-based alternative to traditional bike computers and uses the accelerometer built in to many modern smartphones.

4. THE HUMBLE VINTAGE — If a cyclist is away from home and hasn't got their bike with them, they may want to rent something with a bit of personality that doesn't clearly signpost them as a tourist. Melbourne-based The Humble Vintage refurbishes classic and vintage cycles as a rental alternative to the ubiquitous MTB.

5. BICYKLO — Aiming to make it easier to find the perfect cycle tour, Bicyklo aggregates thousands of tour offers from hundreds of operators worldwide into a single database, allowing cyclists to search by area, duration and type rather than have to seek out individual operators and investigate what they have on offer.

Spotters: Doug Jost, Robin Benjamins

If there was any doubt that peer-to-peer car-sharing is an idea whose time has come, surely those fears can now be put to rest. After reporting on the emergence of such services in the United States and then Australia, we were interested to note recently that a similar offering has just launched in the UK.

Much like the other contenders we've seen, WhipCar enables London car owners to rent out their cars while they're not using them. There is no registration fee to use the site's online booking system, and owners set their own prices. WhipCar notifies owners by text and email when there is an approved driver in their area who wants to use their car; both cars and drivers are screened by WhipCar before a booking is completed. Every trip, meanwhile, is fully insured through a comprehensive insurance package that temporarily replaces the owner's existing insurance for the duration of hire. Following the end of a rental, both owners and drivers have the chance to rate each other.

By matching up car-owning sellsumers with transumers and others who don't have their own, peer-to-peer car-sharing services seem to be creating a win-win for everyone involved. Entrepreneurs in other parts of the world: how about you...?

Website: www.whipcar.com
Contact: hi@whipcar.com

Spotted by: Adam Garrett