pushingthelimits.com

In what has to be the most low key product release known to man, those publicity shy germans at Otto Bock have released the SuperFourin on the public. Sporting the new name of simply ‘SuperFour’ and a Top Gun-esque cockpit weather shield, the SuperFour is available for purchase now and comes with the confusing tag line “SuperFour……can’t fly”.

We have no idea if that’s meant as a safety warning or as a ‘clever’ way of saying that this hybrid electric can go anywhere except the skies. We’re going to put it down to a mixture of the notorious german sense of humor and misuse of free online translation tools. 

Touting a range of up to 200km and a top speed of 15KPH, the SuperFour is a hybrid electric wheelchair made for tackling off-road terrain with a slope angle of up to 22 degrees. The amount of information on this thing is ridiculously slim, considering how many people will be interested in something like this. We have been able to work out that it is not simply 4 wheel drive, but also comes with 4 wheel steering, which seems pretty cool in itself.

When it was still a concept the makers boasted of the SuperFourin having integrated GPS tracking and health monitoring technologies built in, which could communicate with, and be remotely monitored from, a base center. So we’re pretty disappointed to see that the final product simply has a Garmin Rhino GPS unit stuck on it and a driver with a mobile phone in his hand, hardly integrated technologies.

It does have automatic seat adjustment, allowing the seat to recline and tilt depending on the angle of the slope, so you dont slide out of the seat. Transfers into the seat are also made easier by it sliding forward to become more accessible.

Information on the motors is slim too, in the amazingly cheesey (and poorly dubbed) only english video we could find, we’re told that power is provided by four electric motors, one for each wheel, powered by a innovative hybrid motor system developed by the makers themselves. But then in another video, this one in German, we see that the “innovative hybrid motor system” is simply a Honda 1000 portable generator fitted into the rear to charge the batteries on the go.


We’re going to call the SuperFour a huge disappointment, a half-assed attempt at something that could of been truly awesome if the features from the concept could of been carried through into production. We’re disappointed at the lack of integrated technology that could of allowed riders to head out by themselves to regain a huge sense of freedom and independence, whilst safely being monitored from home.

Sticking a GPS and phone holder on the armrest does not count as being technologically innovative.

The lack of any other form of control options like head or tongue control (as with the woodstar atv), mean that the SuperFour isn’t an option for a large proportion of potential costomers, and shows a lack of understanding for consumer needs.

It’s a step in the right direction though, there aren’t many dedicated off-road or all-terrain electric wheelchair available at all, the SuperFour still looks like a huge amount of fun and we want one. When will they be available with lasers though, we want lasers.

Still no idea on pricing, and we could only find one distributor that appears to be selling the SuperFour, Legs Dont Work (seriously, that’s their name).

Otto Bock (english and german)
Otto Bock (spanish, but more pictures and information)
Otto Bock Video (german but watchable)
Legs Dont Work (US distributors and hosts of amazingly cheesy video)