Notable graduates: Ben Nyquist — Triple major brings eco-friendly electric bikes to campus

The road to college graduation was a bit greener for Ben Nyquist, co-founder of EnergE-Bikes.

A Spanish, political science and Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies (LACIS) major from Grand Rapids, Minn., Nyquist was inspired to start EnergE-Bikes while studying abroad in Tianjin, China, in 2007.

Nyquist noticed electric bikes were in abundance around the city. The bikes, often called e-bikes, run emissions-free on rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, which users can recharge in a matter of hours.

Riders can turn off the motor and use e-bikes like regular mountain bikes, like mopeds, or put it in pedal-assist, where the rider pedals but is assisted with an extra push from the motor.

Nyquist and a friend from the study-abroad program began to look into importation procedures to purchase bikes for themselves and bring them back to Madison. That’s when the idea for a business struck.

“We kind of figured if we want them, I bet other students would as well,” he says.

Currently, EnergE-Bikes has 39 bikes in Madison and 21 in California.

One of the biggest draws of the e-bikes for Nyquist was their green quality.

“We thought this would be great because we see mopeds all over campus,” he says. “An average moped pollutes more than even a car. It would be great for people to have an option that’s environmentally friendly.”

Nyquist says deciding to attend UW–Madison was “definitely one of the best decisions I made.” When deciding on colleges as a high-schooler, Nyquist spoke to alumni from other schools he was considering, but he says they just didn’t share the passion that UW–Madison alumni had.

“When I talked to alumni from Madison, I could not get them to stop talking,” he says. “I wanted to go to a school that when I leave, I can say, ‘Those are the best four years of my life.'” Now a UW–Madison senior, Nyquist can say he got his wish.

Nyquist plans to spend the summer, and possibly longer, in Madison. Although he’s not sure what he’ll be doing in fall, he plans on continuing the EnergE-Bikes business.