Bilanpassning is a Swedish company specializing in vehicle conversions and adaptations for wheelchair users. The company is located not far from the Baltic Sea port city of Malmö. Based on more than 30 years of industry experience, Southern Swedes can convert more than 250 vehicles per year. Often they also install the FlexiRamp .
An appetite for innovation, distinctive expertise and the willingness to share one’s own know-how with partners are the basis for success and sustainable growth. At API, we fully share these values and consider ourselves fortunate to be among these partners.
Our common drive is to find solutions to tricky challenges and thus fulfill customer wishes and close market gaps. One of these challenges was to provide a solution seamlessly integrated into the vehicle that would allow wheelchair users to enter, drive and exit their car completely independently.
Long FlexiRamp for heavy wheelchairs
Bilanpassning Managing Director Björn Kayser is himself a trained technician and has always remained a tinkerer at heart. And so he began to consider how to adapt the concept of the proven FlexiRamp for even more vehicle types and sizes. The VW Caddy served as the model vehicle.
Kayser and his team wanted to extend the FlexiRamp. The Swedes used similar composite material to get as close as possible to the API product in terms of look and feel. The material thickness was chosen so that the extended version is also suitable for heavy wheelchairs weighing up to 200 kg.
When developing the ACTIVE FlexiRamp, the main aim was to create a better solution that meets all safety requirements, provides a good driving experience and also looks good. The Bilanpassning team managed to maintain the height of the driving position, so that the vehicle drives just as well as before the conversion.
Kayser: Top collaboration with API
For Kayser, developing the solution was more complicated than initially anticipated: “I learned a lot. It’s not as easy as it looks when you’re developing a rebuild of this magnitude, you learn things the hard way and then the right way.”
He fondly remembers the great support he received from API: “I got technical suggestions and expert help from API colleagues at the main Czech plant. They simply know how to approach innovations properly and efficiently,” said Björn Kayser.
Since 2015, the joint Bilanpassning and API solution has been sold to customers across Europe. People with handicaps thus become more mobile and independent again and regain a large part of their quality of life. And so it is not surprising that the customer feedback is consistently positive.