Amble, a newly launched electric vehicle company, has introduced its first model, the Amble One, a street-legal electric buggy designed for environments where conventional cars are impractical. Built with an open, minimalist design, the lightweight EV combines everyday usability with light off-road capability, making it suitable for dusty tracks, coastal routes, villages, neighbourhoods, and other short-distance journeys that encourage closer connections with nature and local communities.
The Portugal-based startup was founded by José António Uva, the entrepreneur behind the restored 780-hectare São Lourenço do Barrocal estate in Alentejo; Julian Hoenig, an industrial designer with experience at Audi and Apple; Michael Tropper, founder of London-based creative studio for people; and Adrien Roose, entrepreneur and co-founder of design-focused electric bike company Cowboy.
Drawing on expertise in hospitality, industrial design, and electric mobility, the founding team aims to establish a new category of lightweight electric vehicles tailored for sustainable, short-range transportation beyond the traditional car experience.
Adrien Roose, CEO and Co-Founder of Amble, said: “Cars are engineered for speed, distance and efficiency. Yet many journeys are short, and for those journeys the car is often too big, too complex and too expensive. Amble is our answer: a new kind of electric vehicle designed for short-range mobility, where the journey becomes part of the experience.”
To “amble” is to move without urgency, with full attention to your surroundings. “Amble One is built to embody that idea in its open, simple design, with no unnecessary separation between interior and exterior, people and place,” said Julian Hoenig, Co-Founder of Amble. “No doors to close you in, no unnecessary screens to pull you away. It is about the people on board and how they enjoy the world around them.”
The team developed Amble One by approaching automotive design differently.
“We believe that when you slow down, the world opens up, and your relationship to everything around you changes,” said Michael Tropper, Co-Founder of Amble. “We designed Amble One holistically, shaping the details, textures, materials and even the sounds.” With durable materials such as aluminum, leather, cotton and cork, Amble One is designed not only to last, but to age beautifully.
Amble is backed by investors with experience across energy, mobility and hospitality, including Peter Rive, Co-Founder of SolarCity (Tesla Energy), Pete Phornprapha, co-owner of Siam Motors, and Joe Zadeh, former VP Product at Airbnb.
Amble has seen early demand from leading hospitality destinations, with interest from properties including Amangiri in Canyon Point, Mustique Island in the Caribbean, Six Senses Les Bordes in the Loire Valley, and Na Praia in Comporta. “The best hospitality properties obsess over every guest’s touchpoint. Amble was built with the same thinking: a vehicle where the journey is part of the experience,” said José António Uva.
Initial 2027 delivery slots are currently allocated, with a waiting list now open for 2028.
Amble One is the first expression of a broader platform for short-range electric mobility, with future vehicles planned for more urban environments.
