The Rise of Electric Scooters.

[Ravi Kempaiah]

It has been fascinating to witness the rise of E-scooter industry. I never thought the growth would be so massive and disruptive. The sheer scale is amazing.
It makes total sense if the commute is less than 5 miles or involves multi-modal transport involving train + scooter ride. No parking problem, no traffic hassle.

First, Uber and Google invest a whopping $335 million into this.

https://www.cnet.com/news/google-and-uber-invest-335-million-in-lime-scooters/

Then Ford invests $100 million to purchase the company Spin.

https://www.npr.org/2018/11/16/668189361/why-ford-is-getting-into-the-scooter-business


PBS does a short episode on the rise of E-scooters.

 

[Dunbar]

I live in Santa Monica where it all started. I am a fan of them. They are so much more convenient in an urban setting where finding parking often takes longer than the actual errand you were running in the first place. Jump (Uber) also has electric bikes here too which are better for longer trips. Coming from a 28mph e-bike the scooters top speed of ~17mph feels slow on trips longer than about 2 miles. I own an e-bike and sometimes I’m jealous of these ride share bikes and scooters since I don’t have to worry about locking them up when I get to my destination. Most of the haters are just NIMBY’s or people who have never tried them.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

I live in Santa Monica where it all started. I am a fan of them. They are so much more convenient in an urban setting where finding parking often takes longer than the actual errand you were running in the first place. Jump (Uber) also has electric bikes here too which are better for longer trips. Coming from a 28mph e-bike the scooters top speed of ~17mph feels slow on trips longer than about 2 miles. I own an e-bike and sometimes I’m jealous of these ride share bikes and scooters since I don’t have to worry about locking them up when I got to my destination. Most of the haters are just NIMBY’s or people who have never tried them.

I am a big fan of anything electric just because electrons are the most efficient energy carriers bar none.
I have never tried the scooters but I am constantly seeing them more and more everyday. I am very tempted to get one. Do you know which of them are a quality/reliable ride?

 

[JRA]

Portland just closed its 4 month trial period and according to OPB there wasn’t any evidence that they won’t gain approval.

The “last mile” concept has been around for awhile looking for viable solutions. The escooter seems to be on point as well as dock bikes.

 

[Dunbar]

Do you know which of them are a quality/reliable ride?

I only have experience using the four brands of ride share scooters here. The Lime ones feel more refined to me. They used to be faster too but I think regulators capped them at 17.5mph around here. It looks like Lime uses the Segway ES4. I think Luna makes some crazier ones. Ideal max speed would be the low 20’s IMO. Any faster than that would be too unsafe with those tiny scooter wheels. Buying one for yourself would negate one of the biggest benefits of them which is that you can park them anywhere and you don’t have to worry about locking them up. That said, I have seen some daily commuters who have purchased them.

 

[enleeten]

I've ridden them around Austin and Detroit and liked it a lot. My only real concern is there's no easy way to get a helmet unless you remember to bring one. Not sure how to solve that issue though.

Sure it's not a class 3 pedelec, but what is?

 

[ebikemom]

I’m on a bus at the moment and a guy rolled up on an escooter, folded it and hopped on the same bus as me. Don’t know how heavy his scooter is but sure looks handy!

 

[Bruce Arnold]

Raleigh is going through growing pains with scooters. Seems a lot of people don't like having undocked scooters lying around. I think I read that they've put a moratorium on them.

 

[AguassissiM]

Back in 2010 I had my first look at one of these scooters and long story short it took me almost a year of research to make up my mind as to the brand that I felt comfortable with and pulled the trigger.

April of 2011 got my Motorino XPr and it turned out that I picked a winner because it still runs today just as well as the day I picked it up. Sure we had few minor issues over the years that we called growing pains but nothing major.

Last spring got a new set of batteries from a decommissioned Mitsubishi I-Miev lithium-Ion battery cell module 50AH .Since these are not brand new they only tested at 47.5Ah not the original 50Ah each.
Just by switching to these batteries I almost tripled my distance. Old set of led-gell batteries gave me 20 miles range, not the 35 to 50 miles advertised, I was told very politely that "people in shape" get better range, did not care for that kind of remark or the possible top range since my travel to work and back was only 16 miles.
The longest trip I have taken so far was 75 miles round trip that left me with 50.4Volts out of 58.8Volts that i started with, yes I do realize that fully charging the pack is not a good practice however this was that one time when I was not sure about the performance of the new pack and to test if they can pull my out of shape body there and back had to fully charge it.
Speaking of charging, the old battery charger was no longer any good to use with the Lithium-Ion pack so I had to either get the Cycle Satiator or come up with something to use as a charger, since I`m very frugal person (ok my son calls me a cheapskate) decided to build my own.
So it did not come out as small and slim as Cycle Satiator however it does the job to my satisfaction and it cost me about $100 to get the parts. Had to make new cables to carry all them AMPs safely.

Here is a few pictures of the contraption.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

I only have experience using the four brands of ride share scooters here. The Lime ones feel more refined to me. They used to be faster too but I think regulators capped them at 17.5mph around here. It looks like Lime uses the Segway ES4. I think Luna makes some crazier ones. Ideal max speed would be the low 20’s IMO. Any faster than that would be too unsafe with those tiny scooter wheels. Buying one for yourself would negate one of the biggest benefits of them which is that you can park them anywhere and you don’t have to worry about locking them up. That said, I have seen some daily commuters who have purchased them.

For my commute which is 23 miles each way, either I can use the car and endure the insane downtown Chicago traffic or use train+ scooter and save $350 a month and avoid the stressful car commute.
After 8hr work days, E-biking 23 miles in cold is not so fun.
In the coming months, I will experiment with a scooter because it makes so much sense.

My favorite scooter is the one powered by a Bosch direct drive and that comes with a rather large battery. You’re allowed to use it on the road in my locale. And the price I was given is kind of cheap.

Say hi to the Doohan Itango.

So cool! That scooter sure looks comfy and capable. I wonder how that would fare in the US as they may not fall into the category of mopeds or E-bikes.
As long as the speed is <20mph, it should be ok under the E-bike category.

Back in 2010 I had my first look at one of these scooters and long story short it took me almost a year of research to make up my mind as to the brand that I felt comfortable with and pulled the trigger.

April of 2011 got my Motorino XPr and it turned out that I picked a winner because it still runs today just as well as the day I picked it up. Sure we had few minor issues over the years that we called growing pains but nothing major.

Last spring got a new set of batteries from a decommissioned Mitsubishi I-Miev lithium-Ion battery cell module 50AH .Since these are not brand new they only tested at 47.5Ah not the original 50Ah each.
Just by switching to these batteries I almost tripled my distance. Old set of led-gell batteries gave me 20 miles range, not the 35 to 50 miles advertised, I was told very politely that "people in shape" get better range, did not care for that kind of remark or the possible top range since my travel to work and back was only 16 miles.
The longest trip I have taken so far was 75 miles round trip that left me with 50.4Volts out of 58.8Volts that i started with, yes I do realize that fully charging the pack is not a good practice however this was that one time when I was not sure about the performance of the new pack and to test if they can pull my out of shape body there and back had to fully charge it.
Speaking of charging, the old battery charger was no longer any good to use with the Lithium-Ion pack so I had to either get the Cycle Satiator or come up with something to use as a charger, since I`m very frugal person (ok my son calls me a cheapskate) decided to build my own.
So it did not come out as small and slim as Cycle Satiator however it does the job to my satisfaction and it cost me about $100 to get the parts. Had to make new cables to carry all them AMPs safely.

Here is a few pictures of the contraption.

It's really amazing that you got the Mitsubishi I-MIEV battery to work on your scooter without any glitch. 70 miles is really super range on any scooter. Not sure how heavy it is but seems like it can carry 2 small people.
Kudos to you for making it work!

 

[JRA]

These are the type of scooters under scrutiny FYI

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

These are the type of scooters under scrutiny FYI

View attachment 27581

haha... exactly these kind of scooters would be perfect for my hypothetical train+scooter commute.

 

[MarkF]

My daughter in law works for a company who is going to make scooter motors. She told me they fall under the same category as ebikes. She called me to ask me what the speed ratings were on class 3 ebike were. So now they will design their motor to go 28 mph on their sit down type of scooter. Her company is in San diego so they have to follow Ca. rules. I guess scooter rules can be different in your state.

 

[AguassissiM]

......
It's really amazing that you got the Mitsubishi I-MIEV battery to work on your scooter without any glitch. 70 miles is really super range on any scooter. Not sure how heavy it is but seems like it can carry 2 small people.
Kudos to you for making it work!

@Ravi Kempaiah

If I remember correctly these are the specs for my Motorino XPr:

Engine details:48V high-torque three-phase AC permanent-magnet brushless
Power:0.67HP (0.5 kw) Torque:66.00 Nm (6.7 kgf-m or 48.7 ft.lbs)
Top speed:32.0 km/h (19.9 mph)
Weight incl. Batteries:109.0 kg (240.3 pounds)

Plus my out of shape body @230 lbs, that is why I was really happy with the test mileage I got 75 miles round trip that left me with 50.4Volts out of 58.8Volts that i started with because @ 50.4Volts I still have about 5Volts that could be used safely, taking the pack down to 45.4Volts witch is about 20% left of a fully charged pack.

I have been wrong before and if anyone finds my calculations to be wrong please correct me. Thank you.

 

[Merc]

Juiced is now offering electric boards!

https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http...MvVd3SNsh-fruU921eUh3hnDjMjCxfvVR2pWa-bgIaoSg

 

[Lenny]

With the purchase from Ford Motor Co. & Now GM Motors getting into the e-transportation industry, it really says allot. E-Mobilty / E-Transportation is not a trend, it's here and it's here to stay. E-Bike's play a large role in the bigger picture.

We're happy to offer E-Bikes to the growing market.

 

[heytchap]

Back in 2010 I had my first look at one of these scooters and long story short it took me almost a year of research to make up my mind as to the brand that I felt comfortable with and pulled the trigger.

April of 2011 got my Motorino XPr and it turned out that I picked a winner because it still runs today just as well as the day I picked it up. Sure we had few minor issues over the years that we called growing pains but nothing major.

Last spring got a new set of batteries from a decommissioned Mitsubishi I-Miev lithium-Ion battery cell module 50AH .Since these are not brand new they only tested at 47.5Ah not the original 50Ah each.
Just by switching to these batteries I almost tripled my distance. Old set of led-gell batteries gave me 20 miles range, not the 35 to 50 miles advertised, I was told very politely that "people in shape" get better range, did not care for that kind of remark or the possible top range since my travel to work and back was only 16 miles.
The longest trip I have taken so far was 75 miles round trip that left me with 50.4Volts out of 58.8Volts that i started with, yes I do realize that fully charging the pack is not a good practice however this was that one time when I was not sure about the performance of the new pack and to test if they can pull my out of shape body there and back had to fully charge it.
Speaking of charging, the old battery charger was no longer any good to use with the Lithium-Ion pack so I had to either get the Cycle Satiator or come up with something to use as a charger, since I`m very frugal person (ok my son calls me a cheapskate) decided to build my own.
So it did not come out as small and slim as Cycle Satiator however it does the job to my satisfaction and it cost me about $100 to get the parts. Had to make new cables to carry all them AMPs safely.

Here is a few pictures of the contraption.

That’s not the kind of scooter people are talking about here, they’re talking about electric “kickboards.”

 

[rannyv]

For my commute which is 23 miles each way, either I can use the car and endure the insane downtown Chicago traffic or use train+ scooter and save $150 a month.
After 8hr work days, E-biking 23 miles in cold is not so fun.
In the coming months, I will experiment with a scooter because it makes so much sense.



So cool! That scooter sure looks comfy and capable. I wonder how that would fare in the US as they may not fall into the category of mopeds or E-bikes.
As long as the speed is <20mph, it should be ok under the E-bike category.



It's really amazing that you got the Mitsubishi I-MIEV battery to work on your scooter without any glitch. 70 miles is really super range on any scooter. Not sure how heavy it is but seems like it can carry 2 small people.
Kudos to you for making it work!

@Ravi Kempaiah - I don't blame you for not wanting to make that long commute in the freezing cold after a long workday. Sadly, I find myself reaching for the car keys with much greater frequency now that it is cold, wet and dark. Not sure an e-scooter would be much of an improvement over and e-bike.

 

[Deleted member 4210]

I get bombarded almost daily for scooter company's wanting me to rep their product.

Here is one of many examples...

http://www.easybike-int.com/

Magnum offers them, one of a handful of ebike companies that also has a decent scooter line up.

Amazing how many of them go out of their way, to say their scooters AREN'T made or designed in China.

 

[Deleted member 4210]

You kids these days are BEYOND LUCKY !

We used to have to MAKE our own scooters.

Something like this, but not nearly as nice.

We used to find old grocery carts in junk yards, and take the wheels off of those. Get 10" long spikes, as the axles and pound them into 2x4"s.

Electric ???? Ha. We used our legs. Gosh how old fashioned.