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The Rise of the Electric Scooter

blog.codinghorror.com

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Re: The Rise of the Electric Scooter

#161

Post by hadlock »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #83
kennywinker wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's possible you'd have to change some of your patterns to ever make something other than a car work. E.g. leave some of your stuff at your workplace, grocery shop more often with smaller loads. Etc. Bicycles can also carry quite a bit with a nice box on the back, and electric pedal assist cargo bikes can carry even more.

I wonder where the cost savings (and carbon savings) would really wash out with those lifestyle changes though. Like not shopping in bulk, having to spend both the time and travel to the grocery store more. Having to have some things duplicated at work and home which I otherwise wouldn't. Presumably many people evade carrying stuff home from the store by having everything delivered by Amazon, but that brings a whole…

In my mid 20s I got rid of my car living in suburban Dallas and switched to using my $150 used bicycle. As a single person with no kids this worked very well for me. Right off the top I saved $1500 a year in taxes and insurance and another couple hundred a month on gas and maintenance which I was able to use to fund quite a bit of travel. Doesn't scale out well to having a family though.

Re: The Rise of the Electric Scooter

#162

Post by wwosik »

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #159
ljf wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The speed limitation is down to the fact that they don't need insuring. Like pedal bikes the idea is that they will cause limited injury or damage to property in the event of a crash. Up things to 25mph, plus the frame/battery weight needed to add strength and safety to accelerate and brake swiftly, and suddenly you have plenty of energy to damage a car or other piece of property or hurt a human (yes I know cyclists…

The fact that you're suggesting insurance and registration are to be expected for any class of vehicle short of a moped is completely foreign to me.

In Switzerland you need it for bikes and they still manage

Re: The Rise of the Electric Scooter

#163

Post by ljf »

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #159
ljf wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The speed limitation is down to the fact that they don't need insuring. Like pedal bikes the idea is that they will cause limited injury or damage to property in the event of a crash. Up things to 25mph, plus the frame/battery weight needed to add strength and safety to accelerate and brake swiftly, and suddenly you have plenty of energy to damage a car or other piece of property or hurt a human (yes I know cyclists…

The fact that you're suggesting insurance and registration are to be expected for any class of vehicle short of a moped is completely foreign to me.

Yup, it all needs insuring here - even the 35cc autocycle I used to have needed it - but it only needed a cheap daylight mot (no lights, indicators or speedo) and tax was £15 insurance was just £50 at the time.

Being hit by a moped could easily cause life changing injuries, so I'm pleased to see them insured.

Re: The Rise of the Electric Scooter

#164

Post by ProfessorLayton »

afterburner wrote: post #150
eldenbishop wrote: post #38

I rode a non-electric kick scooter (Xootr) for three years working in downtown SF. It is by far the best form of transitional transport there is and superior to bikes for 99% of actual real world travel. It was easily 4-5 times faster than walking and more importantly suddenly made the entire city open due to how insanely efficient it was for "glueing" together various forms of public transport. I could hop from tran…

> Some people say walk, but it's too slow and a 1/2 mile "walk" section on a complicated transport route would be impractical on foot. Wait, are you being serious? That's less than a 10 minute walk, and you probably need the exercise anyways... And SF has fantastic walking weather compared to most of the world.

Right, but that .5mi "10 minute walk" tuns into 20 minutes both ways, adding tons of time (as a % of commute) to the door-to-door travel times.

Re: The Rise of the Electric Scooter

#165

Post by mikestew »

Steltek wrote: post #62
mips_avatar wrote: post #39

I recently bought a Boosted rev and have been using it for my 1.8 miles commute. I strongly disagree with the author's 15mph limit. I think 25 mph is a more reasonable limit, otherwise you have cars aggressively trying to pass you on roads. At 24 mph (my scooters max speed), the cars on my commute (25mph speed limit), still try to pass me sometimes but it's a lot safer.

Or maybe cars should obey the speed limit, pass at a safe and reasonable distance, and not road rage at people? I mean, why does every new alternative travel mode need to work around the unacceptable and lawless US driver behavior? That all said, 25mph on scooter wheels sounds terrifying. I've seen some escooters with tiny adorable disc brakes. What's your stopping distance at that speed?

That all said, 25mph on scooter wheels sounds terrifying.

Meh, you work up to it. Time and place, though; I tone it down through the downtown part of the trail.

What's your stopping distance at that speed?

Faster than my car or motorcycle. And that's just using the regenerative braking of the motors. I've never tried a full-on-drop-anchor stop with both the mechanical disk and regen brakes.

Re: The Rise of the Electric Scooter

#166

Post by TylerE »

abakker wrote: post #93
modo_ wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use a bike to get around SF the majority of the time as well. But lately I've been switching it up and using a skateboard for short trips. Riding the bike definitely isn't 'impractical', but the skateboard is so much less of a hassle. You don't have to bother carrying a lock (or walk to the corner to find the nearest pole to lock it to for that matter). And, don't tell my Mom, but not fiddling with a helmet and lig…

rejoinder to the helmet point: if the speed is the same, and the places traveled are the same, the need for the helmet is the same.

Crash motion is different.

Re: The Rise of the Electric Scooter

#167

Post by monk_e_boy »

Blackstone4 wrote: post #107
Zenst wrote: post #80

Here in the UK they are illegal (unless used on private land), which is sad as whilst they are illegal as technically a motor vehicle, needing some form of test, insurance, mot.... That has not happened and in limbo as clearly a need for some standards control etc, but an unwillingness to address that and more so a periodic fashion stopping of people upon such vehicles in an apathetic way that causes many to get one,…

I agree that it’s sad that e-scooters are banned in the UK. I take the train to work and I have ~20mins of waking either end (1 hr 20 mins per day total). An electric scooter could save me ~40 mins per day.... Why are electric scooters banned when e-bikes are fine? What if they were capped at 20mph? Below the 25 for bikes

I doubt the police would stop you. I can't believe you won't use one if it saves that much time! Be brave!

Re: The Rise of the Electric Scooter

#168

Post by monk_e_boy »

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #159
ljf wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The speed limitation is down to the fact that they don't need insuring. Like pedal bikes the idea is that they will cause limited injury or damage to property in the event of a crash. Up things to 25mph, plus the frame/battery weight needed to add strength and safety to accelerate and brake swiftly, and suddenly you have plenty of energy to damage a car or other piece of property or hurt a human (yes I know cyclists…

The fact that you're suggesting insurance and registration are to be expected for any class of vehicle short of a moped is completely foreign to me.

I dunno, we have voluntary insurance for kitesurfing. Why not? Insurance companies will do it pretty cheap.

Re: The Rise of the Electric Scooter

#169

Post by dsfyu404ed »

wwosik wrote: post #162
dsfyu404ed wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that you're suggesting insurance and registration are to be expected for any class of vehicle short of a moped is completely foreign to me.

In Switzerland you need it for bikes and they still manage

Being able to "manage" doesn't mean it's not a net negative on society.

If everyone was required to insure stuffed animals it would be cheap and perfectly "manageable" because the risk would be so low and the overhead would be spread over society but that overhead would still be pissed away on something non-productive because the net benefit to society of insuring stuffed animals is so small.

Re: The Rise of the Electric Scooter

#170

Post by mikestew »

taylorlapeyre wrote: post #44

I wish they didn't look so silly to ride. I know that scooters will slowly become more ubiquitous and, as a result, will be considered more normal and less goofy to ride. But for now, it just kinda looks goofy to a lot of people.

One looks like a complete idiot riding an 1880s highwheel bicycle (well, in the 1880s for sure, at least). Bicycles still caught on.

--

Owner of an 1886 Columbia bicycle and 2019 Boosted Rev scooter

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