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The World's Lightest Electric Vehicle

kickstarter.com

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Re: The World's Lightest Electric Vehicle

#51

Post by muraiki »

HyprMusic wrote: post #28

I can't help but think if you're willing to carry around a long board for your journey, the extra effort in pushing it manually is not much and probably more fun (I can't really judge, having not used the product). If you were really against walking or pushing, then a foldable bike would be a lot more useful, safer and cheaper.

Where I live, there are many urban areas but also many hills / roads with long inclines. Longboarding isn't that popular here because:

1) You can't longboard up a hill, or even much of an incline. 2) More importantly, when you go _down_ a hill, it's pretty difficult to stop quickly (this is why I personally stopped longboarding)

This device would help with both problems!

Re: The World's Lightest Electric Vehicle

#52

Post by duked »

I went saw the descriptions the pictures and it looks awesome until I saw the price, I'm not saying it's not worth it: I have no idea how much they have invested in R&D/prototyping etc.. but it's too much for me $1000 for an electric board :/ too bad.

Re: The World's Lightest Electric Vehicle

#53

Post by ajross »

IanDrake wrote: post #34
zzzmarcus wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that yes, you should definitely be experienced if you're going to be going 20mph on a longboard. It's fast. But, if you've got brakes, and I've ridden both electric skateboards with brakes and non-electric skateboards with brakes before and both are easy to use, you'll probably never end up going that fast in the first place unless you're being reckless. A power slide is one way to stop, but brakes work just…

Maybe I'm thinking about it wrong. Slowing down vs. braking, I mean. If I'm going 20mph, "braking" to me means coming to a stop in an equivalent distance as a car or bike going the same speed. Are the brakes that you've used stable at that rate of deceleration?

It's not so much the brakes being stable, it's the operator's body with its c.g. 1m above the board. A maximum deceleration for tires on a good road is generally 0.6-0.8G. So in order to avoid being (literally) thrown off the board the rider needs to be leaning backwards by 30-40 degrees before applying the brakes.

There's no equivalent to this behavior in any other vehicle. In a car you just hit the pedal, on a bike you just squeeze the handles and hold on, on a seque (the closest equivalent I can think of) you must lean back to actuate the stopping.

On a long board at 20mph if you "hit the brakes" you crash, period. That just doesn't sound equivalently safe to me.

Re: The World's Lightest Electric Vehicle

#54

Post by natrius »

liamondrop wrote: post #40

`The last mile of transportation is this huge problem that hasn't been solved yet` Really? I think we've had it solved for at least several million years. Anyone that isn't capable of walking or skating a mile is certainly not going to be served by this. It looks like a cool toy, but I don't think it's going to revolutionize transportation.

"Last mile" is a transportation (and telecommunications) term that doesn't mean a literal mile. It's the last leg of your trip. Solutions to the last mile problem will revolutionize transportation, though this probably isn't that solution. I'd bet on bike sharing systems.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_mile_(transportation)

Re: The World's Lightest Electric Vehicle

#58

Post by stan_rogers »

ck2 wrote: post #13
thomas-st wrote: post #8

Seems like it's illegal to use in California: http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d11/vc21968.htm

1977 - was probably gas powered but must have been impressive tech for the time to warrant a ban!

If by "impressive tech" you mean "unmuffled, high-pitched, blue-smoke-spewing, 10cc-ish two-stroke chainsaw engine controlled by a deadman/lever throttle", then you're right. There wasn't much about them that wasn't offensive to everybody except the rider (and the few riders of those contraptions that I knew seemed to take particular delight in the offensiveness of their machines).

Re: The World's Lightest Electric Vehicle

#59

Post by dhugiaskmak »

pg wrote: post #41

This is one of those things that's like Google in the sense that it seems to be just an improvement on existing technology, but in fact is enough of an improvement that it's qualitatively different. In all the startups we've funded I don't think I've seen one whose product was so enthusiastically embraced by YC partners. Three bought one of these boards. One says it "changed his life."

    One says it "changed his life."
I would genuinely like to hear more about this.

Re: The World's Lightest Electric Vehicle

#60

Post by jonnycowboy »

pg wrote: post #41

This is one of those things that's like Google in the sense that it seems to be just an improvement on existing technology, but in fact is enough of an improvement that it's qualitatively different. In all the startups we've funded I don't think I've seen one whose product was so enthusiastically embraced by YC partners. Three bought one of these boards. One says it "changed his life."

At a 1,000$ pricepoint I'm not so sure it will be good enough for the masses, especially for such a standard powered longboard setup. Longboards can be found for 100$, add two 50$ brushless motors, a belt-drive setup and a controller, I don't think they can justify that profit margin. I'd expect that with a BMW StreetCarver truck setup, it would be a much easier sell (in fact I would probably buy one). With regards to the product design, I think you'll find the unsupported belt pulley to cause motor failure in normal use (these type of brushless motors are not designed for sideloading, even with dual ball bearings).
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