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The World's Lightest Electric Vehicle

kickstarter.com

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Re: The World's Lightest Electric Vehicle

#21

Post by Adirael »

IanDrake wrote: post #18

This sounds cool, but (IMO) it's actually a bad idea. When I was in my late teens / early twenties, I essentially had a 180HP version of this. It was a lot more expensive back then: $4,000 for the 1984 Chevy Blazer and $0 dollars for an extension cord we found in the garage, but going going fast on a skateboard, no matter what the method, is dangerous. The worst part of this idea is "braking". I can assure you the on…

Disclosure: I have never "ridden" a skateboard.

Wouldn't it be very different braking by yourself than being slowed down by anything on the road? You control exactly the speed and brake force you apply to the board so you can balance/react. I see the guys in the video doing pretty well.

Physics of a table attached to a car using a rope are very different from this.

Re: The World's Lightest Electric Vehicle

#22

Post by ChuckMcM »

Sounds cool, but even a 95% efficient 2kW brushless motor would be dissipating 100W of heat. Not easy to dump in a small package. I've never tried building a skateboard but I've built quite a few mobile robots (and a few battlebots). Wish they had a bit more detail on the tech.

Re: The World's Lightest Electric Vehicle

#23

Post by cocoflunchy »

darklajid wrote: post #6
typicalrunt wrote: post #3

Great idea. I'm surprised nobody has done this before (but they probably have, I'm no longer a skateboarder). But I'm wondering about the prices. $10 stickers and $40 t-shirts are still advertising, so people are paying to advertise for your company? That doesn't seem right. In reality, they are really trying to push people to spend $1200 for a board. Even the $1099 pledge is a complete rip-off since you spend $100 l…

Uhm.. I read it the way you did it for a couple of times and then decided that it's really just a bad way of saying 'back early (25 max) and get a board for $100 less than the next 25 people on the first batch'. In other words: No, I really don't think they give you a $100 rebate for ~$1100 and a full board for $100 more.. Not my native language though..?

Well of course it's this. If not you'd be buying 100$ at 1100$ !

Not much of a bargain... ;)

Re: The World's Lightest Electric Vehicle

#24

Post by [deleted] »

darklajid wrote: post #6
typicalrunt wrote: post #3

Great idea. I'm surprised nobody has done this before (but they probably have, I'm no longer a skateboarder). But I'm wondering about the prices. $10 stickers and $40 t-shirts are still advertising, so people are paying to advertise for your company? That doesn't seem right. In reality, they are really trying to push people to spend $1200 for a board. Even the $1099 pledge is a complete rip-off since you spend $100 l…

Uhm.. I read it the way you did it for a couple of times and then decided that it's really just a bad way of saying 'back early (25 max) and get a board for $100 less than the next 25 people on the first batch'. In other words: No, I really don't think they give you a $100 rebate for ~$1100 and a full board for $100 more.. Not my native language though..?

[deleted]

Re: The World's Lightest Electric Vehicle

#25

Post by anemitz »

thomas-st wrote: post #8

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

Thanks for point that out -- I probably would have just assumed it was legal. Would be helpful to see a breakdown of all states it's illegal in under the Legality section of the Kickstarter. Seems like a great way to get around while traveling so I'd want to make sure it's useable in most states (or at least the ones you frequent most).

Re: The World's Lightest Electric Vehicle

#26

Post by zzzmarcus »

IanDrake wrote: post #18

This sounds cool, but (IMO) it's actually a bad idea. When I was in my late teens / early twenties, I essentially had a 180HP version of this. It was a lot more expensive back then: $4,000 for the 1984 Chevy Blazer and $0 dollars for an extension cord we found in the garage, but going going fast on a skateboard, no matter what the method, is dangerous. The worst part of this idea is "braking". I can assure you the on…

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 fine. The reason the sand throws people isn't because they're slowing down, it's that they don't expect it and can't predict how quickly it will slow them down. Decent brakes have neither of those problems.

Re: The World's Lightest Electric Vehicle

#27

Post by zzzmarcus »

typicalrunt wrote: post #3

Great idea. I'm surprised nobody has done this before (but they probably have, I'm no longer a skateboarder). But I'm wondering about the prices. $10 stickers and $40 t-shirts are still advertising, so people are paying to advertise for your company? That doesn't seem right. In reality, they are really trying to push people to spend $1200 for a board. Even the $1099 pledge is a complete rip-off since you spend $100 l…

There have been plenty of electric longboards before, but none even close to this size. Someone else linked to this: http://www.zboardshop.com/ which is basically the same idea but the difference in implementation is night and day. This board weighs 12lbs, the Z board weighs 37lbs, and it's one of the lighter competitors.

Re: The World's Lightest Electric Vehicle

#28

Post by HyprMusic »

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.

Re: The World's Lightest Electric Vehicle

#29

Post by zzzmarcus »

MartinCron wrote: post #10
massarog wrote: post #4

Isn't this the same thing? Was launched on kickstarter months ago: http://www.zboardshop.com/

The zboard is a different design in that you don't have a hand-held remote, you press on footpads to accelerate/brake. I would have to try them both out to see which is a better solution to the control problem. edit: another key difference is that this is 12 pounds vs the 30 to 37 pounds for the zboard. That difference is HUGE.

Absolutely. The weight difference is definitely the biggest difference.

I've ridden longboards with both foot and hand brakes. All the hand braking boards I've tried had a cable from the board to the controls and even with that hassle, I much prefer them to the foot brakes. Moving your foot around and trying to get even pressure at 20mph is a lot more tricky than squeezing a lever.

Re: The World's Lightest Electric Vehicle

#30

Post by ricardobeat »

Looks like a great technologic improvement, but not revolutionary at all. A search for "electric skateboard" returns a dozen manufacturers, some with similar specs, most much cheaper - yes, they have that bulge going on but it doesn't change much in terms of feasibility. A skateboard is still not a viable means of daily transportation unless your route consists solely of smooth, untrafficked asphalt and you're a lucky person.

Why not sell it by what it is (a very cool electric longboard), instead of making surreal claims about changing the world?

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