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Charging electric scooters is a cut-throat business

theatlantic.com

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Re: Charging electric scooters is a cut-throat business

#81

Post by tlrobinson »

birdman3131 wrote: post #43
tlrobinson wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure if it's a requirement, but all of the individuals quoted in the article were over 18.

I don't think they were. To quote the article "“Finding the really hard ones is so awesome,” says Lucas, a young teenage Bird charger in L.A. who didn’t want his last name or his age listed since he technically hunts under his parents’ account."

> since he technically hunts under his parents’ account.

You're right, but that suggests it is a requirement. It's not Bird's fault the kid and his parents are lying about it.

Re: Charging electric scooters is a cut-throat business

#82

Post by apexalpha »

dalbasal wrote: post #80

Dunno about the way charging works, at least long term. Scooter sharing through, that's kind of promising. Beijing (and other cities) have proven that bike sharing can become a major transport type if the city will allow bike sharing companies to just dump bikes all over the sidewalk. It's crude, but it at least let's us see how far bike sharing can go if/when stations are a non-problem. Besides the mess (I could not…

>I could not imagine buttoned down European city like Vienna or even a messy one like Amsterdam allowing it)

I don't really see benefit over a bike. Except that bikes don't require charging.

Re: Charging electric scooters is a cut-throat business

#83

Post by masklinn »

gambiting wrote: post #78
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Leaseholds often excludes business activities as does home insurance.

Yes, you can't register a company at your home address, but no one will ever deny you coverage if you do clerical work at home. At least every single insurance and rental I had in UK had a special provision for this - if you need to stay at home and work remotely, that's 100% covered. It just can't be your principal place of work.

> It just can't be your principal place of work.

Does that mean it doesn't allow 100% remote work (where you always work from home but are an employee)?

Re: Charging electric scooters is a cut-throat business

#84

Post by bschwindHN »

Wouldn't it make more sense to make the batteries replaceable? Just have them locked in place until a "charger" person authenticates through the app, then allow them to swap in a fresh one. At that point transport would be reduced to just moving the batteries around instead of the whole scooter. They could still be charged at home.

People might steal them but the article already mentions that some people steal them already.

Re: Charging electric scooters is a cut-throat business

#85

Post by masklinn »

_fizz_buzz_ wrote: post #68
geezerjay wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Back of the napkin calculations suggest that, in order to break even just from the charging costs alone, each scooter needs to be ridden for at least 2 and a half hours. Based on some quick googling (but without taking into account the terrain and the rider's weight and riding style), a scooter with a full load can be ridden for about 6 hours.

Your calculation is completely off. 150 min * 0.15 $/min = $22.50. In the US you can get a kWh for about 12 cents. That means you can get 187.5 kWh. The largest Tesla Model S has a 100 kWh. I don't know what kind of battery these scooters have, but I am sure it's not nearly as big as a Tesla battery.

> I don't know what kind of battery these scooters have, but I am sure it's not nearly as big as a Tesla battery.

280Wh. They have nowhere near 6h range either, the machine is advertised for a range of 18.6 miles and a top speed of 15.5, though it has regenerative braking which can improve the range a bit.

It's a pretty standard Xiaomi M365: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076KKX4BC/

Re: Charging electric scooters is a cut-throat business

#86

Post by rkangel »

apexalpha wrote: post #82
dalbasal wrote: post #80

Dunno about the way charging works, at least long term. Scooter sharing through, that's kind of promising. Beijing (and other cities) have proven that bike sharing can become a major transport type if the city will allow bike sharing companies to just dump bikes all over the sidewalk. It's crude, but it at least let's us see how far bike sharing can go if/when stations are a non-problem. Besides the mess (I could not…

>I could not imagine buttoned down European city like Vienna or even a messy one like Amsterdam allowing it) I don't really see benefit over a bike. Except that bikes don't require charging.

The main one would be that you are a pedestrian rather than a road user. People who take bikes along sidewalks and footpaths are a hazard but a scooter is less of an issue.

Also, less skill to ride and less risk.

Re: Charging electric scooters is a cut-throat business

#87

Post by gambiting »

masklinn wrote: post #83
gambiting wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, you can't register a company at your home address, but no one will ever deny you coverage if you do clerical work at home. At least every single insurance and rental I had in UK had a special provision for this - if you need to stay at home and work remotely, that's 100% covered. It just can't be your principal place of work.

> It just can't be your principal place of work. Does that mean it doesn't allow 100% remote work (where you always work from home but are an employee)?

That's where it becomes fuzzy and no contract in the world will define this precisely.

Re: Charging electric scooters is a cut-throat business

#88

Post by brandonsometig »

apexalpha wrote: post #82
dalbasal wrote: post #80

Dunno about the way charging works, at least long term. Scooter sharing through, that's kind of promising. Beijing (and other cities) have proven that bike sharing can become a major transport type if the city will allow bike sharing companies to just dump bikes all over the sidewalk. It's crude, but it at least let's us see how far bike sharing can go if/when stations are a non-problem. Besides the mess (I could not…

>I could not imagine buttoned down European city like Vienna or even a messy one like Amsterdam allowing it) I don't really see benefit over a bike. Except that bikes don't require charging.

Neither do scooters to be fair.

Re: Charging electric scooters is a cut-throat business

#89

Post by makomk »

_fizz_buzz_ wrote: post #68
geezerjay wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Back of the napkin calculations suggest that, in order to break even just from the charging costs alone, each scooter needs to be ridden for at least 2 and a half hours. Based on some quick googling (but without taking into account the terrain and the rider's weight and riding style), a scooter with a full load can be ridden for about 6 hours.

Your calculation is completely off. 150 min * 0.15 $/min = $22.50. In the US you can get a kWh for about 12 cents. That means you can get 187.5 kWh. The largest Tesla Model S has a 100 kWh. I don't know what kind of battery these scooters have, but I am sure it's not nearly as big as a Tesla battery.

The electricity costs aren't the problem, the big cost here is paying people to collect the scooters up and charge them. As the article points out the cost of electricity makes up such a tiny amount of this cost that it's not even worth calculating.
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