4 ms·

I'm not with you on this one. I don't live in California and the amount of electric scooters I've suddenly seen out of nowhere is crazy. It might be a fad, but

I'm not with you on this one. I don't live in California and the amount of electric scooters I've suddenly seen out of nowhere is crazy. It might be a fad, but unlike you, I'm more like 30% thinking it is a fad vs 100%. My reasoning: * Batteries have gotten better than even the basic Segway days * The scooters are portable. You can fold them and take them in to your dorm, apartment, etc, preventing theft. A lot of work places won't complain about you charging them at work either * The entry level price is so much lower. I never saw a casual person on a Segway, but I see casual people on the electric scooter bandwagon already * There is also a large subset of folks that had Razor scooters. I wasn't part of that, but I can understand them being more willing to adopt if they had previously used unpowered scooters. * Running in to someone might be a problem on San Francisco sidewalks, but it isn't on, say, ISU's sidewalks.

crehn 8y ago
Same in Korea. Electric scooters everywhere. Even scooter rentals are popping up around the city.
- diogenescynic 8y ago
  Korea is a lot more dense than California though and Korea has better public transportation to complement/supplement the scooters. The scooters are only going to work for people in denser cities. We need more high speed rail and mass transit options. These scooters are only a partial solution to a much larger and complex problem.
  - readhn 8y ago
    exactly. america is not just NYC&SF. Electric scooter is not going to solve bigger transportation infrastructure problem the one that really needs to be solved. I see at as a supplementary mode of transportation that will be MAYBE overall a 1% of the total solution.
cauldron 8y ago
Charging inside your house is very dangerous, especially in NA where most houses are wooden. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EljeP5XmETA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EljeP5XmETA
- randyrand 8y ago
  Same is true of cellphones and laptops. It depends on the brand.
  - cauldron 8y ago
    1 scooter battery equals several or tens of notebook batteries, mobile devices generally use safer li polymer ones nowadays. These scooter batteries sustain intense charging and discharging cycles, I won't bet my house and life on it.
    - androidgirl 8y ago
      At my hackerspace we charge our 18650 cells inside those green ammo boxes. Battery lockboxes are a way to stay pretty safe, even if a li-on, li-po, or lead acid battery explodes, in a steel box it can't do so much. Obviously, doesn't help without removable batteries, which are more common on ebikes.

crehn 8y ago

Same in Korea. Electric scooters everywhere. Even scooter rentals are popping up around the city.

diogenescynic 8y ago
Korea is a lot more dense than California though and Korea has better public transportation to complement/supplement the scooters. The scooters are only going to work for people in denser cities. We need more high speed rail and mass transit options. These scooters are only a partial solution to a much larger and complex problem.
- readhn 8y ago
  exactly. america is not just NYC&SF. Electric scooter is not going to solve bigger transportation infrastructure problem the one that really needs to be solved. I see at as a supplementary mode of transportation that will be MAYBE overall a 1% of the total solution.

cauldron 8y ago

Charging inside your house is very dangerous, especially in NA where most houses are wooden. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EljeP5XmETA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EljeP5XmETA

randyrand 8y ago
Same is true of cellphones and laptops. It depends on the brand.
- cauldron 8y ago
  1 scooter battery equals several or tens of notebook batteries, mobile devices generally use safer li polymer ones nowadays. These scooter batteries sustain intense charging and discharging cycles, I won't bet my house and life on it.
  - androidgirl 8y ago
    At my hackerspace we charge our 18650 cells inside those green ammo boxes. Battery lockboxes are a way to stay pretty safe, even if a li-on, li-po, or lead acid battery explodes, in a steel box it can't do so much. Obviously, doesn't help without removable batteries, which are more common on ebikes.