6 ms·

Boosted's Electric Skateboard (YC S12)

51 points by sethbannon 12y ago

timhargis 12y ago
Great product. I was on the pre-order list at $1299 and was disappointed to then get an email a month ago saying the price went up to $2000. Outside of that, awesome job on the product. Looks great.
- skdoo 12y ago
  I'm sorry about this. I wish we had a way to keep the price that low. If you'd like to try one for a bit, email me at community@
  - timhargis 12y ago
    I'm not in the Bay Area and am in Phoenix? Would this still apply?
    - skdoo 12y ago
      We'll figure out a way to make it happen. Email me at community@ and we'll set you up.
dang 12y ago
The article title is a tad too linkbaity (plus slightly misleading, given its final sentence), so we changed it to the caption from the photo.
Holbein 12y ago
Boosted boards are 6.8kg. The Marbel board is even lighter at 4.5kg(!), so it's even easier to carry, and the range is greater as well (16km instead of 9.6km): https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1664522105/marbel-the-lightest-electric-skateboard-in-the-wor https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1664522105/marbel-the-l...
- nikatwork 12y ago
  That Marbel board has a nice form factor, interesting to see the different choice of material for the deck. It's great to see some competition in this space. Hopefully someone will put a spring bushings option on one of these products.
  - rasz_pl 12y ago
    It actually looks like they made it this way to hide batteries in the middle cavity.
- nl 12y ago
  I'd wait until the product is shipping before 100% believing Kickstarter claims. Yes, it is possible to do everything they claim. To get it into a reliable, shipping product is another matter. http://howtomakeanelectricskateboard.wordpress.com/ http://howtomakeanelectricskateboard.wordpress.com/ has some intersting reading
- dchichkov 12y ago
  They are on the right track weigh-wise. And it is obvious that boards should be molded out of carbon fiber and all the electronics and batteries should be inside. It is also obvious that wheels themselves should be out-runner motors. All four of them. From pure tech perspective this should be it. So Marbel team might be on the right track. I hope they also will be able to make the board actually useful. That's the best part of the Boosted team achievement by the way. Their board (I ride the thing 2-3 days a week) is a) actually usable b) fun. There are many un-obvious variables that come into the usability equation, especially for a piece of sports/recreational gear. In my opinion, boosted had managed to circumvent some of these by building their design around a good longboard and trying 'not to ruin' the experience of a longboard. Even that took them a while, with quite a number of redesign iterations (see. http://boostedboards.posthaven.com/ http://boostedboards.posthaven.com/ ), including building a custom controller (that apparently had removed a nasty noise problem of the early releases). It looks like Marbel team decided not to go that way, they are building the board from scratch. Should make the challenge harder in my opinion. But hopefully they will overcome it and will be able to make a 3rd generation board :) that is actually useful :)
xal 12y ago
I've used mine every day since I got it. It's hard to describe how amazing the riding experience is.
- skdoo 12y ago
  Thank you!
billmalarky 12y ago
I'm excited to see the number of players in the electric skateboard market. I'd like to see costs come down though, it seems like all of them are in the $1200-$2000 range with not much differentiation. I suspect the one who can bring costs down while maintaining quality will be the winner in this market. I'm not sure what Boosted is bringing to the table honestly, compared to brands like [Evolve](http://evolveskateboardsusa.com/ http://evolveskateboardsusa.com/) that have been out for a while now and have better specs at a significantly lower price.
- Brashman 12y ago
  Boosted is using Loaded longboards which are high-quality longboards. As a longboarder, it gives me confidence that the board will be fun to ride as opposed to being just a plank of wood on wheels. On the other hand, those Evolve boards look decent. The costs of all of these are really too high for me right now, so I'll admit I haven't seriously looked into it.
  - billmalarky 12y ago
    I don't have an Evolve board but I'm considering one. I'd suggest giving them a look (much longer distance on one charge). I think I'll end up with either an evolve board or a onewheel. I do wish it was possible to test them out first to see how the ride really feels but I'm sure I would end up pretty happy with anything.
    - skdoo 12y ago
      If you want to try a Boosted board, email us at community@. There are different boards, and some are better for different riding profiles. Happy to help you decide.
nl 12y ago
I can't wait to see what kind of vehicle Boosted start working on next now they have this done. Electric bicycles are a good, existing market (especially in Europe), but there are already some good options there and I suspect their prefer something where their R&D is more directly applicable (bicycles are heavier and human power can take a bigger proportion of the propulsion load). OTOH, it might be possible to engineer an add-on solution for existing bikes that would work well. Electric scooters seems like a good bet. The form factor is similar, and I'd imagine many of the technologies can be directly transplanted. I think a folding electric scooter could be more practical than a longboard for many people. There are of course more exotic options. The self-balancing electric unicycle (which was on HN the other day) was interesting, and I'd hope there are other things waiting to be invented. Anyway - I'm very excited about the increased diversity in transport options.
- harpastum 12y ago
  There's an interesting electric scooter that just launched a few months ago called the URB-E: http://urb-e.com http://urb-e.com
GuiA 12y ago
Last time an article about Boosted Boards frontpaged HN, commenters raised very valid concerns about the legality of it. While it's still a niche thing it'll fly under the radar, but if this thing becomes super popular, it's pretty certain a law will pass to end the fun. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4506979 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4506979 Other than that, as a longboarder who sadly can't longboard to work in downtown SF because of slight hills on my commute, I'd love to get one of those. If there are Boosted Boards employees/founders reading this: do you offer the possibility to come to your office and try one out? At a third or half the price it'd be a no brainer, but at $2000 I' m certainly not buying one without having tried it first.
- knorby 12y ago
  There was at least some effort to legalize them in California: http://blog.sfgate.com/stew/2014/03/11/california-bill-would-pave-way-for-electric-skateboards/ http://blog.sfgate.com/stew/2014/03/11/california-bill-would... Though the CA DMV seems to classify them as motor scooters: http://www.chp.ca.gov/html/motors.html http://www.chp.ca.gov/html/motors.html It doesn't seem like the law is a serious concern at any rate, although I didn't research other states. If the question is if you need a motorcycle license or not, it seems like the industry is in a good position.
- bagels 12y ago
  Skateboarding is illegal in San Francisco, and nearly every other US city. For example, San Francisco Transportation Code Sec. 7.2.13: Illegal to ride on the sidewalk, Illegal to ride on the roadway
- skdoo 12y ago
  Founder here. Yup, email us at community@ and we'll set you up with a test-ride. Regarding the legality issue, there are different laws about both electric and non-electric skateboards in different states and cities. They tend to be decades old and don't reflect modern technology. We're working with our legislative reps and other companies to change this, and that process is moving along.
brc 12y ago
Seems like it needs anti-theft. Maybe a Bluetooth wheel lock if it is away from a paired device?
msandford 12y ago
I can't understand why these things are so damn expensive. You can get a longboard skateboard for $100-$300 or so. I'm sure you can spend more but that's a good starting number. That's for the board, the trucks, the bearings and wheels. http://www.daddiesboardshop.com/longboards/complete-longboards http://www.daddiesboardshop.com/longboards/complete-longboar... It seems like a decent, 1000W+ motor can be had for less than $200. http://www.e-fliterc.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=EFLM4060A http://www.e-fliterc.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=EFLM40... Controllers are around $100 each, I'm not sure if you could use a single large one or if you'd need a pair of smaller ones. http://www.e-fliterc.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=EFLA1080B http://www.e-fliterc.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=EFLA10... One of these packs would be enough juice to get you moving, but it might take two to get you the range you need. http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__45145__Turnigy_nano_tech_A_SPEC_G2_5000mah_6S_65_130C_Lipo_Pack.html http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__45145__Turnigy_na... So call that $300 in parts. Okay so $200 for the board, $400 for the motors, $200 for the controllers, and $300 for the batteries. We're now at $1100. After that what's left? I can think of: A charger? $200 max http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__11597__iCharger_3010B_1000W_10s_Balance_Charger.html http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__11597__iCharger_3... Controls? Figure what, $100 for the radio unit and the receiver and whatnot. Probably much less. Last are all the brackets and driveline parts. I figure you could machine the motor brackets out of aluminum for less than $50 per pair in quantity, the pullies are only $20 each in quantity and the belts aren't terribly expensive either. So that's $1400 worth of parts if you're buying them at retail. If you're making quantities of these things of at least a few hundred you're going to be getting better deals than that bringing your cost down to $1200 or $1000 each. If I'm not completely full of shit here (and I recognize I might be, this is 15min worth of googling) I guess I can't understand why these things cost $2k to buy.
- qq66 12y ago
  You're not accounting for literally any costs besides parts. R&D, assembly, testing, support, shipping, insurance, marketing, administrative, taxes... I actually doubt that they are spending $1200 on parts because if they were, they would be taking a massive loss on a $2000 retail price.
yazaddaruvala 12y ago
Anyone know how waterproof this thing is? In the north west more than half my walking commutes are in the rain.
- olavgg 12y ago
  They're not supposed to be used when it's wet outside.
jseip 12y ago
The cost is totally prohibitive, even for the early adopter market. Boosted - I was working on this problem (far less successfully than you - hat tip) and came to the conclusion that you have to give people a low starting cost and the ability to upgrade over time. Give me brushed motors, NiMH batteries and cheap trucks to start with for closer to $600USD. Once you've hooked me on the product (and I'm confident you will) offer me upgrades to LiFEPO4 batteries, better bearings, brushless motors, RadiKS wheels, etc. Up-front pricing will not win this market!

51 points by sethbannon 12y ago

Great product. I was on the pre-order list at $1299 and was disappointed to then get an email a month ago saying the price went up to $2000. Outside of that, awesome job on the product. Looks great.

skdoo 12y ago
I'm sorry about this. I wish we had a way to keep the price that low. If you'd like to try one for a bit, email me at community@
- timhargis 12y ago
  I'm not in the Bay Area and am in Phoenix? Would this still apply?
  - skdoo 12y ago
    We'll figure out a way to make it happen. Email me at community@ and we'll set you up.

dang 12y ago

The article title is a tad too linkbaity (plus slightly misleading, given its final sentence), so we changed it to the caption from the photo.

Holbein 12y ago

Boosted boards are 6.8kg. The Marbel board is even lighter at 4.5kg(!), so it's even easier to carry, and the range is greater as well (16km instead of 9.6km): https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1664522105/marbel-the-lightest-electric-skateboard-in-the-wor https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1664522105/marbel-the-l...

nikatwork 12y ago
That Marbel board has a nice form factor, interesting to see the different choice of material for the deck. It's great to see some competition in this space. Hopefully someone will put a spring bushings option on one of these products.
- rasz_pl 12y ago
  It actually looks like they made it this way to hide batteries in the middle cavity.
nl 12y ago
I'd wait until the product is shipping before 100% believing Kickstarter claims. Yes, it is possible to do everything they claim. To get it into a reliable, shipping product is another matter. http://howtomakeanelectricskateboard.wordpress.com/ http://howtomakeanelectricskateboard.wordpress.com/ has some intersting reading
dchichkov 12y ago
They are on the right track weigh-wise. And it is obvious that boards should be molded out of carbon fiber and all the electronics and batteries should be inside. It is also obvious that wheels themselves should be out-runner motors. All four of them. From pure tech perspective this should be it. So Marbel team might be on the right track. I hope they also will be able to make the board actually useful. That's the best part of the Boosted team achievement by the way. Their board (I ride the thing 2-3 days a week) is a) actually usable b) fun. There are many un-obvious variables that come into the usability equation, especially for a piece of sports/recreational gear. In my opinion, boosted had managed to circumvent some of these by building their design around a good longboard and trying 'not to ruin' the experience of a longboard. Even that took them a while, with quite a number of redesign iterations (see. http://boostedboards.posthaven.com/ http://boostedboards.posthaven.com/ ), including building a custom controller (that apparently had removed a nasty noise problem of the early releases). It looks like Marbel team decided not to go that way, they are building the board from scratch. Should make the challenge harder in my opinion. But hopefully they will overcome it and will be able to make a 3rd generation board :) that is actually useful :)

xal 12y ago

I've used mine every day since I got it. It's hard to describe how amazing the riding experience is.

skdoo 12y ago
Thank you!

billmalarky 12y ago

I'm excited to see the number of players in the electric skateboard market. I'd like to see costs come down though, it seems like all of them are in the $1200-$2000 range with not much differentiation. I suspect the one who can bring costs down while maintaining quality will be the winner in this market. I'm not sure what Boosted is bringing to the table honestly, compared to brands like [Evolve](http://evolveskateboardsusa.com/ http://evolveskateboardsusa.com/) that have been out for a while now and have better specs at a significantly lower price.

Brashman 12y ago
Boosted is using Loaded longboards which are high-quality longboards. As a longboarder, it gives me confidence that the board will be fun to ride as opposed to being just a plank of wood on wheels. On the other hand, those Evolve boards look decent. The costs of all of these are really too high for me right now, so I'll admit I haven't seriously looked into it.
- billmalarky 12y ago
  I don't have an Evolve board but I'm considering one. I'd suggest giving them a look (much longer distance on one charge). I think I'll end up with either an evolve board or a onewheel. I do wish it was possible to test them out first to see how the ride really feels but I'm sure I would end up pretty happy with anything.
  - skdoo 12y ago
    If you want to try a Boosted board, email us at community@. There are different boards, and some are better for different riding profiles. Happy to help you decide.

nl 12y ago

I can't wait to see what kind of vehicle Boosted start working on next now they have this done. Electric bicycles are a good, existing market (especially in Europe), but there are already some good options there and I suspect their prefer something where their R&D is more directly applicable (bicycles are heavier and human power can take a bigger proportion of the propulsion load). OTOH, it might be possible to engineer an add-on solution for existing bikes that would work well. Electric scooters seems like a good bet. The form factor is similar, and I'd imagine many of the technologies can be directly transplanted. I think a folding electric scooter could be more practical than a longboard for many people. There are of course more exotic options. The self-balancing electric unicycle (which was on HN the other day) was interesting, and I'd hope there are other things waiting to be invented. Anyway - I'm very excited about the increased diversity in transport options.

harpastum 12y ago
There's an interesting electric scooter that just launched a few months ago called the URB-E: http://urb-e.com http://urb-e.com

GuiA 12y ago

Last time an article about Boosted Boards frontpaged HN, commenters raised very valid concerns about the legality of it. While it's still a niche thing it'll fly under the radar, but if this thing becomes super popular, it's pretty certain a law will pass to end the fun. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4506979 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4506979 Other than that, as a longboarder who sadly can't longboard to work in downtown SF because of slight hills on my commute, I'd love to get one of those. If there are Boosted Boards employees/founders reading this: do you offer the possibility to come to your office and try one out? At a third or half the price it'd be a no brainer, but at $2000 I' m certainly not buying one without having tried it first.

knorby 12y ago
There was at least some effort to legalize them in California: http://blog.sfgate.com/stew/2014/03/11/california-bill-would-pave-way-for-electric-skateboards/ http://blog.sfgate.com/stew/2014/03/11/california-bill-would... Though the CA DMV seems to classify them as motor scooters: http://www.chp.ca.gov/html/motors.html http://www.chp.ca.gov/html/motors.html It doesn't seem like the law is a serious concern at any rate, although I didn't research other states. If the question is if you need a motorcycle license or not, it seems like the industry is in a good position.
bagels 12y ago
Skateboarding is illegal in San Francisco, and nearly every other US city. For example, San Francisco Transportation Code Sec. 7.2.13: Illegal to ride on the sidewalk, Illegal to ride on the roadway
skdoo 12y ago
Founder here. Yup, email us at community@ and we'll set you up with a test-ride. Regarding the legality issue, there are different laws about both electric and non-electric skateboards in different states and cities. They tend to be decades old and don't reflect modern technology. We're working with our legislative reps and other companies to change this, and that process is moving along.

brc 12y ago

Seems like it needs anti-theft. Maybe a Bluetooth wheel lock if it is away from a paired device?

msandford 12y ago

I can't understand why these things are so damn expensive. You can get a longboard skateboard for $100-$300 or so. I'm sure you can spend more but that's a good starting number. That's for the board, the trucks, the bearings and wheels. http://www.daddiesboardshop.com/longboards/complete-longboards http://www.daddiesboardshop.com/longboards/complete-longboar... It seems like a decent, 1000W+ motor can be had for less than $200. http://www.e-fliterc.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=EFLM4060A http://www.e-fliterc.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=EFLM40... Controllers are around $100 each, I'm not sure if you could use a single large one or if you'd need a pair of smaller ones. http://www.e-fliterc.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=EFLA1080B http://www.e-fliterc.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=EFLA10... One of these packs would be enough juice to get you moving, but it might take two to get you the range you need. http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__45145__Turnigy_nano_tech_A_SPEC_G2_5000mah_6S_65_130C_Lipo_Pack.html http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__45145__Turnigy_na... So call that $300 in parts. Okay so $200 for the board, $400 for the motors, $200 for the controllers, and $300 for the batteries. We're now at $1100. After that what's left? I can think of: A charger? $200 max http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__11597__iCharger_3010B_1000W_10s_Balance_Charger.html http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__11597__iCharger_3... Controls? Figure what, $100 for the radio unit and the receiver and whatnot. Probably much less. Last are all the brackets and driveline parts. I figure you could machine the motor brackets out of aluminum for less than $50 per pair in quantity, the pullies are only $20 each in quantity and the belts aren't terribly expensive either. So that's $1400 worth of parts if you're buying them at retail. If you're making quantities of these things of at least a few hundred you're going to be getting better deals than that bringing your cost down to $1200 or $1000 each. If I'm not completely full of shit here (and I recognize I might be, this is 15min worth of googling) I guess I can't understand why these things cost $2k to buy.

qq66 12y ago
You're not accounting for literally any costs besides parts. R&D, assembly, testing, support, shipping, insurance, marketing, administrative, taxes... I actually doubt that they are spending $1200 on parts because if they were, they would be taking a massive loss on a $2000 retail price.

yazaddaruvala 12y ago

Anyone know how waterproof this thing is? In the north west more than half my walking commutes are in the rain.

olavgg 12y ago
They're not supposed to be used when it's wet outside.

jseip 12y ago

The cost is totally prohibitive, even for the early adopter market. Boosted - I was working on this problem (far less successfully than you - hat tip) and came to the conclusion that you have to give people a low starting cost and the ability to upgrade over time. Give me brushed motors, NiMH batteries and cheap trucks to start with for closer to $600USD. Once you've hooked me on the product (and I'm confident you will) offer me upgrades to LiFEPO4 batteries, better bearings, brushless motors, RadiKS wheels, etc. Up-front pricing will not win this market!