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New Electric Skateboard Models
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- aidenn0 12y agoIIRC it was a link to a review (techcrunch maybe?)
- aidenn0 12y agoToo bad they are still illegal to use in California: https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/pubs/vctop/vc/d11/c5/21968 https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/pubs/vctop/vc/d11/c...
- scrapcode 12y ago"Added by terms of urgency clause" I wish it described what this was...
- skdoo 12y agoThis law was written in the 70s for gas-powered skateboards. We and others are working to change this, possibly as soon as the upcoming legislative session.
- defen 12y agoI see people riding them all the time in San Francisco...seems to be about as illegal as recreational pot smoking.
- jamesaguilar 12y agoI see people riding them all the time. I wouldn't let this stop you if you're actually interested. It would be great if the law always reflected the reality on the ground, but when it doesn't I favor pragmatism.
- marvin 12y agoCan these boards be used in the rain, or when the road is damp? Where I live, roads are wet ~40% of the time, so if not this would be a huge no-go.
- dsr_ 12y agoThe FAQ says no, they aren't even a little waterproof.
- jaak 12y agoFrom the FAQ: Is the board waterproof? No, riding the board in wet environments like rain, snow, mud, or through puddles can permanently damage the electronics and battery, cause the bearings and hardware to corrode, and may cause board failure at speed. Please DO NOT RIDE IN WET ENVIRONMENTS. Riding in wet conditions is slippery and extremely dangerous on any skateboard. Damage due to water is not covered under your warranty.
- ngokevin 12y agoNormal boards shouldn't be ridden in the rain anyways. The trucks and bearings will rust, rendering your board into a piece of wood. Which is unfortunate, since I live in Oregon, and I used to cruise my Miniglider everywhere. When it rained, I had to resort to walking.
- Gracana 12y agoYour trucks are probably aluminum and will be fine, and you can run sealed bearings. Riding in the wet really isn't such a big deal. The biggest problem is spray off of the wheels.
- jonesetc 12y agoThe board damage (if made of wood) is unavoidable though.
- jamesaguilar 12y ago
- mkaroumi 12y agoWow, I WANT ONE!
- j00lz 12y agoThey imply that providing a firmware update for free is a massive gesture of good will for existing users. When is this not the norm??
- mschuster91 12y agoJust take a PC... Windows is it's firmware and if you want to upgrade it, then you have to pay. (Or, switch to Linux). Or take some cars which are different models, with different power/torque ratings, but mechanically they are the same - the only difference is made in the MCU software. Or cars with their maximum speed locked and only unlocked after paying a nice sum of money (iirc it was the VW Golf GTI).
- stinos 12y agoWindows is it's firmware For a PC I'd rather call it the software, or the OS, and call the BIOS it's firmware. Which can usually be updated for free.
- mschuster91 12y agoA PC with just a BIOS is unusable, though.
- kaoD 12y agoA skateboard without wheels is unusable too, and wheels are not firmware either.
- clamprecht 12y agoA PC with a BIOS can run free operating systems such as Linux. In contrast, I assume this skateboard can only run their own software/firmware.
- pmorici 12y agoThe difference is a PC is an open and well documented platform that anyone can write software for. This board and other embedded devices typically don't provide the details needed to implement alternative firmwares. That is the difference between windows on a PC and firmware on an embedded device.
- Jochim 12y agoI genuinely see nothing good about this product...
- scrapcode 12y agoThis is entirely personal opinion as-is. Perhaps you could discuss what you see as being bad about this product.
- Jochim 12y agoMostly its combined drawbacks making it worse than the alternatives. It's pretty heavy, a bicycle of around the same cost doesn't weigh much more than some models. It has low range, you can get a motorised bicycle for much cheaper which has more than 3 times the range. It can't be used in the wet, while this might not be a problem depending where you live, you're kind of screwed if it rains on your way somewhere or before you go home. It's fairly sensitive, you're specifically recommended not to do fairly common things with it. It's expensive, if it was fairly cheap I could see people overlooking the drawbacks and maybe using it for messing around on. I guess it'd be OK if you really hated bikes and lived in an area where it never rained with everything nearby. The whole thing just seems really underwhelming to me.
- scrapcode 12y agoGood points. It's best to avoid wet weather with skateboards, electric or not.
- gphil 12y agoAn alternative to this without a remote is ZBoard (http://www.zboardshop.com http://www.zboardshop.com), which uses weight sensing (like a Segway) to control the speed instead of a remote which seems a little more natural to ride to me than something with a hand remote like this.
- jonesetc 12y agoDisclaimer: I've never ridden an electric skateboard of any kind. However, I have been skateboarding for well over a decade. Does this mean that you place weight forward to go faster? That would be the opposite of natural. Weight to the back is safe, it is the stance to adopt unless you like slamming your shoulder into the pavement. I believe I would much rather have a remote than have to worry about how I place my feet and shift my weight. With big wheels like that it's less of a concern, but you'd be shocked at how often you need to shift your weight just ridding down a sidewalk.
- phamilton 12y agoIt's supposed to be the opposite if natural. When you accelerate, you naturally lean back. You wouldn't want intentional acceleration to cause additional acceleration. You would want to keep it in check and only accelerate when the riser demonstrates they are sufficiently in control of their weight balance.
- erso 12y agoI've owned both. Had a ZBoard, have a Boosted Board. The ZBoard is utter trash compared to the Boosted Board. Build quality, ease of operation, sound of operation, ride quality are all far superior on the Boosted Board.
- johnyzee 12y agoAs someone with a fair amount of experience on an electric board (ZBoard type), I like that Boosted puts the battery packs and electronics at either end of the board. Other boards have the battery pack in the middle and it gets in the way of clearing obstacles. Also, hand controller works nicely for me so I see no obvious advantage to having my weight distribution impact the board's motion.
- pkrumins 12y ago$999 seems a bit pricey.
- lnanek2 12y agoHow so? A brand new 49cc moped is around $2k in the states. This is a low production scale electrical vehicle with no gas use for half that.
- jdhawk 12y agoMostly because I can get a 12-15mile range foldable scooter for $500. http://www.amazon.com/Super-1000watt-Electric-Scooter-button/dp/B001T8E6KM/ref=sr_1_8?s=action-sports&ie=UTF8&qid=1416674161&sr=1-8&keywords=electric+moped http://www.amazon.com/Super-1000watt-Electric-Scooter-button...
- conductr 12y agoI'd gladly pay a little extra to get the size and weight of the board vs this 75 lb scooter; that despite folding does not seem practical at all. Also, there's obviously a cool factor built in the price. This board is the tesla to your Nissan Leaf.
- pkaye 12y agoThey should call it a "Scooty Puff Jr".
- 27182818284 12y agoI was kind of excited to buy one of these, but you know, winter is coming. Look forward to the improvements that are out when spring arrives.
- Titanbase 12y agoChristmas is coming!
- revelation 12y agoWhy does an electic skateboard need 2kW motors when motorized bicycles work just fine up to 18mph with 250W of support?
- Joeri 12y agoSkateboards apparently have a much higher rolling resistance than bicycles: http://books.google.be/books?id=0JJo6DlF9iMC&lpg=PA162&ots=TtUEFT9rl6&dq=rolling%20resistance%20skateboard%20bicycle&hl=nl&pg=PA162#v=onepage&q=rolling%20resistance%20skateboard%20bicycle&f=false http://books.google.be/books?id=0JJo6DlF9iMC&lpg=PA162&ots=T...
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- NickM 12y agoI can only speculate, but perhaps it has to do with the regenerative braking the boards provide. On an e-bike you still have friction brakes, but on one of these boards you need to be able to brake quickly using the electric motors. More powerful motors, while perhaps not strictly necessary, would also provide quicker acceleration. For a product that's designed to be fun, this might matter more, vs e-bikes which are mostly designed to be primarily utilitarian.
- stevenrace 12y agoBecause it's fun. To be fair, 250W on an ebike is 'not fun' or anywhere close to the legal limits in the US (750-1000W). The happy spot seems to be 2500-5000W for most hub driven ebikes. I turned my bike down to 1000W this afternoon and couldn't imagine running anything less. Endless-sphere [1] is the place to go if you're interested in eskateboards/ebikes with a bent towards DIY/highpower. [1] http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=35 http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=35
- skdoo 12y agoThe power multiple between a Boosted board and others' technology is the same as between a Tesla Model S and a Nissan Leaf. Both cars can go at highway speeds. The extra power of a Boosted board is important for practical reasons, like hill-climbing and braking, and for fun.
- mahyarm 12y agoBecause electric skateboards cannot be used in the rain, I'm wondering if there are any other last mile commute vehicles that are electric but wouldn't require a special bike rack on the train, since they are usually full at commute hours. The nice thing about the skateboard is its compactness
- eCa 12y agoWhat is the advantage of something like this compared to something like an Airwheel [1]? [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tz05Cyzuo1Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tz05Cyzuo1Y
- gvr 12y agoI wonder if Boosted Boards has tried putting the propulsion system on a regular skate deck instead of a longboard. Looking at the powered truck design it seems it should be doable. It seems the market would be bigger since most skaters don't ride longboards.
- skdoo 12y agoOne of the founders here. If anyone would like to try one, please email us at community@boostedboards.com!
- nextstep 12y agoFrom the FAQ (http://boostedboards.com/faq/ http://boostedboards.com/faq/): >BRAKING DOWNHILL ON A FULL BATTERY WILL CAUSE BOARD SHUTDOWN since the regen will overcharge the battery. To prevent this from happening, the remote will warn you by beeping, and you’ll lose your braking power. Safely come to a stop before this happens, and ride on flats or uphill to drain the battery. This seems like a pretty big design flaw.
- jamesaguilar 12y agoIt's not so much a design flaw as physics. Without adding brakes, what else could they do? They only have two energy sinks on board. The wheels aren't a sink when going downhill and the battery isn't a sink once it is full (unless you enjoy explosions[1]). [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQ27lAAwGsY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQ27lAAwGsY
- Ecio78 12y agosemi joke: what about dissipating energy in excess via heat, sound and flames? :) more seriously: what about having a setting for not fully charging the battery (let's say 80-90%), possibly user configurable, so if you don't risk your life if you forget about it? and finally a question: how does a Prius work? according to this[1] The amount of electrical energy capable of dissipation is limited by either the capacity of the supply system to absorb this energy or on the state of charge of the battery or capacitors. Effective regenerative braking can only occur if the battery or capacitors are not fully charged. For this reason, it is normal to also incorporate dynamic braking to absorb the excess energy. Searching online I found this[2] that seems to be not that far from my semi joke :) as a user says "instead of taking that energy and putting into the battery, the engine throws it off as heat." But it's also true that a Prius is way more complex and bigger, so it could have more features put in place compared to a small board like this. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regenerative_brake http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regenerative_brake [2] http://priuschat.com/threads/fully-charged-hv-battery-no-regenerative-braking.93230/#axzz3JsRbhwcD http://priuschat.com/threads/fully-charged-hv-battery-no-reg...
- 12y ago
- shawn-butler 12y agoBoosted used as an adjective where I come from means stolen. What is the lifetime on the wheels? At $1500 I would almost want a grease port to maintain it on my own.
- skdoo 12y agoMany boards have run over 1000 miles, and we have yet to replace wheels due to wear. Maintenance involves replacing bearings, and eventually wheels, but no grease port.
- coralreef 12y agoI'd love to own one of these one day. Anyone think they can get the top model's quality at a price below $1k in a few years?
- skdoo 12y agoThe top model has the best performance, but the quality of all models is equally high. There's a floor to how cheaply this technology can be built today without compromising quality and long-term reliability.
- arm 12y agoHa, what a coincidence. I see this on Hacker News a day after reading this¹ (found here²). ―――――― ¹ — http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=904577#p904577 http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=904577#p904... ² — http://www.ebikes.ca/news/Electrafest/ http://www.ebikes.ca/news/Electrafest/