3 ms·

Electric scooter design that makes a hole lot of sense

17 points by pointillistic 12y ago

tonypace 12y ago
This looks like it would be insanely difficult to park. Plus, there's nowhere to put your feet, though that's easily remedied.
lozf 12y ago
Article dated 15 July 2013
JoeAltmaier 12y ago
How about: a regular scooter with a small one-wheel trailer?
Aardwolf 12y ago
Nice for loads, but I don't see how you could sit with multiple people on it.
- OneOneOneOne 12y ago
  Good point. In Vietnam I witnessed a family of four riding a single scooter. Baby brother was standing on the seat between mom and big sister!
  - Roboprog 12y ago
    Seeing that kind of thing in downtown Hyderabad made me want to cry.
bazzargh 12y ago
An electric-assist bakfiets (dutch-style cargo bike) costs around €1600 - way less than this thing; and it works when out of juice. The scooter is probably a bit faster, but with the speed of city traffic and 30km/h / 20mph zones popping up all over, I don't see much of an advantage there. Of course, the market has room for many variations on a theme. But it also makes me wonder if the motivation for variation sometimes isn't like the design of the Strida (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strida https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strida). According to an interview Mark Sanders (the designer) gave on TV in the 80s, that was originally designed with an X frame and looked more like a normal bike, but then they did a patent search and discovered a folding bike with that design in Asia. So Mark redesigned it to the A frame you see today not because it was better from an engineering/design standpoint, but to make a protectable design. I'd be surprised if this company didn't have a sheaf of patents in its pocket.
Roboprog 12y ago
Comparison by "price point", gotta love it. "This costs about the same as other $5000 scooters!" Sounds a bit high to market in India to me.
Urbanxassassin 12y ago
Where the fucking 'w' in hole.
fuzzythinker 12y ago
Note that the article is dated 2013. The company http://litmotors.com http://litmotors.com has now pivoted (don't see that scooter anywhere on its website) to a bigger personal vehicle.
howlingfantods 12y ago
I live in China. An electric scooter here is 500 USD, and that's the nice model that expatriates buy.

17 points by pointillistic 12y ago

This looks like it would be insanely difficult to park. Plus, there's nowhere to put your feet, though that's easily remedied.

lozf 12y ago

Article dated 15 July 2013

JoeAltmaier 12y ago

How about: a regular scooter with a small one-wheel trailer?

Aardwolf 12y ago

Nice for loads, but I don't see how you could sit with multiple people on it.

OneOneOneOne 12y ago
Good point. In Vietnam I witnessed a family of four riding a single scooter. Baby brother was standing on the seat between mom and big sister!
- Roboprog 12y ago
  Seeing that kind of thing in downtown Hyderabad made me want to cry.

bazzargh 12y ago

An electric-assist bakfiets (dutch-style cargo bike) costs around €1600 - way less than this thing; and it works when out of juice. The scooter is probably a bit faster, but with the speed of city traffic and 30km/h / 20mph zones popping up all over, I don't see much of an advantage there. Of course, the market has room for many variations on a theme. But it also makes me wonder if the motivation for variation sometimes isn't like the design of the Strida (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strida https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strida). According to an interview Mark Sanders (the designer) gave on TV in the 80s, that was originally designed with an X frame and looked more like a normal bike, but then they did a patent search and discovered a folding bike with that design in Asia. So Mark redesigned it to the A frame you see today not because it was better from an engineering/design standpoint, but to make a protectable design. I'd be surprised if this company didn't have a sheaf of patents in its pocket.

Roboprog 12y ago

Comparison by "price point", gotta love it. "This costs about the same as other $5000 scooters!" Sounds a bit high to market in India to me.

Urbanxassassin 12y ago

Where the fucking 'w' in hole.

fuzzythinker 12y ago

Note that the article is dated 2013. The company http://litmotors.com http://litmotors.com has now pivoted (don't see that scooter anywhere on its website) to a bigger personal vehicle.

howlingfantods 12y ago

I live in China. An electric scooter here is 500 USD, and that's the nice model that expatriates buy.