Is this the future? It's already here folks...

[babblefish]

The Gogoro Smartscooter is very interesting and I believe these will show up here in the States soon. Started in Taiwan (I believe) in 2015 and initially spreading around Asia, they are just getting to Europe and may soon be on our shores. I think the concept is great and hope they succeed.

http://inhabitat.com/gogoros-new-smarts ... portation/

Here's an excerpt from that story:

"The Gogoro Smartscooter is built from the ground-up with 100% new parts – including the motor, frame, suspension, bolts, batteries, and braking system. It can go from 0-31 mph in 4.2 seconds, it has a max speed of 60 mph, and it can travel over 60 miles before its batteries are expended.

The Smartscooter weighs in at a scant 207.2 pounds thanks to its ultralight chassis, which is sculpted from aerospace-grade aluminum. It’s tuned for performance with a racing suspension and perfect 50/50 balance between the front and rear wheels, and it can pull off some impressive feats of agility (like a 48.5 degree lean while cornering)."

In San Francisco, we already have an electric scooter rental outfit called Scoot that is very successful. Their electric scooters and very small quads (smaller than a Smart car) are all over the city and easily accessible in many locations. The rental fees are also very cheap.

https://scoot.co/

[az_slynch]

I like the scooter, particularly the power train.

I won't buy one under their current business model. I prefer to own my own fuel tank and I'm less than enamoured by all the telematics it sends back to Gogoro about how you ride, where you are and where you go. I see them having secondary business selling this data to insurance companies and advertisers, with other opportunities to profit from your data too. I also see malicious opportunities for appliances in the Internet Of Things.

For now, I'll keep my own fuel tank (leaves me with a choice in where I fuel) and my dumb appliance that's not harvesting data from me.

[ucandoit]

I fully support it IF it will indeed be kinder to our environment. I love riding my scooter and don't understand why more people in my city don't ride them. And, despite really enjoying working on my scooter and learning how it works, I would switch to an electric if that would be wiser and available.
In Thailand (Asia), women carry multiple children, goods, etc. everywhere on their scooters. I loved that about the culture there. (Although they also had many big, spanking-new Toyota pickups).
Using electric scooters is a start, but I think we need to slow our population rate--a lot. I know others won't agree, but there are simply too many of us.

[Dooglas]

I use an EV as a daily driver (Nissan Leaf) and would be happy to have an electric scooter in the garage if there were a practical design out there (in the US) at a reasonable price. As battery technology continues to improve, and battery manufacturing costs drop, I presume it is only a matter of time. And, yes, there are too many of us.

[babblefish]

Well, I agree that there's too many of us, but I can also say that I have not contributed to the overpopulation...at least as far as I know...

[babblefish]

Found a couple of YouTube videos on the electric quad offered for rent by Scoot, San Francisco. It's basically a Twizy made by Renault-Nissan. Unfortunately, the videos don't really tell you much about the quad. Here are some of it's basics:

Top Speed: limited to 25mph. It is actually able to get closer to 50, but is limited in the U.S. for some odd reason.
Range: 40 miles
Power: 17hp
Driven Wheels: rear
Cost to Rent: $6 for the first 30 minutes, $0.20 a minute after that.
Cost to Charge: $1 for a full charge from standard household power.
Charge Time: 3.5hrs

I think I'll rent one for a couple of hours just to try it out. Looks like a lot of fun. Plus, since I no longer have a car, I can go buy some much needed toilet paper...

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_CtJwEZYSZs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fos0Edw2Xkw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Mikestib1]

I assume it would be expensive to buy. If it can't be charged at home at 110v I wouldn't consider buying one. My present gas scooters get 70 to 90 mpg and are catalytic converter equipped so I don't think I'm a big polluter. Electric motors can produce huge power as Tesla has proven. Of course they are very expensive, and for me the affordability of scooters is a big factor.

[babblefish]

I assume it would be expensive to buy. If it can't be charged at home at 110v I wouldn't consider buying one. My present gas scooters get 70 to 90 mpg and are catalytic converter equipped so I don't think I'm a big polluter. Electric motors can produce huge power as Tesla has proven. Of course they are very expensive, and for me the affordability of scooters is a big factor.

I mentioned above that it charges from standard household power. At the present time, they are not for sale in the U.S. yet, though they have been selling in Europe and, I assume,in Asia for several years. From what I understand, there are only a dozen or so in the U.S. with 10 of those in San Francisco being used as rentals by Scoot. They are being used as "test mules" to access the market here. As with many things, the U.S. is again behind the rest of the world. As far as price, they sell for about £4700 in Great Britain, but the battery is not included and must be leased through Renault for about £40 a month. The one thing many people forget is that this thing is not meant to be a replacement for a petro powered car, but rather an enhancement or alternative to a 2-wheeled vehicle. Looked at as such, I personally think it's great.

Speaking of scooters and pollution, don't be fooled. We don't have enough scooters here in the States to make much of an impact, but in large numbers, even with a catalytic converter, scooters in mass do pollute. When I was living in Taiwan, the scooters out numbered cars 5:1 in the city I was in. Whenever the wind was not blowing the pollutants away, the air was so bad that it was hard to breathe without coughing. There are plenty of Asian cities where scooters/motorcycles are the main transport that have the same problem.