10/23/2015
Electric Skateboards all over the World
A “car in a bag” is a brand new inventory, Kuniako Saito, a young Japanese engineer of Cocoa Motors has implemented it. It is a tiny, lightweight, portable personal transporter with a lithium battery, it is so small that you can put it in a mid-sized bag. Japanese are known for their tiny, very sophisticated electronic devices. You must have heard the joke. How can you recognize a Russian covert listening device? There is a human-sized filing cabinet in the room. How can you recognize a Japanese device? A fly in the room has an extra leg.
A WalkCar is about the size of a laptop. It looks like a skateboard, however, it is battery-powered. The sleek device is made of aluminum, it weighs about 4.4 to 6.6 pounds. There exist two main types of WalkCars, one version you can use within buildings, the other version is for outdoor use. It is sturdy, it is able to carry 265 pounds. It also helps you to push wheelchairs effortlessly. After three hours of charging, you can use it at its top speed - 6.2 miles per hour - for a 7.4-mile ride.
A WalkCaris easy to operate. When you steps on it, it starts on its own accord; when you step off of it, it will stop. If you shift your weight, it changes directions accordingly.
Saito has based his idea on the electric car motor control systems he was dealing with.
There are established personal transporters on the market; in the United States, the Segway, and in Japan, Winglet by Toyota. However, these devices are electric scooters and not skateboards, they are much larger and heavier than WalkCars. Sato is proud of his portable device, since it is original and unique.
Saito wants to finance his idea from a Kickstarter campaign that has started in October 2015; this is where potential customers are able to reserve a product. Saito hopes that WalkCar will hit the American, Japanese and European markets in the spring of 2016. A WalkCar will cost 100,000 yen, $800.
During the past couple of years, electric skateboards appeared on crowdfunding websites, for example, the Bolt, the invention of Italian son and father, Lorenzo and Giuseppe Cella. They created the first prototypes when Lorenzo had to walk to his university one and a half hour every day, so he, along with his father, decided to find a more convenient and faster way of transportation. The Bolt is a 23.5 inches long skateboard, it weighs 8.8 pounds, its battery and 2,000 W motor are built into the wooden body. The device is less sturdy, durable and exquisite than its Japanese counterpart, but it is somewhat faster and easier to charge, its top speed is 13 miles per hour, and you can charge its 5,000 mAh lithium battery within one hour. A year’s worth of recharging will cost you $5 - you can say using the Bolt is inexpensive. You can start and stop the device with a hand-held remote control that has a joystick. It has front and rear lights, so you can use it after nightfall.
Lorenzo Cella is working on a mobile app for the Bolt. The electric skateboard is Bluetooth-connected.
A startup from San Francisco, Boosted Boards, also came up with electric skateboards. You can take 6-mile rides with their device. The enterprise promotes its product as the lightest electric vehicle of the world. According to Boosted Boards, it is a complementary device of other means of transportation, for example, if your bus stop or subway station is about two miles from your destination, Boosted Boards is your best bet. The company used high quality skateboard parts from the best skateboard brands. The device weighs 12 to 15 pounds (which means it is much heavier than a WalkCar). Its top speed is 20 mph. You can manage the device with a handheld remote control. It works with a lithium battery that you can charge within two hours. The motor power is 2,000 W. Boosted Boards also uses Kickstarter as alternative resources. You can pre-order your board for $1.199. The first products will appear on the market in March 2016.
