Electric Scooters

Electric kick scooters, like the 1990s Razor kick scooters, have two wheels, a frame called a deck, and steering handlebars. Due to the inclusion of a battery, sensors, larger (often air-filled) tires, and an electric motor, they are different from the unmotorized kick scooters of the 90s.

While most scooters are intended for riding while standing on the deck, some scooters can be converted with optional accessories into seated electric scooters.

Recently, there has been a huge increase in scooter interest, fueled primarily by their infamous overnight introduction into cities by scooter sharing companies such as Lime and Bird.

Scooter sharing has enhanced the understanding of micromobility among the general public and driven personal market growth. The personal market boom has led to hundreds of different models of electric scooters being imported by a large number of different brands.

While most businesses make adult electric scooters, some businesses, especially Razor, are targeting the market for children and young teenagers.

Adult Electric Scooters

The most prevalent type of scooter available on the market is adult electric scooters. Since they have greater weight capacity, usually about 220 lbs (100 kg), more powerful engines, larger battery, larger floor, and a larger stem, they vary from electric scooters intended for children. Adult-friendly electric scooters often appear to cost at least $300, while an electric scooter designed for children will usually cost less than $200.

Boosted, Glion, GoTrax, Xiaomi, Swagtron, Zero and Fluid FreeRide, Kaabo, and MiniMotors are some common brands of electric scooters for adults.

The Xiaomi Mi M365, Dualtron, Wide Wheel, Zero 10X, Boosted Rev and Wolf Warrior 11 are some noteworthy models.

A standard adult scooter weighs less than 30 lbs, has a 250-watt engine, a lithium-ion battery of 250 watts per hour, has a top speed of 15 mph, a range of 10 miles, and costs around $500.

Please note that these prices are an estimated guess values and the real prices can be checked on our Electric Scooters Online Shop in Dubai if you are buying from UAE.

Scooters For Kids

Usually, electric scooters designed for children or teenagers are smaller , lighter, and less costly than their adult counterparts. They are also made of less robust materials such as plastic, have poor engines and may also contain lead-acid batteries with a low energy density.

It is noteworthy that electric scooters for children are usually not anything more than toys and should be used as such. They can not be used on public roads or ridden by adults for cycling.

Some famous electric scooter brands for children are: Razor and Jetson.

A standard children’s electric scooter weighs about 20 lbs, has a 150-watt motor, a 100-watt-hour battery, a range of 3 miles, and costs about $200 (either sealed lead acid or lithium-ion).

Note: An adult electric scooter should be used by larger or taller adolescents since a children’s scooter would possibly be too small and under-powered.

Electric Scooters Seated

Seated electric scooters are built mainly for adults and are made more comfortable for longer journeys. Most electric scooters do not come with a seat, but many are offered as separate accessories with optional seat attachments.

The ability to fold is a hallmark of the modern e-scooter, making it both compact for transporting and comfortable for storage. This is, relative to electric bicycles, the biggest benefit of folding electric scooters. This usually removes its folding potential when a seat is attached to an electric scooter and, in our eyes, decreases many of the benefits of folding e-scooters.

If you need a scooter with a bench, you might instead consider an electric bicycle. For longer distances, electric bicycles are usually easier to ride, quicker, and more convenient. For easier carrying, you can not fold them up, but you can not fold a seated electric scooter either.

Electric Scooter’s Anatomy

Parts of Electric Scooter

There are a handful of different parts for electric scooters, but the main ones are: batteries, brakes, controllers, decks, handlebars, lights, motors, stems, suspension, and tires.

Batteries

Many individual cells that are assembled together are made up of electric scooter battery packs.

“The batteries are the electric scooter’s” gas tank. They store the energy, including lights, that is consumed by the electric motor and other accessories.

Most electric scooters would have a battery pack consisting of lithium-ion battery cells, but there are actually lead-acid batteries for some electric scooters for kids and other cheap scooters.

Batteries, which is a measure of their power, are rated in watt-hours, abbreviated Wh. One of the essential factors deciding the range of electric scooters is battery power. A average budget scooter would have a capacity of about 250 watt-hours, while nearly 3,000 watt-hours can be used for monster scooters.

Brakes

For staying safe and in control while riding an electric scooter, a quality braking system, such as the disc brake picture above, is critical.

Brakes are what slow down the electric scooter, much like those on a car or bicycle. It is possible to classify electric scooter brakes into two categories: mechanical and electronic.

Mechanical braking systems are those used to slow down the scooter by a physical mechanism that are: disk, drum, that foot brakes.

Electronic braking systems rely on the use of the engine itself for braking and provide electronic and regenerative braking systems in their entirety.

Mechanical braking systems can usually have much better braking than electronic systems. Electronic devices, however, benefit from not having any frequent updates or maintenance.

Many scooters would have a mix of braking systems, both electronic and mechanical. We suggest scooters that have at least two braking systems in case one fails, for safety reasons.

Controller

Based on the accelerator input, the speed controller sends power to the motor.

An electronic part buried deep within the scooter that regulates the flow of current from the battery to the motor is the speed controller. Usually, with several wires coming out of them, they look like rectangular metal containers. As a heat sync, the metal enclosure serves. Inputs from the accelerator and (electronic) brake controls are received by the controller and converted into a current that is sent to the motor.

Based on the voltage and current they are able to regulate, controllers are classified. Scooters with more powerful engines would have higher peak voltage and higher peak current ratings controllers.

Controllers are one of the electric scooter’s most under-appreciated elements because they do their job most of the time quietly. When things go wrong, they can be a major cause of headaches (or make the scooter unsafe). It is understood that certain badly built scooter controls fail or malfunction.

Deck

The platform on which you stand when riding is the deck. To have greater traction, many are rubberized.

The electric scooter deck is the thing you are standing on, like that of a skateboard. The battery pack is mounted into the deck with some electric kick scooters.

Most decks have a textured finish of some kind that offers better grip between your shoes and the scooter. Some scooters have a sloped deck, like the Rev pictured above, which gives you more room to position your feet.

The standard scooter deck size is 14 “by 5” inches and gives ground clearance of a few inches.

Handlebars

Your key link with the scooter is the handlebars. All controls, including the accelerator, brakes, show of speed / settings, and power buttons are fitted with them.

There will be folding handlebars for the most compact electric scooters that significantly minimize their width and bring the scooter down to a very transportable and storable size.

Lights

To see and remain visible at night, good scooter lighting is necessary. Unfortunately, many of the scooters we test have built-in lighting that is mediocre.

At least one LED headlight and a brake-activated tail light come with almost every e-scooter. In addition, many scooters often have multi-colored LEDs from under the deck that wrap around or shine. This kind of lighting swag is what we want to call lighting.

Swag and deck lighting are excellent for enhancing your scooter ‘s visibility and cool factor, but no substitute for solid headlights and taillights.

Sadly, many electric scooters have faint, sorrowful lights. This is why, for safe riding at night, we almost always suggest additional lighting.

Motor

There are hub motors built into one or both wheels for adult electric scooters. The Big Wheel powerhouse pictured above has dual 500-watt motors.

Electric scooters have electric motors with brushless direct current (BLDC) that are integrated into the wheel hub. All electric kick scooters have at least one engine, while there would be two more powerful ones.

Based on their power consumption, which is expressed in units of watts, electric engines are rated. There would be greater wattage for more powerful motors.

An average e-scooter will have a 250 watt motor, like the Mi M365; an intermediate scooter like the Horizon will have a 500 watt motor; scooters of high performance will have dual 1200 watt motors, like the Wolf Warrior.

Stem

The stem is a folding metal tube that links the front wheels to the handlebars. The folding mechanism on some electric scooters is a source of annoyance due to instability.

The long tube attached to the front wheel and running up to the handlebars is the stem or neck of the electric scooter.

To allow easy carrying and storage, almost every scooter has a folding mechanism built into the stem. We always spend a lot of time concentrating on this unsuspecting aspect in our e-scooter reviews. Yet, for good reason, this is. It can be difficult to operate with the folding mechanism or it can be loose or fragile. You’ll find the whole stem shaking back and fourth, a condition we call stem wobble, when you apply force to the handlebars. One of the major downsides of folding electric scooters is this.

Unfortunately, it is not only the low-end scooters with weak stem folding mechanisms that suffer. In spite of their otherwise immense efficiency, the high-end Dualtron scooters are notorious for this problem.

Suspension

There is no suspension for many electric scooters, although high-performance models, such as the one shown above, feature a beefy coil-over-hydraulic suspension.

The e scooter suspension, like that on a motor vehicle or bicycle, helps to improve the consistency of riding and damp road bumps.

Usually found on electric scooters, there are three main types of suspension systems: spring, hydraulic or air piston, and rubber suspension. Scooters with the strongest suspension, a combination called coil-over-hydraulic or coil-over-air, would have a combination of spring and piston.

In favor of large pneumatic tires that have damping effects, many scooters forgo suspension. A better type of suspension than cheap spring suspensions can be provided by broad pneumatic tires.

Tires

In an emergency, tires give you traction to drive or stop. Airless tires do not work as well as pneumatic tires, like those pictured above.

Tires are your link to the quality of your electric kick scooter’s road and impact trip, traction, range, and braking efficiency.

Basically, tires come in two types: pneumatic (airfilled) and airless. There are a few airless tire variants and these include: honeycomb, polymer-filled, and solid.

Pneumatic tires are often recommended because they offer improved driving consistency (with or without suspension) and their flexible rubber performs much improved under adverse road conditions.

How To Buy An Electric Scooter?

It can be a massive challenge to purchase an electric scooter-there are an enormous number of options, a quality electric scooter is easily $500 and can cost upwards of $2,000. A variety of questionable “review” sites and reviewers who have never touched a scooter in their lives are throwing a wrench into the issues.

You can also check out our Electric Scooters in UAE shop if you are planning to buy in Dubai or any other emirate.

Increased Popularity of Electric Scooters

Electric scooters are fast becoming the most commonly used type of alternative transport. You are versatile, green, and buying one isn’t costly at all. Because of this, figures are little to no surprise at all, at least 17 checked European countries have got these electric scooters daily as ‘natural traffic.’ These little whizzing wonders fill cities such as Brussels, Barcelona, and Paris, mainly due to companies that rent them out. For example , the American Mobility Supplier ‘Bird’ is involved in over 100 cities across North America and the EU combined.

History Of Electric Scooters

The scooter has evolved over the years, beginning with the foot-pushed scooter, becoming a scooter with an internal combustion engine (with gasoline) and becoming an electric scooter driven by the power of an electric motor.

There are many hypotheses on when and who created the electric scooter at the start of its development and used it for the first time.

According to some theories, many decades ago, the ancestor of the current electric scooter was the Autoped, developed as a whim for the rich, with whom they wanted to prove their superiority over other social classes. Other theories claim that the president of a Taiwanese corporation, named Gino Tsai, was the maker of the first electric scooter. Instead of a wheelchair, he built an electric scooter, because he had mobility issues.

Nevertheless, the most credible hypothesis backed by actual historical evidence and dates is that of the electric scooter built in Brussels by the Sovovel Electric company. In 1936, during the German occupation, due to the lack of petrol, the two brothers, the company’s owners, discovered an alternative method for the production of their scooters, allowing them operate with electric power.

Since then, on a technical and aesthetic basis, the electric scooter has had a long journey and many improvements.

Interesting Facts of Electric Scooters

• An experiment has been undertaken to find alternate means of transportation because of the large number of traffic jams due to heavy traffic in New York. The experiment was performed with an electric scooter and showed that one saves 30 minutes on each ride while driving in the bike lane.
• If 10,000 people were to use electric scooters instead of cars in a big city, pollution would be decreased by 35,000,000 grams per day.
• The users made a combined trip of a total of 300,000 km in the first 4 days after the legalization of the use of electric scooters in Germany.
• As they are convenient, fast, easy to transport and store, and most importantly, they are eco-friendly, electric scooters are considered the most effective means of transport.
• In 1810, in dictionaries, the word “scooter” was first registered.
• The majority of electric scooter users are men.
• For relatively short trips and journeys, users also use electric scooters.
• Among young people, the use of electric scooters is more common.

Most of this knowledge seems very shocking, but the fact that more unnecessary use is not extended to electric scooters is even more shocking.

Micromobility With Electric Scooters

Electric scooter transportation is all part of the latest micromobility movement that solves the so-called last mile problem. If it’s walking from the bus station to your office or leaving a highway in a car to go to a particular destination, the last mile issue relates to the last leg of a journey.

Paradoxically, despite being the shortest, the leg of a voyage appears to be the slowest and most difficult. This is because public transportation and road networks are both optimized to connect large population centers separated by larger distances. Multilane highways connect major cities, separated by tens or hundreds of miles. Think about it. You can go 60 miles in an hour or about a mile a minute at average highway speeds.

After you have left the highway, however, your last mile or so could take 15 minutes or more!

This is where all forms of micro-mobility are brought into action by electric scooters, bike sharing, electric skateboards, etc. They make it quicker, faster, and more environmentally friendly to drive the last mile of your journey.

An electric scooter is the ideal choice for you if you have to ride only a few miles to work or have to walk from a bus stop or transit center.

Electric Scooters vs Bicycles

Electric scooters are more compact compared to motorcycles, are less susceptible to theft, and require less physical effort than a bicycle. With no physical effort, they allow you to get to your destination at speeds of around 15 mph. You will arrive more easily at your destination, fold up the scooter, and take it inside. You won’t be sweaty because they need zero physical activity, as you would if you were to ride a bike at that pace.

They also have some drawbacks that, in some situations, may make bicycles a better choice. These are: within power, stability and cost.

If you can’t or can’t physically carry your electric scooter inside, then a bike could be better. It is not optimal to lock an electric scooter up on the street for a long period of time; they seem to be more vulnerable to theft, vandalism, and due to lack of locking points, they are more difficult to lock.

Bicycles are more stable and safer on rugged roads, due to their geometry and wider tires. Adult scooters have relatively tiny tires and do not easily roll over bumps. They also have a more upright steering angle that makes them less stable naturally and more prone to wobbles that have sent down many scooter riders.

Finally, it is more costly for adult electric scooters than a quality entry-level bicycle. You can cost about $300 on an entry-level bike and be much more durable. Crashing on a bicycle is unlikely to hurt most, while after a crash, many scooters, particularly budget ones, can be made entirely inoperable.

Laws For The Use Of Electric Scooters

Prior to riding an adult electric scooter on roads or in public places, you should first check your local and state regulations. It is not appropriate to take the information given here about laws as legal advice.

Electric scooter regulations differ a great deal by state and city. Motorized electric scooters are absolutely banned in some jurisdictions.

In general, most jurisdictions are beginning to regulate them in the same way as bicycles, where they are legal. Usually, they must be ridden on the street or in bike lanes and they are prohibited from riding on sidewalks or pedestrian paths.

Like a bicycle, all traffic rules that cars have to comply with must be obeyed. This means waiting at signals for breaks and red lights.

Are These Electric Scooters Safe?

Users can make longer trips than they normally do because of the ease with which electric scooters are powered and their battery power. This is possibly because of the feeling of lack of protection.

Electric scooter manufacturers produce various models with different designs and a wide range of technological characteristics in order to solve and neutralize this issue, each of which brings a different benefit to its users.

Clearly, half of the liability for protection when driving an electric scooter depends on the actions of the operator. The driver is the one who must comply with the criteria for driving and road protective (wearing safety clothing, driving only in designated areas, etc.) in order to be able to ensure a 100 % safe journey for both himself and the vehicles and pedestrians.

Protection equipment, including a helmet, is an absolute must while riding an electric scooter at any speed. You can need more or less equipment according to the speed and type of riding conditions you face.

Safety measures capable of preventing accidents and reducing injuries include:

• Helmet
• Gloves
• Knee pads
• Elbow pads
• Protective jacket and pants
• Lights
• Horn

Conclusion

The use of these electric scooters in cities like Dubai, New York, Londong, Singapore and all the other big cities is increasing constantly. This is because of its ease to use and fast mobility in a traffic packed areas. And to top it all of, its eco friendly way of transportation.

To check out different kinds of e scooters in Dubai and their prices with all other features, do check out our shop here: https://www.starwheeler.com/product-category/electric-scooter/