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A comment on Segway was supposed to change the world. Two decades later, it just might. Parent comment

Re:Segway was supposed to change the world. Two decades late... by 27182818284 on Saturday November 03, 2018 @10:36PM (#18373771)
I'm not with you on this one.

I don't live in California and the amount of electric scooters I've suddenly seen out of nowhere is crazy. It might be a fad, but unlike you, I'm more like 30% thinking it is a fad vs 100%.

My reasoning:

* Batteries have gotten better than even the basic Segway days

* The scooters are portable. You can fold them and take them in to your dorm, apartment, etc, preventing theft. A lot of work places won't complain about you charging them at work either

* The entry level price is so much lower. I never saw a casual person on a Segway, but I see casual people on the electric scooter bandwagon already

* There is also a large subset of folks that had Razor scooters. I wasn't part of that, but I can understand them being more willing to adopt if they had previously used unpowered scooters.

* Running in to someone might be a problem on San Francisco sidewalks, but it isn't on, say, ISU's sidewalks.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Segway was supposed to change the world. Two decades late... by cauldron on Saturday November 03, 2018 @11:25PM (#18374001)
Charging inside your house is very dangerous, especially in NA where most houses are wooden.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EljeP5XmETA

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Segway was supposed to change the world. Two decades late... by randyrand on Sunday November 04, 2018 @01:07AM (#18374353)
Same is true of cellphones and laptops. It depends on the brand.
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Re:Segway was supposed to change the world. Two decades late... by cauldron on Sunday November 04, 2018 @01:29AM (#18374414)
1 scooter battery equals several or tens of notebook batteries, mobile devices generally use safer li polymer ones nowadays.

These scooter batteries sustain intense charging and discharging cycles, I won't bet my house and life on it.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Segway was supposed to change the world. Two decades late... by androidgirl on Sunday November 04, 2018 @01:46AM (#18374467)
At my hackerspace we charge our 18650 cells inside those green ammo boxes. Battery lockboxes are a way to stay pretty safe, even if a li-on, li-po, or lead acid battery explodes, in a steel box it can't do so much.

Obviously, doesn't help without removable batteries, which are more common on ebikes.

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Re:Segway was supposed to change the world. Two decades late... by crehn on Saturday November 03, 2018 @11:20PM (#18373973)
Same in Korea. Electric scooters everywhere. Even scooter rentals are popping up around the city.
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Re:Segway was supposed to change the world. Two decades late... by diogenescynic on Sunday November 04, 2018 @12:21AM (#18374206)
Korea is a lot more dense than California though and Korea has better public transportation to complement/supplement the scooters. The scooters are only going to work for people in denser cities. We need more high speed rail and mass transit options. These scooters are only a partial solution to a much larger and complex problem.
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Re:Segway was supposed to change the world. Two decades late... by readhn on Sunday November 04, 2018 @09:03PM (#18379307)
exactly. america is not just NYC&SF. Electric scooter is not going to solve bigger transportation infrastructure problem the one that really needs to be solved. I see at as a supplementary mode of transportation that will be MAYBE overall a 1% of the total solution.
[ Parent | on HN ]