Electric Vehicles

I'm team e-bike. I've ridden e-scooters, never an e-moto.

The classic problems with the e-scooters are a high centre of gravity, short wheel base, and small wheels.

The e-moto addresses these to some minimal extent, but an e-bike really resolves these problems entirely.

For a personal buying decision I'm ambivalent - if it suits your purpose then fine.

At a regulatory level I have significant concerns. As tech improves it's basically a motorbike that doesn't require a license. They look small and manageable so drivers / riders have an unreasonable level of confidence.

I have a "wobbly & dangerous" escooter. I ride it quite a bit. I take it to the grocery store. I have a large rectangular insulated backpack to carry my groceries.

Ask your local ER how many people come in on a regular basis with serious injuries from riding these scooters with tiny roller blade wheels.

I bought a solid tire version that I had a ton of fun with.

Very useful, range of 10 or 11 miles, more than enough for getting to the supermarket or picking up stuff.

I got an e-bike a couple days ago for extended range, and a flattire the second day.

solid tires are my favorite, and for me, it's not that bumpy or uncomfortableb like i heard. If my little scooter had 30 miles of range, instead of 10, I 100% would have just kept using that.

I wouldn't call any vehicle, electric or not, "hands-free". That is simply dangerous marketing.

Personally, I like bicycles over scooters because it is more of an open ecosystem. Many people know how to fix/maintain bikes, the tools and parts are mostly interchangeable between different bike manufacturers, and there are many accessories available that are universal.

You can even buy kits to electrify regular bicycles.

There are some lime scooters near me in this style, they're nice for something like a small grocery run. I think that image really oversells the idea, though- you could accomplish the same thing with a hook on the upright between the handlebars (I think the Brits call that a curry hook?)

My bosses son lost his licence a few months ago through no fault of his own. He has been using one of these to get between work-train station and trainstation-home.

He went to the pub the other night and was pulled over by Highway Patrol. Turns out, his model is now classed as a motorcycle and you need a motorcycle licence to ride.

You also need a 0.00% BAC to ride a motorcycle so he was don’t for riding without a licence and also being over the limit. When he gets his licence back, he will need an Interlock installed!

The cop told him that he would have been better off driving his car because then he would only have been done for unlicensed driving!

I use those "public" e-scooters to commute and I find them fun to use. Sometimes, I switch to bikes whenever available. I particularly like that they have turning signals which is usually not on bikes so you have to gesture with your hand.

I haven't tested one, but I looked into them recently as a potential option for getting around a little faster than my wheelchair. A lot of places in the US classify them as a motorized vehicle, therefore legally they should be ridden on the road, which I do not feel great about - there's a reason why I didn't look into e-bikes as an option for me and it's because due to my brain fog I lack situational awareness to be able to dodge cars. But luckily my city has no regulations about them and so I could probably get aware with riding one (slowly) on the sidewalk, except our sidewalks are insanely bumpy, so there goes that.

I've heard a lot of people enjoy them for short distances though. It just didn't end up being viable for my needs

TL;DR: looked into e scooters as an option for getting around with a disability (can't drive), determined that I'd be better off with an e-bike which I can't use anyway

I use the sharing services regularly and they work just fine :) Especially great when the tram is on strike

I’ve got an e-bike and a child carrier that I can attach. The kids are almost too big to sit in it, but it works perfect for storage. Grocery shopping for my family, check. Picking up large parcels, check. Getting rid of garbage at the recycling center, check. E-scooters are in my view extremely unnecessary and dangerous

I actually like the kind on the left but the pavement is too uneven here to ride either

The local layabouts like these: they’re quiet, so they can come up to your house in the middle of the night without being heard, and they can carry a small load, so anything they steal from your yard can easily be transported.

They’re also fast enough and heavy enough that they can run over and do serious damage to pedestrians.