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grober

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Speaking to a neighbour who is just back from Shanghai- says you can't move for electric scooters. Largely replaced the IC motor cycle/scooter which have been driven off the roads thro hefty vehicle licencing. Charge anywhere there's a power outlet or remove the battery and charge elsewhere.
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Hi,
These are very popular in Abu Dhabi for people commuting around the city.
Also popular are the two wheel ride-on electric scooters - my son has the Ninebot ES2 - it goes about 25km/h and is very stable!
Cheers
Steve
 
Won't happen here, too much red tape

You may be fortunate then. I don't know the collective noun for scooters but there's a swarm of them here in Vilnius. The majotity are short term rentals that, quite literally, are picked up off the street and dumped back on the street when finished with. They have their own stands but why trouble with that. They're driven on pavements, cycle paths and roads silently at high speed and there are bound to be accidents and injuries. There are seemingly no rules, no insurance or regulation concerning helmets.

I should add that I'm not against scooters, just they way they have been allowed to become a risk to pedestrians in such an uncontrolled manner.

I think a "Menace of Scooters" is an appropriate collective and the UK would do well to resist the temptation to legalise their use except under strict conditions.
 
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There are plenty of electric bikes and scooters being used in the UK, albeit illegally. It would be helpful if the law caught up.
 
There are plenty of electric bikes and scooters being used in the UK, albeit illegally. It would be helpful if the law caught up.

Do you mean the law caught up with the riders or that it caught up with the fact that many could be used for short trips that cars are used for if the law treated them more like bicycles given they are no faster or more dangerous than bicycles?
Why is an electric bicycle ungoverned but an electric scooter is? The scooter has the advantage of compactness - ideal for the boot of a car. Proper 'park and ride'. Go-ped type scooters are a great opportunity missed.
 
I mean the law that passed in 1865 that prevents some of these personal electric transport methods, needs updating.

Electric bicycles are not ungoverned. Electrically assisted pedal cycle is a pretty specific definition. I think that should expand too.
 
Electric bicycles that are free from any road fund tax or insurance are only legal in the UK where they are electrically assisted i.e. you have to pedal to get any drive from the electric motor. There is also a maximum permitted power output from the motor and a maximum permitted speed. Where an electric bicycle can function independently of the pedals then it's classed as a motorcycle with all that entails. These toy scooters obviously then don't fall in the same category as an electric assisted bicycle which is probably why it's illegal to use them on the road.

I do see it as an opportunity missed but toy scooters don't seem safe enough at the moment. There would have to be some construction regulations created to ensure they were all built to a defined standard.
 
I have a petrol go-ped and it is probably built just above toy level and electrified it would be ideal for a 'park and ride' scenario. Even as a petrol it would be more effective than queuing in traffic in a car.
Over any bicycle (electric or standard) its compactness is a real bonus - no external drag inducing cycle rack required and if it could be recharged from the car's battery, better still. Something so light that it can be lifted with one hand really doesn't need a lot of regulation. Surely no more than a (standard) bicycle that is capable of travelling faster (significantly so on downhill gradients).
 

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