Cities are becoming more congested and with rising gasoline prices pushing households to squeeze their budgets, electric scooters are emerging as a clean energy alternative. Many city workers are joining the gang that commutes daily to work through their electric scooters. Innovations in the industry are leading to faster, higher range scooters that can handle any terrain thrown their way.
You may be considering getting yourself one, but are still not clear how they work. For many years electric scooters were thought of as the preserve of kids but the adults are joining in the fun. An electric scooter is powered through a motor and batteries. Depending on the size of your battery, some electric scooters can hit speeds of up to 40 mph and have a range of over 45 miles before the next recharge.
Components of an electric scooter
The main components of the scooter involve the battery, frame, motor, brakes, throttle, motherboard, and tires. All these components work together to propel the scooter forward. At the heart of the electric scooter is the motherboard. This is what coordinates all the information about the scooter and shows each part what to do.
When you want to go forward, you press the throttle and this tells the scooter how fast you want to go. The motherboard picks this information and relays them to the battery which in turn releases the power to the motor. The signal from the motherboard will tell the motor how fast to rotate the wheels. You can view all the information about the distance you have covered, speed, and battery life from an LCD screen mounted on the handlebar.
Factors that influence how an electric scooter performs
Once you have decided that it is an electric scooter that you want, the next challenge is identifying the right scooter for you or your child. It can be frustrating purchasing this wonder looking scooter only for it to collapse on you after a few drives. Here we will show you some key components to getting the right scooter.
Type of Tires
The scooter tires will determine a lot how well you enjoy your ride. You can either have rubberized or air-filled tires. The rubberized tires all rubber – no air is added to them. They have the benefit of been low maintenance but come with the disadvantage of an inability to absorb scooter shock. This due to their hardness which makes them long-lasting. You do not have to worry about punctures and premature wear with rubberized tires.
Air-filled tires work in the same way as those in gasoline vehicles. The tires have rubber on the outside with a tube in the inside. The tires work great in absorbing shock during bumpy rides but come with the downside of being high maintenance. You will constantly need to check the tire pressure frequently and be prone to tire bursts. However, if you are planning on navigating rocky and bumpy terrain then go with these tires.
Next, you need to have a close look at the tire size. A good scooter should have a tire size of over 8 inches. This offers a smoother ride than the smaller tires; most of the high-end scooters will come with pneumatic tires.
Maximum Speed
The kind of speed you want in a scooter will largely be dependent on the size of the motor. Most electric scooters that have been used for commuting have an average speed of 15 mph. Kids scooters will have lower speeds to prevent the kids from unnecessary accidents. Recent innovations in battery power have produced scooters that are capable of hitting speeds of up to 40 mph. Note that city laws tend to curb the maximum speed for most scooters to around 15 mph and so you need to check with them for the speed limit before purchasing a scooter.
Battery power and range
When it comes to battery power electric scooters can either run on lead-acid or lithium-ion batteries. The lead-acid battery is affordable but comes with the downside of reduced power and high maintenance. Most of the electric scooters will use such kinds of batteries. High-end scooters use lithium-ion batteries which are pricier but come with a host of advantages like quick charging time, high power, durability, and low maintenance. They are also lighter than the lead-acid battery.
You should carefully check out the scooters charging time so that you don’t get stranded at work with no charge. High-end scooters have an average charging time of 3 to 4 hours while others can even take 10 hours to recharge.
What you don’t want is a heavy scooter. Since you are going to be using it to commute to work, you need something that is easily foldable and compact in size to fit small spaces. The range is how long the scooter will go on a full charge. Most scooters will have a range of between 10 to 20 miles but the high-end ones can even do 45 miles. Children’s electric scooters have a range of around 7 to 8 miles.
The motor rotates based on the power been supplied by the battery. For kids electric scooters most have a power of around 350 watts, which is enough for slow acceleration without putting the kid at risk. For commuting, you can go with scooters with a power of around 500 watts. This should give you a speed of around 15 mph, which is enough for climbing small hills. If you want to climb steep hills of an inclination angle of more than 30 degrees then go for those scooters with more than 1000 watts.
Conclusion
The nightmare of navigating traffic jams early in the morning has led to a preference for electric scooters as the preferred mode of transportation. Electric scooters are easily foldable and compact in size to store under metro seats, in the office, or in college. They enable you to ride in open spaces while you absorb your surrounding without polluting the atmosphere. Innovations in scooter technology have led to faster scooters that can hit speeds of up to 40 mph and with ranges above 40 miles.
The article tried to explain the question “How do electric scooters work?” in very detailed steps.