Electric Scooters

[intrepid44]

I'm thinking of getting one, and before anyone attacks me for being a greeny or the harbringer of doom. It makes a lot of sense for me, it would only be used to get me to uni in the morning, about a 1.5 mile walk through a park and relatively quiet residential streets. The scooter it self looks close to being a micro scooter, with a larger deck for the batteries and a box section at the back to containing the motor/drive. It has a 12mph maximum speed, a range of 12 miles, folds up and weighs only 12kg, so it's fairly practical for its intended use, allowing me to take into lecture theaters and so on.

However I'm not entirely sure of the legality, would it be allowed for use on cycle paths and pavements? As I'm finding it quite difficult to determine the correct classification of it with all the EU regulations, I'm thinking that it would possibly class as an electric bicycle, in which case it should be fine.

[kambites]

I might be wrong but I've a funny feeling that it's not actually legal to use them on paths, cycle tracks or on the road...

[sjg]

If it's capable of less than 15mph it's classed as a bicycle. More and it's a motorcycle.

But FFS, it's a 1.5 mile journey to uni. Buy a crappy old pushbike and a decent lock.

[Rakoosh]

If its 1.5 miles... have you not just thought of getting a bicycle instead...? That would be as quick as the electric scooter, and it would be a very small amount of excercise as well.

If the fact that it folds up is necessary then something like a brompton?


Unless you have a condition of some sort preventing you (in which case just ignore my post) - cycling really is the best answer in my opinion?

1.5 miles you would not even break a sweat if you kept a sedate pace.

[anonymous-user]

Walk.

[AnotherClarkey]

sjg said:

If it's capable of less than 15mph it's classed as a bicycle. More and it's a motorcycle.

But FFS, it's a 1.5 mile journey to uni. Buy a crappy old pushbike and a decent lock.

It needs pedals to be classed as a bicycle - a scooter would not be road legal, regardless of speed.

Totally agree with the other sentiment. Sounds like a job for a Brompton.

[kambites]

I'd say it sounds like a job for a pair of shoes, personally.

[intrepid44]

It saves time, it's cheap, I just don't really want to risk my bike being stolen that's all. In fact compared to walking it would save approximately 45 minutes every day, which I would say is pretty significant.

If you could save that time on a commute, would you not do it?

[jimmyjam]

AnotherClarkey said:

It needs pedals to be classed as a bicycle - a scooter would not be road legal, regardless of speed.

Totally agree with the other sentiment. Sounds like a job for a Brompton.

Yep, plod told me off for being in road on an electric scooter and old ladies tutted when I was on pavement!...Get a bike

[kambites]

I would happily extend my commute by 45 minutes if my commute was a walk through a park (at least if it was a nice park).

[intrepid44]

But of course if it isn't legal, then it doesn't really matter tbh.

[kambites]

intrepid44 said:

But of course if it isn't legal, then it doesn't really matter tbh.

Nor, in many cases, is cycling through parks... but people still do it.

[sjg]

Also, on the practicality of carrying "only" 12kg about - I use a Brompton most days and that's a little over 10kg. Carrying it folded isn't something you want to do for long distances or up big flights of stairs. It's a very compact fold but it's can still be a pain to find places to stow it - in my student days, I'd certainly not want to cart one about to lecture theatres, labs, etc all the time.

I looked it up and AnotherClarkey is right - it wouldn't fall under the electric bicycle definition as it doesn't have pedals. It's not a mobility scooter (exceeds the 8mph requirement) so would have to go on the road. And motorized stuff on the road needs all the licencing, insurance, etc that goes with it.

There's a reason that bike racks on uni campuses are stuffed full - they're a great, cheap way to get about. I'll bet you can get a perfectly workable bike and a decent lock for substantially less than whatever chinese electric rubbish you're planning to waste your money on.

[djt100]

You need one like this. has pedals so road legal

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Electric-Moped-Electric-...

[intrepid44]

I'll probably end up just getting a really good lock for my bike then. I don't really want to spend £400 on a scooter, the ones I was look at are indeed cheap Chinese rubbish at around £80.