Remember Segway, the company that used to make those impossible looking, self-balancing, scooter things?
Of course, you do!
Well, its making a bit of a comeback, and its all grown up and sensible.
It no longer makes its eponymous self-balancing stand-on personal transportation devices.
Instead, it is now pivoting to more understandable and accepted forms of mobility, like electric scooters.
Honestly, Ive not been this excited for something with wheels in quite some time.
Whats new?
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Theres a bit of ambiguity over using the wordselectric scooterto describe what we have here.
Usually those words conjure images of the stand-on devices that are being trialed in sharing schemes across Europe.
The base model, the E110S, is the most affordable of the range.
The Launch Edition E110SE is the one Id recommend to most people.
The top of the line E125S is the one the style conscious will choose.
With the brown leather-style seat, and chrome detailing, its the classiest of the bunch.
The E125S comes with a dual battery set-up meaning its rated for up to 140 km of two-wheeled fun.
All the scooters come with an associated app, which has 4G and GPS tracking for the anti-theft system.
The scooter will also send a notification to the app if it falls over.
All pretty normal stuff these days.
How do they ride?
But I did get to test their acceleration, handling, and basic braking performance indoors.
Experienced riders will love this kind of thing.
The scooters are spirited, to say the least.
And they will no doubt come in useful on wet, and oily city roads.
These arent some kind of electric scooter restomod.
They have been designed from the ground up to be electric scooters.
There is 27 liters of storage in fact, thats enough for two helmets!
Whats more, the scooters battery is removable and can be swapped.
Fast charges take two hours, and that fills the battery to 80%.
Full charges take four hours.
The battery weighs about 10 kg, and has a convenient carry handle.
It makes it a heck of a lot more useful in cities where charging infrastructure isnt quite there yet.
The company has matured, and its products are far more inline with what consumers need.
It also had a hefty price tag, retailing at up to $8,000.
They are so affordable in fact, youll start to question your life choices.
Seriously, these make me wonder why people spend as much as they do on ebikes.
When you consider that some ebikes out there cost more, the scooters seem like great value for money.
This company has some serious scale, which helps support its competitive prices.
For now, Segway is only launching these scooters in the Netherlands.
Scooters are incredibly popular in the Netherlands.
Thanks to the way city infrastructure is designed, many commuters still opt for motorized two-wheeled transport over cars.
Segway isnt the only company out there making electric sit-on scooters.
But at a fundamental level, they perform the same function.
Segways new scooters will be sold at partnering retail outlets, such as specialist scooter and bike shops.
So what?
Its not often that I get properly,properly,excited about some new mobility tech.
It could be a feature lacking, a disagreeable design or color, but usually its the price.
Iveridden a lotof ebikes, and Ive loved every single one in its own way.
But thats not the case here.
It pleases me to say theres not much to dislike about Segway-Ninebots new electric scooters.
Do EVs excite your electrons?
Do ebikes get your wheels spinning?
Do self-driving cars get you all charged up?
Story byMatthew Beedham
Matthew is the editor of SHIFT.
He likes electric cars, and other things with wheels, wings, or hulls.
