Electric Skateboards in the Urban Setting — the Future of Transportation?

Frequently during my commute in my city, I see people riding their electric skateboards at high speeds, deftly weaving between cars and bikes. It always seemed like a faster and more interesting way to get to work. Recently, I decided that it was time to try one myself, and today I took out Walnut Tech's Spectra Advanced for the first time.

My first impressions of its design were fanstastic! It looks as though it belongs in the future. The board itself is sleek and minimalistic, with five subtle arrows meant to guide your footing. The bottom of the board is a shiny carbon fiber.

Surprisingly, I was able to get the hang of the motion controls in only about thirty minutes. Using their eBoard app as a remote, I controlled my speed and breaking with a simple slide of my finger. The acceleration is phenomenal, and on a flat slope, I reached speeds of 15 kph (9.3mph) with ease. The battery claims to be able to sustain rides of over an hour straight, and from my experience, it seems to deliver. Weighing a mere 11 pounds, this is certainly something I look forward to riding in the mornings.

My joyride got me thinking: Compared to other industries, it seems as though transportation technology is a futurism that is particularly impossible to predict. After the rapid take-over of ride sharing softwares like Uber and Lyft, one's need for a car, esepcially in urban environments, must be at an all-time low. As evident with Walnut Tech, companies have managed to produce an easy to ride, visually attractive but still relatively expensive e-board. Will the electric skateboard, and similar portable mobility devices like it, see a further spurt in popularity soon? According to market forecasts, yes. The e-mobility devices market is expected to more than double in less than 10 years, to over 60 billion USD. Wow.

Imagine a world in which car ownership is no longer practiced. It's understandably difficult — purchasing and using a car is ingrained in our culture as a necessary symbol of adulthood. Still, the advent and future adoption of self-driving vehicles makes such a concept almost unnecessary. The truth is, cars are expensive. Include insurance, parking, and maintenance in the mix, and they seem almost inconvenient. Perhaps as more and more city dwellers begin to realize that e-boards are a viable alternative to their daily 20 minute commute, more and more will turn toward products like the one I plan to use in my own. Electric sktateboards, when compared to cars, undoubtedly have their drawbacks. But with the future of portable e-mobility devices appearing stronger than ever, perhaps it is time for urban environments to embrace the imminent change before them.

Thank you for reading.

obedear