fbpx

Month: April 2022

Categories
Uncategorized

Share batteries instead of scooters?

Share batteries instead of scooters?

Share and swap batteries instead of sharing scooters?

Langfeite C1 features an easily swappable batteryThe convenience of shared escooters in the city is a given but what we don’t often talk about are the limitations they can have and how they can be solved.

As people have taken escooters in their lives and many use shared scooters daily the challenges they can face are quite common also: Finding a scooter that works and has enough battery left.

As we often promote here at Langfeite owning your own escooter is great not only because you can charge it yourself but also because the ride is just so much better and as it is your own you don’t need to worry about availability.

Basically owning your escooter you avoid most of the hassle but charging batteries do still take some time and you might not always be able to charge one at the office or home if you are going to have a long trip in the city or forgot to charge the scooters.

This is the problem that in practice could be relatively easy to tackle but it involves a different business model. Sell the scooter and establish battery swap stations all around the city.

Basically, this is probably the most economic and environmentally friendly way of using scooters as it has many benefits, mainly:

  1. Batteries are used efficiently. People will always drop the empty battery at the station to get a new one. Empty batteries get charged quickly and won’t degrade so much as if they were left drained for possibly longer periods
  2. No collecting shared scooters overnight. Every night many shared scooter companies drive around with trucks and collect scooters for overnight charging warehouse and track the misplaced ones with GPS. All this driving around is unnecessary with battery charging stations all around the city.
  3. Convenient for users means that they use their scooters even more. More usage means less use of alternative and potentially more polluting methods of transport.
  4. Charging networks can be optimized so that they use renewable energy and won’t stress the normal power grid.
  5. The lifecycle of batteries can be managed. Battery companies will organize new batteries when needed and as a big entity, the recycling and disposal of batteries can be handled more efficiently

These are just a few reasons why a shared battery model can benefit everyone involved. Who knows maybe in the future this model will overtake the scooter sharing programs. The model is already in the works for bikes, motorbikes, and cars. Perhaps we can have battery stations for many ways of electric transport in the future. What do you think?

If you are thinking of building battery-sharing fleets contact Langfeite today! We source world-class batteries and we already have swappable battery models like Langfeite C1.

Categories
Uncategorized

Lessons learned from electric scooter pilot programs 2022

Lessons learned from electric scooter pilot programs in 2022

Lessons learned from electric scooter pilot programs

Last summer 2021 – which feels like a long time ago – we talked a lot about how the escooters are going to be the transport of the future and how many cities around the world are opening up pilot programs to test how do escooters and especially shared escooter programs going to affect their cities. Now in Spring 2022, the first results are starting to pour in, let’s take a look at one of the first ones.

Positive results from Seattle programs.

In an article by Govtech we are presented with results on how people used the scooters and what issues they had, mainly from health concerns.

Unsurprisingly people took the escooters to heart and over 1.4 million rides were taken in Seattle by 260,000 riders. They also mixed up the test by having 4 different ridesharing companies taking part in the pilot.

Usage cases were pretty clear too, almost half of the trips were said to be taken for visiting friends and parks – in other words, leisure trips. As we at Langfeite have always seen escooters are especially great for getting around in a city in a fun and leisurely way as you can actually enjoy the actual trip. It’s just pure fun to ride a good scooter.

22% of people used the scooters for commuting and for some reason as in its own category 15% of people used the scooter to go to restaurants. Basically, the above three categories already cover 80% of the usage cases. The cases weren’t combined but if they were we’d say that many of the same people used the scooters for multiple uses – as to say that for many participants scooters were able to cover all their work commuting and free time uses.

Safety concerns and rules

Ride safe, use a helmet

Just about 11% of their respondents had gotten some kind of injury when riding the scooters, due to bad weather or accidents. At the same time, 70% said they never used a helmet when riding the scooters.

Other issues with rules were about riding the scooters on the sidewalk which isn’t allowed in Seattle and parking.

All in all Seattle’s city council is going to gather some more data about the test and safety but it looks like the scooter program is here to stay. From the results, it’s also pretty clear to see it is going through the same steps as bikes did as we predicted. Some parking issues and public helmet awareness campaigns might be needed to educate the people. Even the shared scooters are pretty fast at their usual 15mph speed and helmets are always recommended for riders if accidents happen.

In the future we expect many cities to come to the same conclusion: Electric scooters are widely favored by the citizens and as they are new people will just need some set rules and regulations to make them an enjoyable experience for everyone.

Categories
Uncategorized

Developments in E-Scooter safety for pedestrians

Developments in E-Scooter safety for Pedestrians

Developments in E-Scooter safety for Pedestrians

E-Scooters are here to stay and as we have discussed in many earlier blogs the safety of the driver rests mostly on the well-lit and good quality escooter with proper components – but what about the safety of others like pedestrians and vision impaired?

Well, just as there have been developments in electric cars and buses those same technologies are being researched to be used in electric scooters – the main focus is on sound.

As electric scooters are like other vehicles using electric motors are practically silent it can be difficult for pedestrians to hear them coming and if they can’t see it either for example the scooter is coming from behind then there is a chance of accidents.

As bikes also have this problem we have had a time-proven way of letting people we are coming – the majestic ringing bell. Most escooters are already equipped with these but so are cars and other vehicles and some have deemed it not enough.

New research is on the way

Now the researchers at the University of Salford are developing a universal scooter sound to be played out from speakers when the scooter is being ridden. Sounds simple enough right? Actually, it seems that they are testing what sounds would work best considering the noise and annoyance level while also making it easier to understand the traveling speed and distance of the approaching object.

Annoyance is an important factor as if the scooters are not detected well enough the sound is useless and if it’s too annoying living in a city full of continuously beeping scooters would be a nightmare.

Other than that the approaching a vehicle feeling is important. Like traditional motor-powered vehicles with their noise are quite easy to tell where they are coming from and how fast. It seems that the scientists have chosen a combination of sounds to create a similar audio output as cars which they call broadband emulating the sound space of motor and tires.

Who knows maybe this kind of sound attachment will be added to scooters in the future or if they become a legal requirement in-built in scooters. For sure this kind of research will continue and there might be a chance of being creative with sounds as well. The traditional motor sound might be just a bit boring and it’s the first result.

If we know the combination of sounds needed there should be space to make your ride a bit more personal – or how does a scooter sound like a space rocket or futuristic digital hoverboard sound?

In any case, we here at Langfeite are always supporting and following the latest trends in electric scooter safety as our goal is to give everyone a pleasant experience with the escooter lifestyle – be it rider or pedestrian.

So why not take a look at Langfeite’s escooter lineup and contact us today? They might not sound like sports cars yet but who knows what the future holds!

Categories
Uncategorized

Electric Scooter CAD design and manufacturing from Langfeite

Stem is an important part of escooter CAD

Langfeite C2 electric scooter is here!

Electric Scooter CAD (Computer aided design) and manufacturing

Langfeite helps you to bring your ideas to life. Whether you already have a finished design of electric scooter that you want to manufacture or if youare in the early stages and need help to finish your designs you can contact Langfeite and we can help you to get it done.

Stem is an important part of escooter CAD

What does designing an escooter involve?

In previous blogs we have discussed on what parts are needed in electric scooter (What are the parts required to manufacture an electric scooter? and What do you need to know about electric scooter batteries?) but how do you do the actual design.

That’s where CAD comes in, just like almost all machinery in the world electric scooters are first designed with a computer using CAD software which can also be used for calculating the strength of the design.

Important parts are the battery compartment, forks and most importantly the stem locking and axel as those are the parts that have to take a lot of strain from the weight of the scooter. To make sure your design is secure you should work with professional designers and engineers. At Langfeite we have designed numerous electric scooters and other mobility products over the years and our team has a lot of expertice on how to make products not only secure but ergonomic and easy to use.

Safety first is always the guiding principle but after that comes the fun part – designing your own cool scooter that works for your clients. Stem and deck size to match the rider, correct wheel size and compartment, ground clearance – is the scooter for city or off-roading – lights and wiring. All these parts of the scooter have to be well designed so that they function as expected. 

For electronic devices like scooters it’s not only the main components that need to be places but one of the challenging part can be the wiring, will you build your wiring inside the stems for example or leave it out to make a simpler and cheaper design. Outside wires are also easier to replace if needed but hiding them makes the scooter look much more streamlined.

All the main parts like motor, throttle and battery need to be controlled aswell. For this there is a separate controller board in the scooter or it can be built in to other parts like the battery itself for example. If your scooter has special features or lighting you might also need PCB (printed circuit board) and hardware engineering design.

So all in all to design a scooter you will need a team of professionals CAD, PCB, Structural and Electrical engineers without forgetting the cool industrial designers to make your scooter look absolutely rad. 

For all these needs and more Langfeite can help. Our experienced team loves making scooters and we are always eager to work with people who share the same passions. So contact Langfeite today and lets make your design come to life!