
Electric Scooters, and a Network - prostoalex
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/08/business/energy-environment/electric-scooters-and-a-network.html?_r=0
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yungchin
It always bothers me that newspapers usually omit hyperlinks to relevant
information. Here's a paper by the guy they interview in the article:
[https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/245612](https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/245612)

"[...] two-stroke scooters, vehicles that constitute a small fraction of the
fleet, but can dominate urban vehicular pollution through organic aerosol and
aromatic emission factors up to thousands of times higher than from other
vehicle classes."

(PS: don't make that into an argument for cars and against scooters though. By
reducing congestion, people opting for scooters can help all other road users
pollute less. So electric scooters should be a priority -
[http://www.etatrust.org.uk/2014/05/scooters-vs-cars-vs-
lorri...](http://www.etatrust.org.uk/2014/05/scooters-vs-cars-vs-lorries/) )

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listic
Thanks!

Now I feel guilyt for wanting an Aprilia SR50 :( (one of the few modern two-
stroke scooters)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aprilia_SR50](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aprilia_SR50)

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pmontra
I've been in China on vacation last August and one of the first things I
noticed is that all the scooters and rickshaws are electric. I noticed because
they are silent as bicycles and I wasn't prepared to do without the usual
clues of incoming quick traffic.

Most of them are old internal combustion scooters with the engine replaced by
a battery and an electrical engine fitted into the rear wheel. There are also
new natively electrical designs. I googled for a picture and this is what is
left of a scooter when you don't need all the infrastructure required by a
combustion engine
[http://www.motorcyclephilippines.com/classifieds/showfull.ph...](http://www.motorcyclephilippines.com/classifieds/showfull.php?product=43248&bigimage=Phoenix.jpg)

Many shopkeepers charge their scooters with cables going over the sidewalk to
the scooter parked in front of the shop. I wonder what people living in those
very common 24 or 32 storyes buildings do. Maybe the batteries can be detached
and carried home at night. I think I never saw a charging station.

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chipsy
There's been a boom in small, low speed transportation devices in the last
five years. For $100 you can get an "adult kick scooter" with a brake - I ride
one to connect with transit. Small-wheel folding scooter designs hit a sweet
spot so a lot of variants are passing through - different wheel sizes,
polyurethane vs. air tires, hand brake vs. foot brake, and most importantly
powered options. Electric small-wheel scooters running around $1000 are
common, and recently there was a crowdfunding campaign for a generic
conversion kit [0]. The article's focus on traditional mopeds getting caught
up in electrification is an interesting complementary story.

And, of course more wacky, impractical stuff like the "hoverboard" or "powered
longboard" has also come along at the same time. It's a lot of fun to watch
all these new ideas come online - give it a few more years and they'll all be
in the impulse-buy range.

[0] [https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/shareroller-add-on-e-
powe...](https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/shareroller-add-on-e-power-for-
bikes-scooters#/story)

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cassianotartari
What is the fate of batteries after their useful life is over?

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yungchin
Nasty economics at work: the price of lithium is low enough that recycling is
not really cost-effective, so most of them end up in landfill (including the
nickel and cobalt components...). But recycling is actually possible so enough
publicity may bring people around. Tesla eg does care about recycling:
[http://www.theguardian.com/vital-signs/2015/jun/10/tesla-
bat...](http://www.theguardian.com/vital-signs/2015/jun/10/tesla-batteries-
environment-lithium-elon-musk-powerwall)

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m_eiman
I find it weird that it might be cheaper to extract metals from the ground
than to reuse the stuff we've already dug up once… Shouldn't it be cheaper to
separate the metals much the same way as it's done at a mine, just with a much
higher concentration of useful stuff?

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yungchin
If we all came around to taxing mining externalities as we should, then yes.
Currently the carbon footprint of mining the lithium and all the other havoc
around it are not correctly priced in. So now recycling looks bad, because
moving batteries back to a recycling centre involves relatively more human
labour, and without accounting for externalities, human labour apparently
turns out the most expensive bit.

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marcusgarvey
Very cool technology, but I feel bad for Amsterdam cyclists who will have
these silent scooters sharing their bike lanes while going at much faster
speeds.

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mkj
On cycle paths in Perth Australia the electric scooters a better than petrol
ones, less stink.

