An e-scooter revolution
The top car accessory for 2019 might be an electric scooter, writes David Linklater.
Electric scooters are definitely a thing in New Zealand.
They’re also set to become a thing for motorists of all kinds as we move towards a future that many automotive brands are calling ‘‘e-mobility’’: where a car is just one element in a range of electric transport options you might use to get from A to B
Case in point: the Mi Electric Scooter just launched in New Zealand from the biggest Chinese brand you’ve probably never heard of.
Xiaomi, or just ‘‘Mi’’ in branding terms, is already an iconic brand in China and India. It’s the world’s fourth-largest mobile phone manufacturer (9 per cent of the global market) but also produces a vast range of electronics, most focused on the Internet of Things: everything app-controllable from a desk lamp to a rice cooker.
Mi opened its first store in New Zealand on November 10, at the Sylvia Park shopping centre (with backing from electronics chain PB Tech).
More than 1500 people queued to get into the store, which is the brand’s first in Oceania.
Mi is on a global push. It’s also about to open its first store in Britain.
More than 400 Mi e-scooters were sold in the Auckland store’s first day, including 200 online in just 30 minutes.
What’s the big deal? Apart from the fact that Mi is a big thing for those in the know and e-scooters are a craze – thanks partly to rentable appenabled models like the Lime brand – the $699 Mi Electric Scooter is also a pretty smart piece of design.
What’s the big deal with this ride? It looks the part and in 2017 won a German Red Dot Design Best of the Best Award, a Japanese Good Design Award and an if Design Award (also Germany).
New Zealand spokesperson for Mi, Eric Chang, acknowledges the popularity of rentable scooters and the like has driven a significant interest in the Mi electric model.
It offers a range of about 30km on a charge and can do 25kmh. Users need to push-start the scooter to 5kmh before power kicks in.
When you’re not using it, the Mi model can be folded in five seconds to fit in a cupboard or in the boot of your car. It weighs 12.5kg.
The tech is a step up from something that you might hire on the street. It rides on proper pneumatic tyres and is fitted with a dual-braking system: antilock at the front and disc-braking at the rear.
The Mi Electric Scooter also has cruise control, which can be enabled using the mobile-phone app.
The app can disable the scooter so others can’t ride it, and give you information about battery charge and routes you’ve taken.
‘‘The scooters are also equipped with a low power mode which restricts the maximum speed, ultra bright headlights, a warning tail light that flashes during braking and a handlebar bell,’’ says Chang.
Chang says the company also has a policy of encouraging the purchase of helmets at the point of sale.
‘‘Helmets are one of the few non Mi branded products we will sell but it is important to us that the public are better equipped and educated about the need for safety on our roads; we believe everyone using an electric scooter should be wearing a helmet.’’
Other internet-enabled products include robotic vacuum cleaners, wearable tech, home automation, smart appliances and lifestyle products such as electric toothbrushes, towels and other homewares.
However, Chang says that the Auckland store carries less than 40 per cent of the brand’s portfolio. Expect more (perhaps totally unexpected) products to follow; one of them will be a compact e-bike.