Will EUC stick?

[Aztek]

Something bugs me lately. EUCs are niche at best.

Most of the people never dare to step on one due to fear of falling and getting hurt (a substantiated one).

Those who ride them are forced to wear all kind of awkward protection and the majority of the riders look as in a process of poorly controlled eminent fall (think of a toddler learning to walk).

EUCs are hard to learn and ride and still dangerous from manufacturing quality point of view, often heavy and cumbersome and in the same time - expensive.

They are a real fire danger.

I believe almost all will agree with the above and yet, we love these contraptions dearly.

So, what do you think the future holds for our beloved EUC? Will it decline and disappear to become a historical curiosity or will it stick? If the latter, what changes will/have to occur to negate part/most of the above shortcomings?

[on one]

While I don't agree with what you said,

1 hour ago, Aztek said:

EUCs are niche at best.

Most of the people never dare to step on one due to fear of falling and getting hurt (a substantiated one).

Those who ride them are forced to wear all kind of awkward protection and the majority of the riders look as in a process of poorly controlled eminent fall (think of a toddler learning to walk).

EUCs are hard to learn and ride and still dangerous from manufacturing quality point of view, often heavy and cumbersome and in the same time - expensive.

They are a real fire danger.

I don't think those are the reasons.

The real reason that EUC's have trouble catching on is the same reason scooters and traditional segways never really caught on, while electric bikes do catch on. And the reason is, there isn't enough infrastructure. The norm is just park as close to your destination and walk. But if cities were to build the parking lots a couple miles outside of downtown, except for a few handicap parking spots, then build PEV lanes, charging and lock spots, then all our supposedly radical transports would be commonplace. And then there would be zero pollution in our community areas. And people would be able to communicate and socialize a lot more because the automobile barrier and noise nuisance factor would be eliminated. It would be nice.

[on one]

The main problem right now is that we don't feel safe riding around with traffic and we move too differently to fit in on the sidewalk.

[MacGyverCanada]

2 hours ago, Aztek said:

They are a real fire danger.

How's the rate of fires-per-EUC been in the past few years?  Seems like there's been a steep decline.

[techyiam]

57 minutes ago, on one said:

The main problem right now is that we don't feel safe riding around with traffic and we move too differently to fit in on the sidewalk.

I can't speak for others, but for myself getting around town via bike routes, of which much of it are on residential roads and in bike lanes, I feel euc is a good fit. I am finding myself getting around in a timely manner, actually quite similar to how long it used to take me when I was riding a motorcycle or driving a car. In very heavy traffic, especially if there is an accident, euc is faster.

Mind you, it took some time to get there. One thing that set me back was not being able to find the right euc for my use-case. Skill development took time, but not having the right wheel really hinder me significantly from reaching the level I thought would be unattainable. 

Edited September 18 by techyiam

[Tomallo]

In my area, I'm definitely seeing more and more EUC's with each year; in my opinion they are simply too practical as a transportation method for them not to go into mainstream eventually. They might not be as easy to drive as bicycles, but bikes require spending a bit of time to learn riding them as well. I think most people learn that when they're still kids, when the learning period is even shorter, so as EUC's get more popular, more and more kids will start riding on them early, and this skill will become ubiquitous just like riding a bicycle. This way it'll become less dangerous and intimidating in people's eyes, and the popularity will snowball. That's my guess, or at least that's what I'm hoping for.

[techyiam]

11 minutes ago, Tomallo said:

I think most people learn that when they're still kids, when the learning period is even shorter, so as EUC's get more popular, more and more kids will start riding on them early, and this skill will become ubiquitous just like riding a bicycle. This way it'll become less dangerous and intimidating in people's eyes, and the popularity will snowball. That's my guess, or at least that's what I'm hoping for.

What I have observed around here, is that the number of euc riders I encountered while riding have not increased over the last few years. Whereas, the number of electric scooters have more than doubled if not tripled.

Also, the kids I see learning to ride an euc are in familys where the patents already ride.

[Aztek]

2 hours ago, MacGyverCanada said:

How's the rate of fires-per-EUC been in the past few years?  Seems like there's been a steep decline.

I don't know. But danger and incidence are different things - like can something happen and will and how often it will happen.

No matter the statistics, lithium ion batteries are fire hazard and they do ignite eventually. Which is a nuisance at best. It requires measures from the rider - for storage etc.

As with electric cars, if we are to have sustainable and practical electric vehicles, we need better batteries. The solid state batteries are currently the hope.

Edited September 18 by Aztek

[Rawnei]

Since they phased out the unstable M50T cells fires are very rare now and usually something specific led up to it (like a bad crash or wheel submersed in water for example) and often there signs that were ignored. Quality cells have good safety features and more and more wheels are getting Smart BMS to help monitor the batteries.

[Aztek]

5 minutes ago, Rawnei said:

Smart BMS to help monitor the batteries.

Yes, a step in the right direction, which had to be done from the very beginning. Unfortunately it is true for the wheels 2 years old and newer.

[xiiijojjo]

Once EUC gain access to solid state batteries it will start taking off. Until then we're all just alpha testers and the market won't grow much. 

We just need to lose the fire hazard and over-leaning associations and people will be a lot more comfortable riding EUC, especially with better weight to performance in the future.

The most important part is for countries to start accepting them as road safe vehicles so we can get license plates and insurances. Most people are not willing to buy an expensive wheel when they live in a grey zone that could see that investment confiscated by the police. 

[on one]

I'd really love it if cities in general and especially my city would start building personal electric vehicle routes and courses by tunneling and rising and routing through scenic areas. I know my city has a really big budget for infrastructure currently because there's a lot of road work going on everywhere. I might write a letter to my mayor or city manager. My city is small enough that if we got an PEV concourse then a lot of us wouldn't even need cars anymore. Plus, that's a big reason for tourism too. We really need community areas since the problem loneliness is so prevalent in these high tech times.

[mhpr262]

I think they will definitely stay around for the foreseeable future. I joined the r/electricunicycles subreddit a couple of years ago when it had just 2.500 members, now it has almost 20.000 members. Lots and lots of people are joining us coming from OneWheels and E-skates.

[Scubadragonsan]

6 hours ago, Aztek said:

what do you think the future holds for our beloved EUC? Will it decline and disappear to become a historical curiosity or will it stick?

I think EUCs will always remain a rarity simply because it's too expensive an investment for most compared to e-scooters and e-bicycles and the initial impression is intimidating for most. Fear overtakes curiosity. Faceplant is not something anyone would want to try or end up. EUC's niche in the consumer market can be compared to scuba diving, sky diving, kite surfing.... some think it's an extreme sports, but not really. I think that's where EUC will remain in the future. It will never supersede its alternatives/competition--bicycles, skateboards, scooters...etc. EUCs have been around for something like 10 years now. We don't often see them on the streets. In some ways, I like it the way it is remaining as a rare, special species!

[techyiam]

52 minutes ago, on one said:

I'd really love it if cities in general and especially my city would start building personal electric vehicle routes and courses by tunneling and rising and routing through scenic areas.

Sure, that would be nice. I appreciate that kind of inclusion in the infrastructure design.

However, I don't think routes for PEV's and bicycles will be separate since city officials and planners have the concept that PEV speeds are similar to those of bicycles. 

I think having designated bike routes and infrastructure support is a good thing.

However, having a separate pathway for PEV's isn't necessarily be better than having PEV's ride on residential streets, and quieter secondary roads.

I find that bike paths and bike lanes are not designed for higher speeds operations. For bicycles it is fine, but for euc's, it's speed limiting for safe operations. 

Normally, I ride in my own city where infrastructure support for bicycles has been put in. However, sometimes I ride in a neighboring city where the supporting infrastructure for bicycles isn't available. Both cities have bike routes, but the neighboring city have quiet secondary streets as part of the bike route. They have two lanes for each direction, but the traffic is very light. On those streets, I can ride much faster safely.

Sure, for very busy main roads, some kind of dedicated bike lane would be beneficial, like in downtown. But for some areas, I rather ride on the road taking one of two lanes (curb lane) when there is little to no traffic.

Note that where I ride, almost always there are no other riders around me, unlike some cities where there are plenty of riders next to you.

 

Edited September 18 by techyiam

[mhpr262]

2 hours ago, Scubadragonsan said:

it's too expensive an investment for most compared to e-scooters and e-bicycles

Only if  you choose a top-of-the-line EUC. Good e-bikes are crazy expensive.

[MacGyverCanada]

2 hours ago, mhpr262 said:

Good e-bikes are crazy expensive.

That's actually a major reason why I gravitated toward EUCs.  Better bang for the buck!  

[Forwardnbak]

We have really good paths here and our city has embraced electrics. I can zip to the city quicker on my wheels than I could on my motorbikes, the traffic is the killer here.I am super glad we can ride separated from the traffic, I still see poor attitudes from other road users and cyclists regarding e transport. 
 

We have a bunch of Ehire scooters that scatter our city in an ugly way and lead to drunk inexperienced crashes this causes a lot of negative vibes about E-scooters and wheels get roped in. 

I think the biggest hurdle is people being able to try them first, most think it is harder than it actually is, they don’t understand the wheel helps balance so it looks a lot harder. 

Good stores like our local here do demo days and a few public events which allow test rides, these are great to promote euc.

I have seen an increase in wheels every now and then I see someone out riding and I never did when I started.

I think we are all still promoting it everytime we ride and it’s important to ride often just for this reason. 

 

[alcatraz]

The reason I think eucs will stick is the wheel diameter. It's our main advantage over these scooters. We can get over some pretty nasty terrain. 

The problem is that people who play with the idea of going PEV rarely get past the scooters, ebikes, solowheels whatever, and step on an euc. 

What's ironic is that one fall from a standing electric scooter can cause someone to avoid "extreme" pevs like eucs, BUT they're completely missing the fact that the larger diameter euc might not have had that accident to begin with. It wouldn't have gotten stuck as easily, but just rolled over.

So to summarise I think it's a perception thing. It's seen as more dangerous while actually being safer in many ways.

Edited September 19 by alcatraz

[alcatraz]

Another problem is reliability. Even if you buy a brand with a great reputation, how can you be sure there won't be a glitch?

I believe time will tell us which brands were actually the best designs. 

When you see a 15year old V8 or 18XL or MSX going past 100.000km you know that's the right wheel design that you can depend on. I'm curious to see if these firmware upgradable wheels can get hacked. Who knows? Time will tell.

[Funky]

Learning - not hard at all.. Same level as just starting out on bicycle when we where kids.

Gear - if you ride on street with cars going 55+kph speeds. I'm not wearing any gear riding on sidewalk, aside of 10$ wrist guards. Have been riding 4 years and fallen also.. No problem.

EUC is the same as E-Scooters. They won't disappear anywhere.. Only if manufacturers keep pushing speeds and costs.. We will see less buyers. 

EUC needs to compete with E-Scooters/E-Bikes. For same weight we will have much better range and same time speed on EUC. <<< Only reason i bought an EUC, not a scooter, when i was choosing my very first PEV... I had option going for Ninebot G30, or get same weight EUC that had 2x the speed and 3x range. Getting EUC was a no-brainer, even with all the learning stage, 1-2 weeks to learn - that's nothing. I was riding true city/people my very second time on the EUC. Riding came very easy to me, mounting gave me problems at start.

Yes 1000$ or 2000$ it's difference for some. I knew i was gonna keep the device for many years. So i didn't look at the price. Size to power and weight EUC will always win. Also less moving parts, expenses down the road.

Edited September 19 by Funky

[winterwheel]

When I started teaching (5-6 years ago) I had many students from all walks of life coming out for training. I had pilots putting them in their planes to get to town from rural airports, and sailors putting them into their boats to use when then they landed in ports in the Caribbean.

Then wheels got faster and gear-wearing got intense and the demographics changed from everyday people to, I'll say, adventure riders. And we lost the regular folk, who generally see a geared up dude riding at speed and think, "yeah, looks cool, but not for me". 

That said, functional things will almost find a way into the market and wheels are amazingly functional, easily the most efficient and practical way to get around for trips 10kms or less.

We'll get there, we just have to wait a bit for more casual riders to come back into the market.