When HN users recommended it
6 HN users recommended this between 2018 and 2019, in 6 comments.
20072026
Each tall tick is one HN user's first recommendation. A short tick is the same user again. Click a tick to jump to the comment.
Electric long range Fold n Carry Ultra Lightweight electric
Amazon's catalog no longer lists this product (checked 2026-11-02). The name comes from the link HN users posted.
Not sure how much of it is that they're theft-proof vs anyone who wants to steal one either already has or doesn't care enough to do so. You could e.g. line the inside of a U-Haul with RF-blocking material and load up a ton of these, strip the radios in there, and sell them, but if you were to try this at a large enough scale it would likely be worth them going after you. If they lose a few here and there it's probably just cheaper and easier to move on. It looks like they're using either http://www.segway.com/products/consumer-lifestyle/es2-kicksc... or https://www.amazon.com/Electric-long-range-Fold-n-Carry-Ultr... for most of these companies. The resale value probably isn't great for beat-up rental ones, especially if they still have any of the company branding on them or have e.g. obviously ripped apart electronics (or both).
Bicycles can be parted out if they're expensive, or re-sold on Craigslist very easily. Many less people are in the market for these things, so it's probably just not worth the risk + small expected profits to steal them.
> I don't know what kind of battery these scooters have, but I am sure it's not nearly as big as a Tesla battery.
280Wh. They have nowhere near 6h range either, the machine is advertised for a range of 18.6 miles and a top speed of 15.5, though it has regenerative braking which can improve the range a bit.
It's a pretty standard Xiaomi M365: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076KKX4BC/
* Another poster provided a technical sheet asserting a 280Wh battery and 250W motor [1], which means the scooter can be discharged in slightly more than an hour. * Getting electricity at $.15/KWh [2] means that you essentially have no cost recharging the battery.
This means that, while there is no business riding and reloading (aside from, essentially, having rides at 40% off), it is profitable to empty a scooter and reload it yourself, provided you can trigger the increased fee.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076KKX4BC/ [2] https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.ph...
I've ridden Bird scooters (which are just a modified version of this [1]) quite a few times in San Francisco, and while they can usually accelerate a little faster from a stop than most cyclists do, I've found it easy to just match acceleration with the cyclist in front of me. On flat ground you'll probably end up cruising at a similar speed to most cyclists, though there are certainly outliers in both directions.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Electric-long-range-Fold-n-Carry-Ultr...
This is the one bird uses: https://www.amazon.com/Xiaomi-Electric-Long-range-Fold-n-Car...
$1300? What the fuck! The birds in SF are just the Xiaomi scooter which costs $450. https://www.amazon.com/Xiaomi-Electric-Long-range-Fold-n-Car...