Electric Scooters: Love at First Spin

Gasoline prices skyrocketing? No need to worry – with a motor or electric scooter one gallon of gas will last for weeks.

As people start driving electric scooters, they find more and more reasons to like them. They’re practical, easy to park and get great gas mileage. With gasoline price raising day by day, the popularity of playful, fuel-efficient electric scooters has soared. According to industry experts, last year’s sales have doubled compared to a year ago, and only in 2005 more than 300,000 electric scooters were sold.

The hard-core scooter enthusiast enjoys the feel of scooting which many people compare to skating on land. For those who live downtown, scooters make the everyday commute fun and easy, and most models are compact enough to be taken onto public transport and then stored under a desk for the rest of the working day – and you can recharge the battery. Electric and motor scooters allow you to save money on gas – even Vespa, the grand dame of scooters, easily sips one gallon of gas during 50 miles of city ride.

Some people turn to scooters after losing their driving privileges; some find the scooter more romantic than bike and enjoy so-called scooter dates. Many people in the Far East switched to electric scooters for the fear of SARS, and this summer many scooter enthusiasts proudly looked up at their fellow city dwellers, as they were suffocating in jammed streetcars and buses.

No matter why people choose motor and electric scooters today, the thriving sales have resulted in many new models with exiting features and design.

One of the most popular scooter models is the eGO-2 Cycle, which combines the best features of a bike and an electric scooter. Ego can be used as a bicycle but has all the equipment of a scooter, including headlights, turn signals, brakes and throttle. With aluminum silver-plated chassis, this work of art can easily make up to 25mph climbing hill – and weighing less than 120 lbs! The ego retails for around $1400 depending on a retailer.

Another two-wheeled whiz kid on the block is a Xootr, a cross between a skateboard and an electric scooter. Although Xootr can take you around at the speed of 10 km it has neither suspension nor real brakes but with its extremely light-weight, these disadvantages are easy to live with. And when the batteries run low, you can still propel it with kicking.

Speaking of scooters, it’s impossible to miss out the famous Vespa. These two-wheeled wonders of Italian design have enchanted Europeans since the end of 1940s, when designers Corradino D'Ascanio and Enrico Piaggio created an affordable two-wheeled vehicle for the masses. And Hollywood loves Vespa too, putting Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday and Nicole Kidman in The Interpreter on equally stylish Vespas.

Indeed, women comprise more than 60 per cent of all scooter owners. And with affordable prices – most scooters range from $800 to a $1000, while bigger and faster scooters can cost as much as $10,000 – scooters have quickly carved out their niche on today’s city road.