Electric Scooter: my two-wheeled hero!

Oh, I LOVE riding an electric scooter on the road. Picture this: It's a lovely morning, the sun is burning the last of the marine layer off the valley, the traffic is bumper to bumper already...

...and you're on your way to the office, 5 miles from home. What do you do? Do you fire up the gas-gulper and add another ton of carbon to the atmosphere?

No!

You yank your battery-powered scooter off the charger, hit the bike lane, and smile your way past all those angry petrophiles on that parking-lot they call a highway; )

A two-wheeled electric vehicle is a GREAT way to gently wean yourself off the gas pump without spending a lot of money.

Let's see, where to begin?

Vectrix Electric Scooter

Electric Scooters 101

Electric "scooter", as you may be figuring out, is the "catch-all drawer" of little electric vehicles. Here's what I mean when I say it, though:

• Those kids electric scooters you've seen flying around the neighborhood terrorizing the dogs - both the stand-up or seat-optional kind and the Razor Pocket Mod (looks like grandma's Vespa) that all the girls seem to want;
• The grown-up commuter scooters that LOOK just like the kid scooters, but have more power, durability and features;
• The ones that look like mopeds, but aren't street-legal;
• The ones that are street-legal (drive them on the street like a motorcycle).

Electric Scooter Laws and Safety

Scooter law goes something like this:

If it's bicycle-shaped, the bicycle laws generally apply. The stand-up scooters you ride on the sidewalk, unless you're going so fast that you pose a danger to pedestrians...

...in which case, think of yourself as a bicycle and act accordingly.

Most of the time you can ride your scoot on bike paths; the only exception is when there are signs which specifically prohibit motorized vehicles.

The police probably won't know the laws on scooters in your town. You can do a lot to avoid confrontation with a judge by being polite and courteous (not mowing down 80-year-old pedestrians, for example), wearing appropriate safety equipment like a helmet, and not endangering yourself or others.

In other words, act like an adult and they'll let you be.

Street-legal scooters, of course, are just that - street legal. They're licensed by the DMV (and so cost more), have the usual safety equipment, and go faster.

Electric Motorcycles

Interested in electric motorcycles? Visit this electric motorcycles forum, El Moto.

Check out my interview with Falcon EV, a friend of Electric Cars are for Girls who sells quality electric bikes and scooters in Florida.