BMW LAUNCHES E-SCOOTER
ith the growing worldwide popularity
of e-scooters as a mobility option, it was
only a matter of time before a big-time
player in the motorcycle world got in on the
action.
The BMW Group - particularly the BMW
Lifestyle section of the German manufacturer
– has announced it will launch a range of
BMW E-Scooter later this year which has been
developed in partnership with Micro Scooter
developers Micro.
As Roger Morony said in last month’s column,
“e-scooters are the wild west of personal
transport” but with a company as large as
BMW now in on the game things could be in
for quite the shakeup.
For starters, BMW’s scoot is limited to 20km/h
(versus the 30km/h Roger mentioned) and
boasts a range of 12 kilometres per charge.
As we know from Kiwi experience, braking
systems on e-scooters need to be thorough.
As such BMW has fitted their E-Scooter with
two separate braking systems along with the
lighting needed to help keep riders safe.
As with all electric vehicles, charge time is
an important factor to staying mobile. With a
charge time of two hours the BMW E-Scooter
can be charged in the time it takes to have a
restaurant meal in the CBD.
BMW will also offer a size-shifting BMW Kids
Scooter for small children. BMW says kids
from three years old can use it for balancing
practice, and the seat surface opens to reveal
space for a selection of favourite toys. For
youngsters aged up to twelve, the seat can
be simply taken off and the height of the
handlebars adjusted as the rider gets taller.
Currently, we have no word on whether the
BMW E-Scoot or Kids Scooter will make its way
to our shores, but if it does it might prevent a
few of the ride-sharing e-scoots being dumped
on every city street corner and that’d surely be
a good thing.
KIWI RIDER 91