Existing comment:
I'm also running into more people driving these electric hoverboard things. I talked to someone at the National World War I Memorial about the one he and his companion were riding.
He said the main ones were all made by a company named OneWheel ( https://onewheel.com/products/xr ). He said he had heard some places rented them but most of the ones he knew of were user-owned. I asked how much they cost. There are two models. The cheapest is the Pint which costs from $950 and up. Its range is 6-8 miles, reaches 16 mph, weighs 23 pounds, and takes two hours to charge (50 minutes if you spring for the Ultracharger).
But he clearly thought that model was crap. The one they were riding was the XR which costs $1,799. Its range is 12-18 miles, reaches 19 mph, weighs 27 pounds, and takes 60 minutes to charge ("with hypercharger -- 110 minutes with home charger").
The website lists accessories. The XR Home Hypercharger is $210. The Pint Ultracharger is $110. I love how they had to come up with two different names to indicate fast charger. I didn't know there was a difference between "ultra" and "hyper" but according to https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-differences-between-ultra-hyper-and-super , it goes super --> ultra --> hyper so OneWheel got it right. I have no idea if there's something beyond hyper which may cause problems if they introduce another model ("super hypercharger"?).
There is a OneWheel app of course. It connects your Apple/Android to your board over Bluetooth and warns you of things like low batteries, battery overcharge alerts, "point of no return" (you've exceeded half of the battery charge so good luck getting home), etc.
The guy was excited by the thing. He said the wheel was a go-cart wheel (I'm not sure why that warranted mention). To go, you put your feet on both sides of the wheel and go. He admitted it was heavy but said he had never had to carry it home after running out of juice -- instead he carries a recharger in his backpack on every trip.
He said as far as he knew, the device was allowed everywhere including around national memorials. He said he was former military and he obeys rules so he checked for restrictions and didn't find any. He said though that, again, as a former military, he would never ride it into a war memorial. Keep in mind he said this while he was talking to me from the middle of the National World War I Memorial.
Afterward, I asked the ranger about whether they were allowed. She said she didn't know but both of us thought the "no motorized vehicles" restriction covered this sort of thing. |