Imagine riding a skateboard and being able to control your speed using a remote control.
That is what companies such as Boosted Board have created. Recently, a large trend of motorized skateboards has hit the market, and you can encounter them almost anywhere now.
If you go on a college campus, there is a high chance of encountering someone riding one of these motorized skateboards. It is a smart move to market these vehicles to college kids, as longboards and skateboards were already a popular choice for people to get around with.
The most popular electric skateboard is the “Boosted Board”. This is a longboard with motors attached to two of the wheels of the board. It can go to a max speed of about 20 miles per hour and has about a 14-mile range.
The popularity of the board is most likely attributed to the internet celebrity, Casey Neistat. Casey Neistat is the host of a YouTube channel, where he creates vlogs of his everyday life. He lives in New York City, where his main mode of transportation is a boosted board. He is sponsored by the company, where he endorses the skateboard and shows how fun and convenient the board can be to get around.
Other companies saw the success of Boosted Board and started innovating on the idea. My favorite of these innovations is the “OneWheel”. It is a multi-terrain version of an electric skateboard, where it uses one giant wheel in the center of the board instead of four smaller wheels.
The OneWheel is better suited for more rugged terrain because of the giant rubber wheel in the center of the board.
This is perfect for college students in rural areas who want to get in on this trend. Tony Burke, an RA in the dorms of Vermont Technical College said, “I've seen the OneWheel here, even though the entire campus can be walked in 5 minutes. The idea behind it is pretty cool.”
Vermont Technical College is a school located in a very rural town of about 4,600 people. The College itself enrolls about 1,600 students at a time. The terrain is very rugged, as it is a mountainous, snowy area. It seems like the OneWheel is perfect for this type of area.
There are also many reasons why someone would decide to not want to buy an electric skateboard. The most common reason being that the price is steep for most people to afford. The standard Boosted Board goes for about $1,500. For a college student, that is a very expensive purchase.
Benjamin Babalola, a Freshman at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and an avid skateboarder said, “The Boosted Boards are really nice. Riding them are easier and more fun than a traditional skateboard. However, there are downsides to owning one. You must charge them all the time, and they are a lot heavier than a normal skateboard. The main reason I don't own one personally is because of how expensive they are.”
In a way, these vehicles can be more safe than traditional skateboards. With speed control, it is much easier to slow down electric skateboards. Compare this to a traditional skateboard, where there is no control to slow down from going fast.
This by no means makes them completely safe, as it is still a skateboard. Riding a bicycle would probably be safer, as well as giving the rider more control. However, skateboards are much easier to transport around, which makes it ideal for a college student.
The future of the industry is very difficult to predict, as the trend has not been around for very long. However, the nature of this trend seems like it will be around to stay, as it fills a genuine need that college students face.
In order to stay up to date, it is necessary for these companies to innovate their designs to make them cheaper and easier to maintain for people interested in owning an electric skateboard. It will allow for competition and variety in designs, and an increase in overall quality.
Work Cited:
Babalola, Benjamin. Nov. 2018. Personal Interview.
Boosted Board. (2018). Best Electric Skateboards on the Market. Retrieved on Nov. 26, 2018, from https://boostedboards.com/
Burke, Tony. Nov. 2018. Personal Interview.
