The new A4000i electric scooter from Japan’s Terra Motors can hit 65km/h (40mph) and do 65km on a full charge (or “gallon”) of electricity. Used to travel 20km per day. The scooter will cost just $29 per year to run. That’s even less than my bike, which I fuel with a combination of delicious pizza and chocolate.
But the real reason I’m writing about the A4000i Is that it’s a giant, mobile iPhone dock.
Your iPhone is the scooter’s dashboard. You slot it into the waitung, uh, slot and it leaps into informational action, turning into a readout for the bike. The iPhone’s screen will be used to display your speed, or the remaining charge in the battery. This last is pretty funny, as the battery meter looks like nothing more than a blue version of the iOS 1–6 lock-screen battery meter, only in blue. Plus, you get to put your iPhone up in front of you, protected in its own little plastic-doored compartment.
I wonder why more people don’t use scooters and bikes to get around. I suspect that it’s laziness and inertia: a car is a terrible vehicle for getting around the city – you’re stuck right there in the “flow” of traffic, and you have to loop around endlessly trying to find a parking space. And then you have to pay to park! A bike is way better, and if you’re too lazy for that, then a scooter is way cheaper and way faster.
Then again, if you take a scooter then you can’t sip your coffee, do your nails, check your e-mail and murder pedestrians without fear of prosecution, so the car does have a few things going for it.
