VIDEO: ZuumQuest '08 = 600 miles of standing room only
What better way to launch a new transportation product than to take it on a long trip with some sweet scenic vistas. In the case of the Zuumer (rhymes with boomer) from ZuumCraft, the journey being undertaken is a week long and covers a distance of 600 miles from San Francisco to San Diego along the beautiful California coast. The three-wheel electric ultralight scooter is powered by a removable lithium ion battery and employees a double-forked steering column with a low center of gravity that not only keeps it stable in the turns but also highly maneuverable. The rear axles seem to have some funky tilting action going on that contributes to its ability to carve your way along like a skateboard. Of course its also perfectly fine for going in a straight line and can do so for around 25 miles on a charge.
While the trip, along with your chance to try it out, ends this Friday, the company has lots of videos of the Zuumer in action. The first batch of 150 units arrives in January and the company is accepting deposits now. Total price tag is in the neighborhood of $2,000 which is a lot less than its Segway competition and won't make you look like a total dork (sorry Segwayers). Hit the jump for a couple videos of some Zuumer carving-it-up action.
[Source: CleanTech / ZuumCraft]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
andywilk 10:55AM (9/25/2008)
This is fun when you're young enough to bounce off the road and walk away....There must be at least 200W of power available ....that's more than enough to blow your wig off downhill.
Stick a bar stool on it and limit it to 15 miles an hour for me.
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JH 3:09PM (9/25/2008)
I dunno ... at over 2x the price it looks a *lot* dorkier than the electric Go-Ped and doesn't look any faster, although I guess it's more stable with the bigger wheels.
For that kind of cash you could also get used Vesp, or a kickass bicycle with an electric motor and also not look like a dork.
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writeon 6:39PM (9/27/2008)
I just rode a zuumer at altcar expo and it was awesome. Fast and really fun to ride.
andywilk, it's super stable altho i'm sure they'd outfit it with a barstool and cupholder if you asked nicely enough...
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David Herron 12:51PM (10/04/2008)
I met with them at their visit with the Silicon Valley EAA, as well as arranged for them to visit Sun's Santa Clara campus. I rode it both times and had a total blast with it. I made a blog posting: http://www.7gen.com/blog/20080912/24897-electric-scooters .. and a forum posting at: http://visforvoltage.org/forum/4832-rode-zuumer ... to me it's an awesome machine and I don't understand how you think it's dorky. It's an awesome ride, totally. And it's very stable, no seat required. I've ridden several two-wheel and three-wheel standup scooters and by far this is the best of them.
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