TAUR Is Launching An Electric Scooter Built For The Road

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In 2019, TAUR, which is based out of London, was co-founded by Richard Adey and Carson Brown. Richard Adey, TAUR’s CEO, has worked at the Tesla Gigafactory, where he focused on electric vehicle technology. The co-founders gathered a team with experience not only at Tesla, but also at Apple, Ford, and Uniwheel. The goal is to create a new and fresh electric scooter that can be driven on the road, safely.

TAUR has launched its first product on Kickstarter, an electric scooter that is built for the road. The company calls it a redesign of the electric scooter. “Electric scooters have until now been based on a ‘kick-scooter’ design that was never created for the real world,” TAUR said in its press release.

One thing that sets TAUR apart is the foot platforms, which provide a dedicated place for the rider to stand. Instead of placing your feet behind one another with your hips twisted awkwardly, you stand fully facing forward with your feet side by side. The platforms are 2.5 times wider than the deck of a typical scooter and help the rider with stability. The benefit of facing head-on with your body aligned is that you are able to twist 180 degrees in either direction — giving the rider maximum ride awareness.

Another part of the design includes the largest-in-class wheels, at 2–3 times larger than the conventional design. They are 12.5 inches, with Kevlar-reinforced, puncture-resistant Continental® tires to help deal with some of the most challenging road conditions, such as potholes.

The TAUR has front lighting with a high power directional beam to provide maximum visibility as well as time to react. The TAUR comes with a 300 lumen Cree® LED headlight that shines through a polished lens. The company also noted that any light that doesn’t’ shine through the lens gets dispersed through the frosted perspex on the side — helping one to stay highly visible from all front angles.

Photo by TAUR used with permission.

In the back, TAUR created its own rear-light projection technology, which is an additional 100 lumen light that illuminates the rider’s entire back from behind. The rear lighting is also at eye level and provides 75 lumens.

“The benefits of e-scooters are incredible,” said Carson Brown, co-founder and Lead Designer at TAUR in a statement, “but they’ve always been designed for smooth ground at low speed. Think about it. Bikes? You face forward. Cars? You face forward. It’s the safest way to scope the road.” 

Carson pointed out that it wasn’t just about the riding experience, but the lifestyle. “Just making a better ride experience isn’t enough. We’re not designing a scooter for just when you’re on it. We’re designing it for the entire lifestyle that goes with it.” 

Specifications

Photo by TAUR used with permission.

TAUR says that storage is pretty simple. It folds and stores vertically in a fraction of the regular storage space, and you’ll get a notification if the battery is low. Charging, TAUR noted, is three times faster than usual. It takes only 2 hours to get an 80% charge and you can reach 100% in under 3 hours.

You can personalize your scooter in the app. You can unlock it digitally with a keycard or via bluetooth. You can also secure it with a lock through the wheel and frame. You can even set up an alarm and features will be updated with over-the-air updates, including remote immobilization.

  • Range: 22 miles / 35 km
  • Max-rider weight: 115 kg (250 lb)
  • Top speed: 23 mph (37 km/h). Limited to the local regulation limit. Settings are in-app.
  • Tyres: 12.5”, pneumatic, puncture-resistant, Continental®
  • Water Resistant: IP65 rated (all weather)
  • Lighting: 300 lumens, Cree® LED (front); 100 lumens LED (rear)
  • Charge time: 2.5–3 hrs (80% charge in 2 hrs)
  • Weight: 14.2 kg (31 lb)
  • Dimensions: Length: 110 cm; Height: 115 cm; Width (Handlebars): 48 cm; Width (Foot Pedals): 35 cm
TAUR
Photo by TAUR used with permission.

TAUR also has regenerative braking battery technology in the front wheel, like you have in electric cars.

There are three power modes:

  1. Learn. Learn helps one who is trying TAUR for the first time or showing it to their friend. This reduces speed and acceleration to a low level before you move on to a regular power mode.
  2. Range. This helps you save power, go further, and recharge less by reducing acceleration.
  3. Performance. This is where you can be speedy.

The Kickstarter Project

To help take on challenges such as design challenges, TAUR is launched a Kickstarter project where you can back them for as low as $39. TAUR has iterated on 5 major prototypes in its mission to create the ultimate road scooter. “Our combined decades of industry experience have allowed us to manage how design decisions impact unit costs and timelines, and create a product that we know you’ll love as much as we do.”

Those who pledge around $1,101, or £845 — or more than that — will get one of the Limited Edition TAUR scooters and a charger for it. There are 50 of these slots available.

Timeline

  • November 19th, 2020 — Kickstarter campaign ends.
  • December 2020 — Tooling begins.
  • December 2020 — Initial production runs begin, with full production going ahead over the next 30 days.
  • February 2021 — The first run of units will arrive in our warehouse facility(s), where we’ll check for quality control.
  • March 2021 — Deliveries begin. Priority will be given to “Founder” models.

TAUR also listed its environmental commitments on its Kickstarter page. These include long-lasting design as well as both reusability and recyclability. The design is from an aluminum frame and high-quality tires that are puncture resistant. TAUR noted that the ease of changing the tire will maximize the overall lifespan of the product as well. The design enables the scooter to be repairable.

TAUR’s electric road scooter have been available since October 20th at the “super early bird price of $1,095.”

E-scooters: Pavement Nuisance or Transport Innovation?

The House of Commons Transport Committee recently published a report titled, E-scooter: Pavement Nuisance or Transport Innovation? The report cited TAUR as a source for some of its information, notably in the areas of encouraging the use of e-scooters.

“We explored with witnesses whether they supported the general principle of encouraging the legal use of e-scooters in the UK. Most witnesses agreed that e-scooters were already a reality on British streets and their use should be legalized. Many were positive about the contribution that e-scooters could make to the UK’s transport mix. We heard that e-scooters had potential to help reduce congestion and improve air quality by getting people out of their cars. E-scooters could also be used to help people get to and from public transport terminals, which may be a particular benefit in suburban areas that are traditionally harder to serve by public transport than cities,” the report stated while citing TAUR as a reference.

Another area in the report TAUR contributed to regarded integrating with other road users and pedestrians. “Whether e-scooters will prove to be a successful addition to the UK’s transport mix depends on their safe integration with other road and pavement users. Many witnesses suggested that e-scooters should be treated in a similar way to bikes and e-bikes and be permitted on low-speed roads and cycle lanes. Some suggested that they should be permitted on roads with speed limits of up to 30 mph,” the report said. You can read the full report here.


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Johnna Crider

Johnna owns less than one share of $TSLA currently and supports Tesla's mission. She also gardens, collects interesting minerals and can be found on TikTok

Johnna Crider has 1996 posts and counting. See all posts by Johnna Crider