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Comment by justinhj | Hacker News Reader

I wouldn’t write off China in any industry. Due to legislation and economics of car ownership there are cities where 90 % of the traffic is electric scooters. There is a lot of expertise in building them. In addition Chinese are very keen adopters of mobile tech, although I agree in this case it seems gimmicky

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90% peddled scooters. Not scooters or mopeds. They’re crappy two sweaters with peddles and a heavy under feet lead acid battery. They’re junk. Niu is a polished version of a cheap plastic scooter around the same concept. Who on earth wants to pull their battery out really when it weighs 14kg and you need to do it twice? They’re selling a china only problem in Europe. Zero thought.

apparently they are very useful for Chinese people otherwise they wouldn't buy millions of them. and what's so different about Europe/US cities?

You can’t ride one of these cheaply made scooters legally on a footpath anywhere but the USA where 700w is ok without a license or insurance without finding some legal trouble. They’re mostly 350w-500w in China. Which makes them illegal to use in China and in Europe. They’re constantly taken off the roads in China by the police. In Europe the distance would be greater to travel and elevation too. China’s cities are mostly flat roads as theyre bulldozed and concreted. Have fun riding 250w up a hill with two Germans that weigh 90kg and are 6 foot 2.

They're very cool electric scooters with long lasting light batteries, for around $2000 USD. Didn't see a single "pedalled" scooter there.

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