In light of the number of fires resulting from recharging “refurbished” batteries in enclosed spaces, this is probably a good thing. A friend of mine–who lives in an urban area that is infested with e-scooters being driven recklessly much of the time–wishes that his city would do the same.
One of our neighbors recharged an escooter in their garage and it started a fire. The house wasn’t completely destroyed but it took several months before it was habitable again. No one was injured. If I had an escooter I would use a long enough extension cord that I could do it outside.
1 Like
E scooter and e bikes seem to be an issue everywhere. They are too fast for sidewalks and too slow for the roads and a few are ridden by inconsiderate jerks.
When an e scooter or bike passes me on a neighborhood road with me going the 30 mph speed limit, they are now motor vehicles with no license, no signals and no regard for traffic signs.
1 Like
You should see the golf carts in my area.
Some years ago cities in Calif had to decide whether or not to permit those high tech stand-up, one wheel electric scooters to be used on sidewalks. Nearly every city council agreed to allow it, even though the public comments showed a lot of safety concerns about allowing them on the sidewalks, especially dog walkers and those with very young children. Politicians need their campaigns funded somehow I guess. For some reason that gadget never really caught on, seldom see them anymore.
Aren’t mopeds popular in Europe? Audrey Hepburn? How is an elec scooter not better? No exhaust. No noise. It’s green.
Mopeds are usually driven on the roads or at least the side of the roads, so don’t cause too many conflicts. Scooters often used on sidewalks, a lot of chances for conflicts with pedestrians.
Scooters and <125cc motorcycles are everywhere in the mid and Southern parts of Europe. 2 stroke scooters were everywhere in Italy in 2002. They can often be ridden without a license or registration. They had rain enclosures on some of them which is just a flimsy roof that connects in the front and back. They are ridden in the streets. Cars have to be aware of them. But it’s not a problem since there are so many. They mostly have round abouts instead of intersections so there aren’t the common left turn and pulling out in front of the motorcycle accidents like we have in the US.
1 Like
A co-worker had one of these, capable of 18 mph, too fast to drive through the shop each day.
I have seen other scooters in traffic traveling 30 mph, way too fast to travel without protection.
1 Like
Yeah we have those for rental here. $5 an hour or something. Not too many zipping around in the winter. Because of the number of people with white canes though, use of the sidewalks has been restricted for over 50 years.
I guess it’s all fine until your house burns down. With a one vote majority Minnesota banned gas cars. So I’m debating building a detached garage way way in back or something. Really don’t want to move to Paris and don’t speak French, except for how are you.
Protection? Like people on motorcycles in shorts, tank tops, and flip flops? Not uncommon in my area.
? What’s the relationship between a state ban on gasoline cars and the remotely-located garage? Presumably the ban only affects new-car purchases. Or are you thinking you might someday want to purchase a new gasoline car in another state, and bring it to your state? But then how would your register the car? I guess you could keep it registered in the other state. Coincidentally, one of my neighbors has a car, Minnesota license plate, apparently has never received any complaints from local police. On the other hand, the police were constantly trying to issue my truck a parking ticket for parking too long on the street. The tires were marked at least once a month, for years. I saw the marks & so never parked for more time than allowed.
Nevada has a helmet law for motorcycles, many rides wear proper gear.
No safety gear required in Florida. Some bikers fully gear up, some would ride nude if allowed.
I would rather burn the garage down than the house.
OK, makes sense now, electric car is more likely to catch fire.
Are you sure? Some say that’s not the case, but it’s hard to make reasonable assessments since there isn’t enough data yet. Also, auto manufacturers are moving to batteries that are less likely to catch fire.
I have to drop my kid off late nights on the weekends around UCLA and these e-scooters are one of the biggest hazards. The kids on them have no protection, no lights, and zooming in and out of the sidewalk to the street back and forth, not stopping at stop signs. Seems like they are suicidal but I am sure when something happens to them, the other party is in big time trouble.
No, I’m not sure whether or not electric cars are a bigger fire hazard than gasoline cars. Not enough evidence yet. I was just saying that I now understood what our esteemed colleague @Bing meant in his above post. Some years ago the musical artist Neal Young worked with a local engineer/scientist to convert a 60’s Detroit Steel v8 (his favorite car configuration) to an electric hybrid.