Evolve Battery Woes

So let’s talk about Electric Skateboards again. I went through a dry patch there, where I didn’t have much to talk about. But now I sure do. You’ll note that I’ve recently moved, which *totally* changed my commute. In a way it’s a bit stressful to do that, but in a way it’s fun because I get to learn the optimal way to skate to and from work from a new location. Also note that I’ve moved closer to work, but perhaps along a path where taking the bus is a bit more difficult, as the stop is now easily two or three times farther than it had been.

My new place has a lot of speed bumps in it, and most of them traverse the entire width of the road. Meaning unless you’re on a bicycle, there’s really no way to skip them. Which is a bummer. I also knew from having skated there once before that the sidewalks leading to and from my work are complete garbage. So naturally, I reached for my all terrain Bamboo Series Two from Evolve.

And it didn’t disappoint. It can easily make it over the speed bumps without touching, which is great, although it’s always a bummer to have to slow for the damn bumps. But I understand, because if it weren’t for those, I’d probably have been run over by a car already.

It also handles those garbage surfaces like a boss, so we’re two for two. My new route to work allows me to enter the building by the vallet guys, which is a very nice added bonus. I’ve already heard comments to the effect of “That’s cheating,” and “Sweet board.”

But when I rode home from work, I saw something that troubled me. My remote was giving me the low battery light. What’s up with that? The distance before was three miles. The distance now is more like two and a half *tops*. Five miles on my Bamboo Series should be cake for this board.

Now I’m no battery expert, but I do know that with these new batteries, you don’t want to let them get down below 20% if it can be helped. I wondered if I didn’t charge it incorrectly, or otherwise make some kind of mistake with the charging.

So the next day, I brought my charger with me to work. This isn’t something I do lightly. Because these batteries are also rated for a certain number of charges. If it can be helped, it’s better on the battery to charge it once, not twice a day. So I charged it at work, and rode home that day. Would you believe that before I had gone even a single mile, I looked down and saw that damn low battery light. What gives?

To me, this is a sign. And a bad one. Because the Bamboo Series two is my newest board, with the best battery. It should be the last board of mine to pull a stunt like this.

While I’m trying to sort out what’s going on with the board, I decided to take my Boosted Board to work today. So I did a little testing. Turns out the Boosted can also clear all the speed bumps, without touching. But something about the feel of it going over a speed bump, I found that I much prefer to hop off the board and hop back on.

Today, when I rode it to work, I found several points in the road where I had to hop off, because the surface was so bad. That was to be expected. But when I got to work and did a battery check, would you believe I was only down one and a half lights (out of five). In other words, the Boosted Board reports being not even halfway discharged, while the Bamboo Series two already reports a low battery.

Now part of this issue is the fact that the Boosted Board has an awesome battery life indicator that tells you exactly how much battery it has used, and how much it has left. While the Evolve board simply flashes a red light to tell you you’re getting low on juice.

I checked both manufacturer webpages and this is what I found. I’m sorry, all you battery experts, if this isn’t quite the pertinent information. But the Boosted Board claims a 99 watt hour battery. The Evolve board claims a 350 watt. I’m sure somewhere out there is a person who can shed more light on the subject. But the feeling I get is that when it comes to battery life with the all terrain wheels, all bets are off.

Maybe it’s time I put the orthodox wheels on my Bamboo Series two and skate like that for a while. But man, I really love having those wheels to get me over the real life conditions of sidewalks.

As a matter of fact, as I was skating this morning, I couldn’t help but feel like the device I really want is the One Wheel. I think that almost every time I go over the stupid fucking tactical pavement they put on the curbs here, just to fuck with all the old people in Jazzies who have to roll over them.

I still don’t really wanna drop the cash on yet another electric vehicle. Maybe I can finagle one for Christmas. The Boosted Board is the electric skateboard that would really satisfy an orthodox skateboarder. The Evolve Bamboo Series with the all terrain tires is the board that is best suited to a beginner who needs his board to ride more like a bicycle. But the One Wheel strikes me as the only electric vehicle that is truly designed from the ground up to do what it does specifically, allowing a single person to commute over whatever the terrain has to offer.

One last note. I saw skating the Evolve around a parking lot. I pulled up to the trunk of my car, just as a family with a young boy was passing by. The father said to the boy, “You should get one of *those* boards.”

I turned to them and said, “You won’t be disappointed. They’re awesome.”

“What’s it called?” the mother asked.

“Evolve Skateboards,” I said.

They nodded and walked on. What I wanted to add, but didn’t was “You’re in trouble now, because the board costs more than the car.” But then, as I thought more about it, a better response, that would actually help promote this new favorite pastime of mine, would have been, “Go for the LecDec. It only costs as much as a PlayStation.”