Background:

 

In 2018, I was inspired by the rise of dockless GPS personal electric scooter rental services being utilized by Bird, Lyme, Scoot, and other companies as a means of mass mobility in cities. I decided to apply the principles of such PEVs (Personal Electric Vehicles) to a skateboard platform. Some advantages of such a platform over a traditional 2-wheel scooter include improved traction, drivetrain, handling characteristics, and battery size.

 

After that burst of inspiration, I completed research for multiple possible skateboard-based platforms. However, due to academics, summer internships, other ventures, and the COVID-19 pandemic, I did not apply my findings to the project until 2022-23. At that point, I began to formulate more refined, tangible ideas

 

Reworking my original project goals to incorporate new battery, electronics, and materials technologies (which had aged several years since 2018), new CAD and simulation work was established, and components were defined.

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All parts used on the latest iteration have been custom manufactured to meet this board's unique design goals, from the deck to the battery to the software.

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Throughout the project, I have equipped the test vehicle with various control mechanics and settings to adjust rider comfort. The platform's present iteration can be seen below. 

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This build was nominated for and won the esk8.news 2023 Build of the Year award. Thank you to Haven for the nomination.

 

This project would not have been made possible without the generous contribution from an external sponsor, as well as the many esk8.news community members. Thank you especially to Jamie, Damon, Xsynatic, Artem, Shaman, Alan, Hummie, Fess, Mike, Tommy, Jacob, Jackson, Evan, Ryan, Mooney, Evan, Brian, and Al.

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Specs: 

• 101-volt lithium-ion battery.

• 300 amp peak phase current, 250A continuous (active cooling).

• Custom software using the VESC © platform.

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