Other Personal Electric Vehicles

The devices

Four Device Families Share One Battery Chemistry

Each family stands the rider on a deck or pedals with no seat, and each runs from a lithium-ion pack of 18650 or 21700 cells.

Electric unicycles

Shenzhen Makers Build Electric Unicycles Faster and Heavier Than Any E-Bike Class

Almost every electric unicycle comes from China. InMotion, founded in Shenzhen in 2012, and King Song, a Shenzhen maker with an 18,000 square meter factory, are the oldest of the current makers. Begode, formerly Gotway, and Leaperkim, which sells under the Veteran name, round out the four main brands. Segway-Ninebot sold the Ninebot One S1 from 2017.

Packs run from 126 V to 176 V and from about 2,000 Wh to 4,700 Wh. King Song lists the S22 Pro+ at 70 km/h (43 mph) with a 4,000 W motor. InMotion's V14 Adventurer uses a 134 V, 2,400 Wh pack, and Leaperkim's Oryx a 42S, 176 V, 4,700 Wh pack with a 4,200 W motor. Begode lists its Blitz Pro at 168 V.

One-wheel boards

Every Onewheel Was Recalled in 2023 After Four Deaths

Future Motion of Santa Cruz, California, launched the Onewheel on Kickstarter in 2014. The board balances on a single central wheel, and when the motor reaches its limit the nose can drop and pitch the rider forward. In November 2022 the CPSC warned owners to stop riding all Onewheel models, citing at least four deaths between 2019 and 2021, all from head injuries. Future Motion first objected.

On September 29, 2023, the CPSC and Future Motion announced a recall of about 300,000 boards covering every model. The remedy was a firmware update adding Haptic Buzz, a vibration and sound alert when the board nears its limits, for the GT, Pint X, Pint and XR. The original Onewheel and Onewheel+ got no fix. An earlier August 2022 recall replaced about 20,500 GT front footpads. The current GT S-Series runs at 113 V on Molicel P45B 21700 cells and is rated at 25 mph.

Electric skateboards

Boosted Closed in 2020 and Chinese Brands Took Its Place

Boosted, founded in Palo Alto in 2012, defined the category. In March 2020 it laid off most of its staff and sought a buyer. Lime bought five core patents in April 2020, and the remaining inventory went to Boosted USA. Boosted had built its Rev scooter in China and was hit by the US tariffs on Chinese goods.

Exway, founded in Shenzhen in 2016, and Backfire are Chinese brands; Exway's Atlas Pro V3 ships from China. Evolve is based in Australia and uses Samsung 50S cells. California defines an electrically motorized board as one under 1,000 W and 20 mph, so the current 31-40 mph boards fall outside that definition.

Hoverboards

The 2015-2016 Hoverboard Fires Produced UL 2272

Cheap self-balancing scooters from Chinese factories flooded the US market in late 2015. The CPSC logged 52 hoverboard fires between December 1, 2015, and February 17, 2016, causing more than $2 million in damage, including two destroyed homes. UL published UL 2272, then titled Electrical Systems for Self-Balancing Scooters, in February 2016. On February 18, 2016, the CPSC told makers and importers it considered hoverboards that did not meet it defective.

In July 2016, 10 companies, including Swagway and Razor, recalled more than 500,000 hoverboards after more than 60 fires in 20 states. Ninebot of Beijing, which bought Segway in 2015, sells the Ninebot S at 16 km/h (10 mph).

Certification did not end the fires. In March 2023 the CPSC recalled about 53,000 Jetson Rogue hoverboards built in 2018-2019 after an April 2022 fire in Hellertown, Pennsylvania, killed two sisters. Those units carried a UL 2272 label.

Shared with e-bikes

The Same Cells and the Same Fire Risk Sit in E-Bikes

Samsung 50S, Samsung 50GB and Molicel P45B 21700 cells appear in electric unicycles, skateboards and Onewheels and in e-bike packs. Thermal runaway in any one cell spreads the same way regardless of the vehicle.

New York City's Local Law 39 of 2023 has required, since September 16, 2023, that powered mobility devices sold in the city be certified to UL 2272, e-bikes to UL 2849 and their batteries to UL 2271. The CPSC asked all makers to follow UL 2272 and UL 2849 in December 2022, and in June 2026 proposed a mandatory battery rule for e-bikes, e-scooters and other light electric vehicles.

Legal status

Most Places Give These Devices No Road Category

E-bikes have defined classes nearly everywhere. Unicycles, one-wheel boards, skateboards and hoverboards usually do not, which leaves them barred from public roads or unaddressed.