The first Motorized Scooter was created by inventor Arthur H.C. Gibson on July 26th, 1913, and he filed a patent for the self-propelled vehicle which he later called the Autoped. The Autoped looked quite similar to the modern-day E-Scooters but was much bulkier due to it being gas-powered. Gibson and his business partner Joseph Merkel began to develop the first line of commercial Autopeds in 1916 after the approval of his patent design. The commercial success would be short-lived, and production was halted in 1921.
Over the next eight decades, many modifications were made to improve the motorized scooters, but at this point, motorized bikes were in existence and were in firm control of the commercial market. Then in the 1990s, Wim Ouboter, a Swiss businessman, created a foldable Aluminum Scooter using four inline skate wheels for his personal use. What he created was beginning to garner attention as a possible solution to the earlier commercial problems with the Autopeds. In 1998, a three-wheeled version was designed, manufactured, and sold. They were received with great enthusiasm, leading him to launch Micromobility systems in 1999 with the goal of developing a two-wheeled scooter. The invention caught on in big cities like Japan, where they were used by younger people as a way to and from public transit. As a result, Ouboter’s Taiwanese production partner JD Corp. made a licensing deal to distribute the scooters in the United States under the brand name “Razor”.
The first ever Electric Scooter was created in 2001 by Steve Patmont. Then in 2003, Razor debuted their first Electric Scooter which used a twisting throttle and went up to 15 mph. However, neither version caught on in the commercial market because the batteries were expensive and didn’t hold charge for very long. Six years later in 2009, Lithium-ion battery technology became powerful and refined enough to be used in smaller personal vehicles, leading to the reinvention of electric scooters. In 2017/2018, electric scooters got their breakthrough and started a new age of EPV (Electric Personal Vehicle)
Wow !