The electric skateboard trying to dethrone Boosted
I'm Becca Farsace with TheVerge, and this is a Dot board. It's a modular electric skateboard, and y'all, it's kinda sick. (upbeat music) There are three models of Dot boards. The Compact, the Cruiser,and the Transporter. All of the boards are madeof a composite of maple, V.ply, and fiberglass. The Compact and Cruiserrock pinstripe decks with kick tails, while the Transporter is a wood grain drop through. Each board also has two rear red lights that act as brake lights. All right, first, the Compact. It starts at $1,279, andthe main advantage here is its size and weight, with the disadvantage being its range. You have the option of one or two motors, with the second motorcosting an extra $170. The speed maxes out at 18 miles per hour, and it can get up to 12 miles of range. This board whips, andit's super easy to carry. But for full range, speed, and comfort, with the con being weight,Dot offers the Transporter. This board starts at 1,599, and it is absolutely theCadillac of the Dot lineup. She whips, she whips! If you pop those 120 millimeter wheels on, it feels like you'reriding on a damn cloud. I got real comfortable, realfast going really quick. You can get up to 24 milesper hour on this thing, and max out at 24 milesof range, which is insane. You give up portability though.
I mean, this thing ishuge and it is heavy. Carrying this would be a pain, it's definitely an A to Bboard with no stops in between. Now the Cruiser sits rightin between the Compact and the Transporter. It starts at 1,299, with a max speed of 18 miles an hour,and 18 miles of range. I think this is the sweet spot in terms of sizes forelectric skateboards. I mean, number one, I justhave a wider stance on a board, so I appreciate that extra room, but also, if I had to get on the subway, I could easily pick thisup and take it with me without it being a huge hassle. The remote is a little different. So you have an accelerationand a brake on the back side. I found myself using my pointerfinger and my middle finger to accelerate and my ringfinger and my pinky to brake. The remote definitelytook some getting used to, and I was often afraid of accelerating when I meant to brake. And if you pair that with thisboard's quick acceleration and quick braking, it'sall just a little spooky. But what I did love about the remote was the tiny screen on it. You can see a speedometer, you can see how many milesyou've gone in your trip, you can change settings.
This board is also not waterproof, it's definitely not madeto be riding in the rain. If it does get wet though, it'll indicate on the remotethat your motor is wet. The unique thing theseboards are doing though is how customizable they are. With each board, you have the option of how many batteries you want and on the two smaller boards, you have the option of howmany hub motors you want. One motor will provide a 15% hill climb, and two motors doublesthat to a 30% hill climb. Batteries each providearound six miles of range, and each one will cost youan extra $200 per battery that you add to your kit. Motors are swappable via an Allen key that is stored in the front truck, and batteries just pop right on and off by using the Allen key to unscrew them from the top of the board. I was able to change out the wheels and the motors in under two minutes. And batteries were just as easy. Okay, so there is one bigflaw with these boards, and it's in itsregenerative braking system. Basically that means that whenyou're riding and you brake, it's sending power backinto the batteries, which in theory is wonderful. And Dot even says that when youcharge your battery to 100%, it actually caps the batteryjust a bit below that so that if you brake whenyou start on a full battery, well, it'll have roomto send some power back. The problem is, if you startat the top of a very large hill with a full battery, like I did, and you go down the hill, well, when you get towards the bottom, your brakes aren't gonna work anymore because your battery's gonna be full. So here's a video of Phil and I quite literallyriding off into the sunset. (wind roaring) Oh my god, it's not slowing down.
Just hold the bra--- And this is the moment I saw my entire life flash before my eyes. It felt like the worst speedwobble I've ever experienced. Basically under my back foot, it felt like the brakes were pulsing, like they were attempting to brake, but not actually braking. And then that made myback leg start to wobble, and then I looked at the remote, and I was going 27 miles per hour. And there's absolutely no way I could have jumped off the board. So overall, it was aterrifying experience. This brings up a good point though. When you're riding an electric skateboard, there's like this falsesense of confidence, right, that like you can brake at any time, you can accelerate at any time. But the truth is, if you wouldn't do iton a normal skateboard, you probably shouldn't do iton an electric skateboard. I did reach out to Dot about this issue, and they responded by sayingthe remote will alert you if you try to brake whilethe battery is full. The alert will be arepeating haptic signal on the remote and a low brakesmessage on that tiny screen. But during my experience with the board, I never received thosemessages, and even if I had, I feel like they would'vebeen too little too late. Dot, please, please fix this.
So you could buy the basemodel of one of these boards and say in a month or even a year, update to two motorsor add more batteries. But that's also relying onDot staying afloat in a market that has seen companies come and go, and also seen companies like Boosted completely dominate the field. But what Dot's doing isactually pretty unique. I mean, skateboarding is aboutchanging out your wheels, your trucks, your deck, and just being able to do it yourself. And its really cool to see that come to the electricrideables market. (upbeat electric guitar music) Woo! (upbeat electric guitar music)
I mean, this thing ishuge and it is heavy. Carrying this would be a pain, it's definitely an A to Bboard with no stops in between. Now the Cruiser sits rightin between the Compact and the Transporter. It starts at 1,299, with a max speed of 18 miles an hour,and 18 miles of range. I think this is the sweet spot in terms of sizes forelectric skateboards. I mean, number one, I justhave a wider stance on a board, so I appreciate that extra room, but also, if I had to get on the subway, I could easily pick thisup and take it with me without it being a huge hassle. The remote is a little different. So you have an accelerationand a brake on the back side. I found myself using my pointerfinger and my middle finger to accelerate and my ringfinger and my pinky to brake. The remote definitelytook some getting used to, and I was often afraid of accelerating when I meant to brake. And if you pair that with thisboard's quick acceleration and quick braking, it'sall just a little spooky. But what I did love about the remote was the tiny screen on it. You can see a speedometer, you can see how many milesyou've gone in your trip, you can change settings.
This board is also not waterproof, it's definitely not madeto be riding in the rain. If it does get wet though, it'll indicate on the remotethat your motor is wet. The unique thing theseboards are doing though is how customizable they are. With each board, you have the option of how many batteries you want and on the two smaller boards, you have the option of howmany hub motors you want. One motor will provide a 15% hill climb, and two motors doublesthat to a 30% hill climb. Batteries each providearound six miles of range, and each one will cost youan extra $200 per battery that you add to your kit. Motors are swappable via an Allen key that is stored in the front truck, and batteries just pop right on and off by using the Allen key to unscrew them from the top of the board. I was able to change out the wheels and the motors in under two minutes. And batteries were just as easy. Okay, so there is one bigflaw with these boards, and it's in itsregenerative braking system. Basically that means that whenyou're riding and you brake, it's sending power backinto the batteries, which in theory is wonderful. And Dot even says that when youcharge your battery to 100%, it actually caps the batteryjust a bit below that so that if you brake whenyou start on a full battery, well, it'll have roomto send some power back. The problem is, if you startat the top of a very large hill with a full battery, like I did, and you go down the hill, well, when you get towards the bottom, your brakes aren't gonna work anymore because your battery's gonna be full. So here's a video of Phil and I quite literallyriding off into the sunset. (wind roaring) Oh my god, it's not slowing down.
Just hold the bra--- And this is the moment I saw my entire life flash before my eyes. It felt like the worst speedwobble I've ever experienced. Basically under my back foot, it felt like the brakes were pulsing, like they were attempting to brake, but not actually braking. And then that made myback leg start to wobble, and then I looked at the remote, and I was going 27 miles per hour. And there's absolutely no way I could have jumped off the board. So overall, it was aterrifying experience. This brings up a good point though. When you're riding an electric skateboard, there's like this falsesense of confidence, right, that like you can brake at any time, you can accelerate at any time. But the truth is, if you wouldn't do iton a normal skateboard, you probably shouldn't do iton an electric skateboard. I did reach out to Dot about this issue, and they responded by sayingthe remote will alert you if you try to brake whilethe battery is full. The alert will be arepeating haptic signal on the remote and a low brakesmessage on that tiny screen. But during my experience with the board, I never received thosemessages, and even if I had, I feel like they would'vebeen too little too late. Dot, please, please fix this.
So you could buy the basemodel of one of these boards and say in a month or even a year, update to two motorsor add more batteries. But that's also relying onDot staying afloat in a market that has seen companies come and go, and also seen companies like Boosted completely dominate the field. But what Dot's doing isactually pretty unique. I mean, skateboarding is aboutchanging out your wheels, your trucks, your deck, and just being able to do it yourself. And its really cool to see that come to the electricrideables market. (upbeat electric guitar music) Woo! (upbeat electric guitar music)
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