I Can't Tell If This Is Stupid Or Brilliant

It's seventy-two pounds and can go 23 miles at 12mph. What makes it interesting, I suppose, is the form factor of the thing. It's billed as the world's smallest electric vehicle. And the video is pure Sprockets.

You can check it out here. This strikes me as VHS to the Segway's Beta: cheaper ($1,599), less ambitious, lower performance, but fulfilling the same basic conditions. I keep thinking there has to be a market for these things besides the guided city tours you see Segways and their awkwardly helmeted riders doing. The problem is, and continues to be, the fact that most people don't walk far enough to make the hassle of storing and operating the thing worth it. Not to mention the fact that they're unwieldy in Manhattan foot traffic. There's a reason there are no crowd shots in this video, and it isn't because they couldn't find a crowd in a European city.

Oh, and the fact that you look like a complete tool when you're riding a one-man upright scooter.

That last part might be more important. We're social creatures, even those of us who aren't (raises hand!) and we don't want to be the only person on the street riding a dorky electric scooter. Maybe if they could get Ryan Gosling to start riding one around. It would have to be someone like him. Using Dwight D. Eisenhower as an endorser set Rolex on the road to riches and success, but in the modern era nobody will admit to admiring a politician unless said politician is someone who defines himself (or herself) by his minority status. And then you're not really saying that you admire that politician; you're saying that it's important for your peers to see how not-racist you are.

Hey, maybe that's the key to this. Get Mel Gibson to go on a rant about [insert minority here] on scooters. Watch as the SWPLs take to the street in protest. We're gonna rock down to --- Electric Avenue!