5/25/2007

Would you buy a scooter?
Filed under: Energy, Technology — nobrainer @ 7:00 am

How high would gas prices have to go before you thought about buying a scooter or a moped? You can find a low-end scooter for $800, and even one that goes up to 55mph for under a grand. But the typical median price looks to be closer to $1500. The fuel mileage for scooters is given as being from 50 to 80 miles per gallon. While mopeds are rated at 100+ mpg.

I put together a little chart that can help estimate how much money a person could save by switching to an 80mpg scooter.

Cost savings of Scooter Mileage VS Car Mileage

After a bit of thought, it seems a natural follow up question is how do you market these to get significant market penetration? Aside from high gas prices, how do you convince someone to switch from car to scooter?

Speaking of scooters, I have to bring up Ron White:

We walk by this little place that rents scooters, and I tell my wife “why don’t we rent one of these scooters and we can just buzz around the whole island on a little scooter?”

She goes, “we are not gettin’ on one of those scooters!”

I said, “Let me rephrase that… I’m gonna rent a scooter.”

collapse trickey Says:
May 25th, 2007 at 9:10 am

I made the argument to my Daddy in college that buying me a Vespa was cost effective–I would stop getting parking tickets at Clemson. With gas prices added into the fact that I’m about to switch to a job that is only 1.5 miles from my house, and I won’t have reserved parking for my first year, I might be revisiting the scooter idea.

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collapse Evan Says:
May 25th, 2007 at 9:19 am

Aside from being fun and low on fuel consumption, scooters are:

* More dangerous
* Low on storage/towing capacity
* Low on passenger capacity
* Open to the elements

I suppose if EVERYONE used a scooter or trike, the safety issue would diminish some, but it’ll be a long time before you see a “family scooter.”

Personally, I loved every scooter I’ve owned and would gladly buy another if I lived closer to my office… Parking is never an issue, you can zip past traffic and you fill it up every month–maybe. That said, I could never see myself putting more than a maximum of 10 - 15 miles on a scooter per day. So the cost saving argument (even at $5.00/gal) is weak.

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collapse DGL Says:
May 25th, 2007 at 12:06 pm

After we got married, my wife and I sold my truck, kept her volvo and bought a vespa. In addition to gas savings, there are no more registration or licensing fees and no insurance (it’s a 49cc bike). I think it’s a great deal, but it’s not for everyone. We live in town and my commute on the scooter is about 7 minutes (most days I walk unless I have to go to a satellite office). What we use it for most is going out to dinner around the downtown mall - parking has never been sweeter. The weather factor can be a significant downer, as can the lack of storage.

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collapse Wha Says:
May 25th, 2007 at 12:53 pm

I broke my leg on mine in High School. I sold it in college while living on campus. That was dumb but it was old even then. A little phrase that always deters me is this: “Fat girls are like scooterrs. Fun to ride until your firends catch you doing it.” That should take care of anyone considering the propostion.

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collapse nobrainer Says:
May 25th, 2007 at 1:05 pm

I wouldn’t make fun of my friends for riding a scooter, moped, or fat girl.

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collapse Hayes Says:
June 2nd, 2007 at 9:36 pm

As a girl I should probably be offended, but that’s damn funny.

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collapse Agent Orange Says:
May 26th, 2007 at 12:57 pm

We got a scooter with a jerry rigged cracked manifold from somewhere when we lived at 300 Woodland and I was the only one that could get it to run. I was going to take it when I got my job as it was only a 7 minute commute to the plant but upon inquiry to the house, it was stolen. The scooters are fun to ride on but not too convenient past the parking and gas subject. Just fork out some cash for a old dirt bike or honda motorcycle in your classifieds.

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collapse nobrainer Says:
May 28th, 2007 at 10:36 am

I remember that thing. I had no idea where it came from and no idea where it went.

If I end up getting something, I think I’ll follow DGL’s advice and get something with a small engine that doesn’t require insurance and all that BS.

Of course, I think the government ought to open up low-speed roadways to golf carts, particularly electric ones.

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collapse Wha Says:
May 28th, 2007 at 5:16 pm

Because the power on the grid used to charge the sucker at night came from where? That’s right, a coal or NG fired plant most likely. Take your pick of hydrocarbon emmission and time of day. Granted, the general population at night has less draw on power than the when all the commercial buildings are going full bore during the day, but still, it’s not much more than a passing of the buck from one source to another. I will say that the percentage increase in emmissions is most likely much less with your electric cart. And god knows, I would love to have a golf cart to putt around on, but the with a high enough density of them, we would jsut be passing teh bacuk from one source to another.

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collapse Hayes Says:
June 2nd, 2007 at 9:37 pm

That’s a good bit of stand-up there.

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