Helbiz led to EICMA 2021 a new electric scooter specially designed for sharing. The new model One-S has a number of features that place it at a higher level than Helbiz’s previous electric scooters, as it ingeniously complies with all legislative changes concerning the shared use of these vehicles in Italy.
The issue of the safety of scooters is certainly interesting. As the prevalence increases, so too have accidents. The Draghi government, under pressure, has therefore enacted a series of regulations that reduce the speed and parking methods of electric scooters. Regardless of what you think about scooters, which like all road vehicles strongly depend on driver behavior, companies had to react, and Helbiz was one of the first to be ready with a new product. FormulaPassion talked about it with the Chief Product Officer of Helbiz, Emanuele Liatti, who explained how One-S was born and what its main strengths are.
What are the main features of Helbiz One-S?
“We presented for the first time, as a world preview, our scooter for sharing, which we believe is revolutionary in its own way. This is our ‘next step’ for design and technical content. It has a double suspension, front and rear; double disc brake and electronic regenerative brake, frame designed with specific geometries to increase driving comfort and safety. The extended and widened footrest also helps to improve the driving position“.
The scooter includes all the legal specifications relating to safety – was it a lightning development?
“We were ready even before the regulations came out. Certainly knowing that laws change these products are more difficult to design, but since we basically knew the likely texts, we had already taken into account that we would have to make changes. In this sense, we started with a blank sheet, and it was easier than adapting an older product. We certainly had a very good starting point. After all, for security it is not just about software but also about hardware. The speech relating to suspensions, brakes, chassis is not accidental: with the new model the sensations increase, and also the driving position allows you to go with your feet on the same axis, instead of one foot in front of the other. The style is somewhat more motorcycling“.
To what extent have the new laws affected the design?
“We have improved what our electronic ‘brain’ is: now the GPS is able to detect if the scooter is traveling through a pedestrian area, thus the speed is automatically reduced to 6 kilometers per hour. We have added integrated indicators in the handlebar and in the electric rear light, and above all we have installed two cameras. One points towards the road, to understand if the driver is on the pavement; the other is aimed at the driver, and serves to eliminate double driving. With this system, the scooter will simply slow down and will not start anymore: it will remain on but will only be able to ‘move forward’ once the legal conditions have been re-established.“.
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