You may notice that suddenly there are more and more people riding an electric skateboard on the road. They travel through the city, down the street and it looks very fun and convenient. There are also a lot of reviews on many websites and YouTube videos become electric skateboarding is getting more popular as a cool sport. You might also wish to try how it feels to be riding on an electric skateboard. However, most people might not be very familiar with how to choose it and which one is the best option for you.
Below I will explain the important things that you should think about when buying an electric skateboard.
Your interests and usage
There are 3 main kinds of electric skateboards in the market: Mini E-board, Longboard, All-terrain (Off-road) electric skateboard.
Mini E board:
Mini E-board normally is electric skateboards with a length of the deck not longer than 31 inches（80 cm). If you are not a big and tall person, and normally you are not traveling beyond 8 miles on foot, then you can choose a mini e-board. Since this kind of board is very convenient, and normally the weight is not over 10 kg or 22 pounds. You can easily carry it anywhere, either walking upstairs or in a busy crowd. At the same time, it has a cheaper price than other traditional types of the electric skateboard.
Of course, it also has some disadvantages. Since the deck is very short, you cannot fully spread your legs. Most of the time, it is very difficult to control the balance. Also, it is not suitable for high speeding riding. Normally you need some time to get used to it. The entire deck including the battery is small, so most of the mini e-board can only support a driving range under 8 miles.
Uditer mini E-board uses a lithium-ion battery. It increases the driving range to 13 miles, which is way better than the average driving range of a mini e-board in the market. At the same time, less than 7 kg (15 lb.) weight makes it very convenient to carry around. No matter where you put it, it is also saving space for you in the room.
Longboard normally has a deck length of around 38 inches (100 cm) and uses 80-100 mm diameter PU wheels. If you are living in a town with good traffic, a longboard is the best choice for leisure and transportation. Since the board is much longer, it is easier to spread your legs to be balanced and very good to be riding on a flat road at high speed. The riding range is very long so it is sufficient to travel around the town.
Uditer longboard W3/W3Pro/S3/S3Pro uses 105/90mm diameter PU wheels. It is good to be driving on the road for most of the places in a city and it has strong power. Uditer designed it to be very lightweight so that you can easily control it. People can quickly swap the batteries which make it worry-free about riding range. Overall it is a budget option for a typical electric skateboard.
All-terrain/Off-road electric skateboard has wheels diameters typically bigger than 105mm. The deck is usually longer than 38 inches (100 cm) and uses a belt-driven motor.
If you are living in a rural area or the road is not flat at all, or even you like riding in the woods or sand, you can choose an all-terrain/off-road board. It has huge wheels and strong motor power that allow you to ride on sands, woods, or steep hills.
The cons are that the size is very big and very heavy. Unfortunately, it is a disaster if it runs out of power. It would be a nightmare to carry this heavy thing home. Also, the price is the highest among the 3 types of boards. Normally the price is around $1500 -$ 3000 in the market.
Uditer EVO is a type of all-terrain board with a lightweight design. The weight is only about 10kg (23 lb). It uses wheels made of aluminum alloy and PU (polyurethane). Also, with a quick swappable battery design, you don't need to worry about the riding range. The price is cheaper than the average price with similar specs.
The components of an electric skateboard
Electric skateboard has 7 main components:
There are 2 types of motor for electric skateboard: Hub & Belt
Hub motors doesn't have a complex mechanical design. Normally there is no need to perform additional care. When the riding range is around 620-930 miles(1000-1500km), PU wheels will start to tear off, you would need to replace them with the new parts. This is normally happening after a long time of riding, you don't need to worry about it. In addition, the hub motor doesn't have any mechanical noise. Uditer longboard W3/S3 Hub uses replaceable PU wheels design. When you change PU wheels, there is no need to change the motor, which greatly reduces the cost of the accessories.
The belt motor has a greater torque compared to the hub motor, this translates into stronger hill-climbing capability. Even on some steep hill, the belt motor can easily tackle it. Another unique characteristic of the belt motor is the unique mechanical sound which makes the rider feels like driving in a racing car. It is a magical sound that will make people feel excited. However, the belt motor needs to be cleaned for any dirt between the belt and mechanical gears. Even though it is not a complex thing to do, but it needs to be cleaned frequently to maintain the good life of the belt motor. Uditer W3 Pro/S3 Pro made a customized protection cover between the belt and the transmission, which can effectively avoid dirt sneaking through. We also use a strong belt that makes you save time from cleaning and you don't need to frequently change the gear.
currently, most electric skateboards use a ternary high rate lithium-ion battery. Normally there are 3 types of cells: Soft Aluminum Plastic Film Battery/18650/21700
Soft aluminum plastic film battery is mainly used on a super-thin electric skateboard. Because the package is soft, the outside of the battery is very weak. The disadvantage of this kind of battery is that it will be broken if it gets pressured from the outside. That can cause the battery to be not useable, and it could even cause a fire.
18650 is the most common and safest battery in the market, more cells can be put together which can greatly increase the power of the battery.
21700 is an even bigger battery pack. A single cell is bigger than a 18650 cell. For the same bulk volume, the number of cells is less than 18650 and at the same time, the price is more expensive.
In addition, BMS is also an important part of a battery. BMS controls the voltage and electric current of electricity. A more advanced BMS can have a good distribution of a load of each battery and it can better control the heat of a battery and extend the life of the battery.
Uditer uses the brand new smart BMS with 2600mAh high capacity 18650 cells, the entire cell volume can be 42V 8.1A/h, this can make your riding range reaching 25 miles (35 km). Uditer also has a quick swappable battery-changing plan, which can let you double the ranges. The battery also has a USB plug, it can serve as a battery bank which it is very easy for the riders to charge phones and cameras.
ESC is the circuit control system of the whole electric skateboard. The speed, brake, temperature, voltage, and current of the electric skateboard are all controlled by ESC. It receives instruction from a remote-control transmitter through Bluetooth to control the entire electric skateboard.
Currently, there are many brands of ESC in the market. Uditerboard chooses to use Lingyi ESC because Lingyi has the largest market shares and the most stable performance in the market.
The remote control is a tool for the rider to control the electric skateboard. The rider can change the settings of the electric skateboard on the remote control. Currently, there are 2 kinds of remote control in the market: LCD screen and no LCD screen.
The remote control of Uditerboard has an LCD screen. The rider can know the setting and status of the electric skateboard in real-time, which can help the rider knows a lot of information while riding.
Whether the appearance of the electric skateboard is beautiful or whether people are enjoying the riding experience, a large part depends on the deck material. The material in the market are mainly maple & bamboo + glass fiber & carbon fiber
Maple as a traditional skateboard deck material, is widely used in the skateboarding market and it is very cheap. The drawback is that it is not very resilient and cannot bend much. At high speed, the deck does not have very good shock absorption, so a maple deck will let the rider's feet feel numb after a long time of riding. In addition, the maple deck itself is very heavy and cannot bear too much weight. Under the extreme situation, the deck may even break.
The bamboo + glass fiber deck is very light. In addition, it is very tough and can greatly absorb any shock when driving at high speed. This is why Uditerboard chooses bamboo + glass fiber as a deck material.
Carbon fiber has become popular recently, and it is also very tough. However, the price of carbon fiber decks is very high. Some manufacturers do not use the real carbon fiber deck, but only putting a layer of carbon fiber film on the plastic deck to deceive consumers. If you see a cheap carbon fiber electric skateboard, please be very careful when buying it.
In addition, a creative deck shape can make the whole electric skateboard look very beautiful and unique. Uditerboard designed the exclusive classic deck and diamond deck that makes the whole electric skateboard look more fashionable and high-tech.
The truck is a very important part of the electric skateboard. Good trucks can make your electric skateboard more flexible, safer, and more comfortable. The material of the truck is aluminum-magnesium alloy and it can be made in 2 ways: Mold & CNC.
Molding trucks have a lower price, but it is not as tough as CNC. As long as you don't ride the board wildly, usually there's no problem to have a mold type of truck.
Truck sizes: Normally it is 7/8/10 inches. There are even wider sizes that are matched to different decks and wheels. Wider sizes mean better balance, safer driving at high speed. But at the same time, you lose some flexibility, which means you need a larger turning radius. Bigger size is not always better.
On MINI/S3/S3PRO/W3/W3PRO, UDITER uses the 8-inch trucks. It makes sure that it is safe to ride at high speeds while also making the skateboard more flexible. The UDITER EVO uses double kingpins trucks. It is wider and also has good flexibility. You can make a turn at a small angle.
There are 2 main types of wheels: PU wheels & pneumatic wheels
Typicall wheels sizes are: 70mm/83mm/90mm/100mm/105mm/125mm/150mm, or even bigger.
PU is a polymer material and very wear-resistant. It has a high friction coefficient on the dry road. It does not need any maintenance. Most of the longboard wheels are made of PU material.
Pneumatic wheels are used in All-terrain/Off-road electric skateboards. This means a larger wheel diameter, better off-road performance, and constant maintenance because you need to inflate it regularly. If it wears out, the replacement costs will be high. The huge size also limits the usage in other places.
Uditerboard chooses to use 90mm/100mm/125mm PU wheel that can provide more choices for the customers.
Security and playability
A lot of riders who are learning to ride an electric skateboard may easily fall and some people get seriously injured. This is why electric skateboards are restricted in many countries and cities. So, when you are choosing an electric skateboard, safety is a very important consideration. Uditerboard specially designed a handlebar that can be removed quickly. It can prevent you from falling and injury in the beginning learning stage. When you become good at riding the electric skateboard, you can easily take it off and use it as a tripod.
When you want to become an ESK8 rider, you need to know what kind of electric skateboard you want, your budget, the difference between the boards, and most importantly what you should avoid. I hope that reading this article can help you. We appreciate it if this article can be shared with a wider audience and share our knowledge.
Official website: www.uditerboard.com