Safest Electric Scooter on the Planet? How Swifty Scooters Won Best Start-Up at Micromobility America 2023

In October 2023, we headed for some Californian sunshine to join the Micromobility Industries Conference in San Francisco. Unveiling our safest scooter yet, our new SwiftyGO G500, we also entered the start-up awards. Jason took to the stage for his 4 minute pitch in front of the judging panel and audience, up against various micromobility start-ups from manufacturers to finance, and from motorbikes to accessories. Amongst such a varied mix, how did Swifty Scooters impress the judges?

Swifty addresses four industry pain points to impress the judges; 

• Battery Safety
• Rider Safety
• Utility
• Fix and Repair

Using a combination of Swifty’s design focus and industry experience, Swifty have addressed these fundamental issues head-on. The reason why these things matter is that in Swifty’s home territory, e-scooter regulation is still not progressing. As the safest British scooter manufacturer, Swifty must demonstrate how electric scooter design can solve the safety issues that seem to be delaying any meaningful regulation.

Read more in the Journal: Are e-scooters legal in the UK latest micromobility policy

First & safest electric scooter brand to manufacture safer LFP battery

LFP or Lithium Ferro Phosphate, an emerging safer chemistry of rechargeable batteries, is for the first time used in an electric kick scooter, in the Swifty GO series, the safest electric scooter.

Swifty’s LFP battery excited the judges due to LFPs resistance to thermal runaway. Thermal runaway is the term for the rapid heating of batteries which are damaged or overcharged, causing catastrophic fires. Thermal runaway can happen to Lithium NMC (Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt) batteries, the chemistry which is most widely used in the electric vehicle industry, but not LFP.

Some car brands such as Tesla and BYD (the world's largest EV manufacturer in China) have adopted LFP also, and it is reported that others will follow suit. The significance of this is palpable, as cities such as New York have suffered from several fatal NMC battery fires this year.

Swifty manufactures the safest scooters with big wheels that glide over potholes

Rider safety is also an industry pain point. Accident statistics in the UK last year suggest that 24% of e-scooter collisions are ‘single-vehicle collisions’, where the rider loses control of the vehicle. This statistic also suggests that the other 76% of collisions were caused by external factors, for example being struck by a motor vehicle, but the summary on gov.uk fails to clarify the majority of causes of collisions.

However, it is evident that more can be done to improve the rider safety by way of improving stability, control and scooter capabilities over uneven terrain such as potholes.

Read more in the Journal: Swifty's Pothole Challenge

In fact, the Swifty GO G500 felt so smooth, comfortable and luxurious, it was described as “Swifty is the Bentley of Scooters” by Micromobility heavyweight Horace Dediu after a test ride.

The large 16-inch wheels, longer wheelbase, front and rear suspension and optimised geometry, all create the safest electric scooter, so easy to control that it even inspires confidence in the scooter-sceptics among us.

This feeling of control and stability is one safer scooter feature that went down very well with the judges, after all, California is home to the american beach cruiser style bike. “The Swifty GO is just so cruisy!” James Gross, CEO Micromobility Industries.

Watch: Swifty GO epic electric scooter ride Yosemite Valley in the Fall

Swifty enable swapping short car journeys for scooter trips with cargo scooter

Demonstrating modal shift to reduce car traffic is crucial to the micromobility industry. The number one reason to reduce car traffic is air pollution.

Air pollution is the largest environmental risk to public health, responsible for more than 33,000 deaths annually in the UK. In London alone, toxic air contributed to 4000 premature deaths in a single year (2019), while globally air pollution is associated with 4.2 million premature deaths. 

Let’s not forget these figures do not include cigarette smoking, even though the diseases look the same as smoking related diseases, COPD, asthma, lung cancer etc. These figures refer to ambient air quality, which is most toxic along our road network.

While short car journeys (under 5 miles) make up the majority of our road traffic, the e-scooter industry has been subject to criticism in the past because of a lack of evidence that e-scooter trips actually replace car trips. There is evidence that between 8-34% of scooter trips replace car trips, depending on the source, so more needs to be done to demonstrate modal shift.

Swifty’s safest scooter design demonstrates that e-scooter trips are suitable to replace car trips for errands and commuting with the addition of front and rear pannier racks, the Swifty GO is a serious cargo scooter!

Swifty advocate easy fix and repair by using standardised e-bike grade components for longer product life span

The fourth and final industry pain-point that Swifty has addressed concerns sustainability, circularity and customer-centric design. In our experience many brands do not support their customers with product aftercare for a safer scooter experience. We know this because customers call us when they have a flat tyre on their [insert multiple other non-swifty e-scooter brands here]!

Swifty believes in the Right to Repair. Where many ‘toy-grade’ scooter manufacturers have blighted the industry with their throw-away and low-grade goods, Swifty are addressing this issue head-on within the safest electric scooter range, The Swifty GO Series.

Swifty designs the safest electric scooters using standardised bicycle grade components, meaning that the customer themselves or any decent bike shop around the world should be able to fix and maintain a Swifty Scooter. Designing in this way reduces overall consumption and extends the lifespan of the scooter dramatically.

Easy fix and repair is not just good for environmental sustainability, it’s an example of customer-centric design. Customer satisfaction builds trust and is always best business practice. Swifty Scooters has already built up over 900 five star verified reviews on trustpilot.

Find out more about Swifty GO G500 the safest scooter on the planet!