How do you manage to get an electric off-road longboard past TSA and onto an international flight? Simple — make it a collapsible longboard that fits into a carry-on bag.
The mechanical and electrical feats accomplished by [transistor-man] may not be the most impressive parts of this hack. We’re pretty impressed by the build, starting as it did with the big knobby tires and front truck from an unused mountain board and the hub motor from a hoverboard, turning this into a trike. The incredible shrinking chassis comes courtesy of a couple of stout drawer slides and cam locks to keep it locked in place; collapsed, the board fits in a carry on bag. Expanded, it runs like a dream, as the video below shows.
But we think the really interesting part of this hack is the social engineering [transistor-man] did to ensure that the authorities wouldn’t ground his creation for electrical reasons. It seems current rules limit how big a battery can be and how many of them can be brought on a flight, so there was a lot of battery finagling before his creation could fly.
Electric longboards look like a real kick, whether they be all-aluminum or all-plastic, or even all-LEGO. This one, which went from concept to complete a week and a half before the flight, really raises the bar.
For getting this past TSA without a Q&A session in the office and a cavity search, he deserves a Hack a Day prize for that alone…
But TSA aside – nice idea. Carbon fiber top panels would make this even nicer and shave off a few grams.
He mentions to check the legality of electric skateboards, but traveled to Germany with it.. AFAIK, he committed 5 or 6 potentially serious “crimes”: operate a vehicle without insurance, without operating license, without registration, without appropriate drivers license, without helmet and there is probably some sort of tax problem :D
They are currently working on legislation to change this situation and enable riding these things legally, but the wheels of government move slowly..
quick doogling, Germany an electric class vehicle that travels at or in excess of 45km/h requires a license etc but may not be subject to other such requirements as a motor vehicle.
The insurance is probably mandatory, as someone has to pay for potential damages.
Also, helmet.
For those who understan german: https://www.electric-skateboard.de/elektro-skateboard-erlaubt-die-rechtslage-zum-motorisierten-skateboard/
For the rest: It is not allowed to ride a motorized vehicle that goes faster than 6km/h on the pavement. So you have to ride it on the street. But then you need a certificate which includes a license plate and insurance as well as a apropriate driving license. It would also require fenders, reflectors backlight and a bike bell (no kidding that’s German law)
So in short: Don’t ride an electric skateboard in public places when in Germany, Switzerland or Austria (more or less same rules there)
I feel like i mentioned all of these things in my original post :D
Reply to x – unless its slower than 6kmh :)
Electric bikes where the motor is outputting energy above 25km/h are classified as mopeds.
That’s a suspicious unit of energy.
km/h is not the unit of energy. What I wanted to say is
if (motor power > 0W at speed >= 25km/h) then moped laws apply else bicycle laws apply
he meant 273 football fields per hour
I was about to say: “Uh, yeah. Good luck bringing a cobbled together high-power LiPo pack into a plane”
But he adressed that nicely ^^;
If you take the battery pack as carry-on, tell them ahead of time exactly what it is and run it through the XRay I imagine they can tell the difference between a LiPo pack and a bomb? I know from reading the esk8 forums there was at least one guy who successfully took his e-longboard on flights using this strategy. But I don’t know if there is an upper limit for the amount of “power” you can carry on.
update: he is using commercial battery packs: “off the shelf Lithium lawn maintenance battery packs.”
update 2: RTFM reveals “You are allowed, with permission, up to two 160wh packs”
> run it through the XRay I imagine they can tell the difference between a LiPo pack and a bomb?
Not with my pack of 10 AH LiFePO4 Headway cells with a BMS that included running a lead to the junction between each cell.
XRayed, sniffed, held gingerly and they were still upset. They weren’t even aware that the rules at the time prohibited Li cells from being in the hold; they had to be carry-on (so a fault could be detected while in flight – much earlier than if it was in the hold). With the tests good, the supervisor questioned me, watching me intently listening to the way I spoke, not the meaning of the words (which were beyond them), and was no longer concerned. The original agent held me until I started explaining the properties of LiFePO4 vs. other Li cell chemistries, then they couldn’t get rid of me fast enough.
The music is ‘Gamma Knife’ by King Gizzard and Lizard Wizard. Tune.
TUNE INDEED, glad you appreciated the beats
I wanted to see how the collapsible longboard worked, all we got was a video of him riding in two places, alternating every few seconds. Sad.
His entire build is at the link at the beginning of the article: http://transistor-man.com/mountainslider.html
Bit short for a longboard, looks more like a regular electric skateboard except with wheels on the side. Needs a new word I guess, tripboard maybe?
Now that ‘we’ agreed on a word: Nice tripboard but it looks to have a few sharp edges.
I like this, a real “Hack” of rack-mount collapsible slide-rails. I’d like to view the linked video on how it works, but unfortunately Vimeo is permanently BANNED where I live currently (Indonesia).
Surprised these draw sliders don’t just fail
They sell all kinds for all kinds of drawers, and some drawers become very very heavy.
They get pricey though for the more robust kind.