Collecting electric scooters
AssigneeNeptune Scooters
InventorsForrest Jean North, Matthew Michael O'Brien
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems and methods for collecting electric scooters are described herein. In some embodiments, the systems and methods facilitate a “snaking” configuration of attaching, coupling, or fixing multiple electric scooters to one another. The snaking configuration enables multiple electric scooters to be collected together and moved to various locations, such as locations where the electric scooters can be rented, serviced, and so on. Further, the systems and methods enable any electric scooter to act as a collecting scooter, and thus a scooter share service or other fleet of scooters can manage the collection and provisioning of scooters in a location without special vehicles or equipment, among other benefits.
Claims19
An electric scooter, comprising:
- a chassis that includes an electric battery, a controller, and one or more external charging ports;
- a deck disposed on top of the chassis;
- a steering tube attached to a front wheel fork through the chassis;
- handlebars supported by the steering tube;
- a front wheel attached to the front wheel fork;
- a back wheel attached to a rear of the chassis;
- a hub motor fixed to the back wheel or front wheel and controlled by the controller;
- and
- one or more attachment components that facilitate attachment of the electric scooter to another electric scooter, including:
- a vertical link bar having a wishbone shape that attaches to the steering tube of the electric scooter such that it can be moved into multiple positions, including:
- a collection position, in which the vertical link bar extends in a horizontal direction away from the steering tube;
- and
- a ride position, in which the vertical link bar extends in a vertical direction parallel to a long axis of the steering tube.
A method of collecting multiple electric scooters from a geographic location, the method comprising:
- attaching a first electric scooter to a second electric scooter by vertically attaching a front portion of the second electric scooter to a rear portion of the first electric scooter;
- and
- attaching a third electric scooter to the second electric scooter by laterally attaching a chassis of the third electric scooter to a chassis of the second electric scooter,
- wherein laterally attaching the chassis of the third electric scooter to the chassis of the second electric scooter includes laterally attaching the chassis of the third electric scooter to the chassis of the second electric scooter via a swivel bar that couples the chassis of the third electric scooter to the chassis of the second electric scooter.
An electric scooter, comprising:
- a chassis that includes an electric battery and a controller;
- a deck disposed on top of the chassis;
- a steering tube attached to a front wheel fork through the chassis;
- handlebars supported by the steering tube;
- a front wheel attached to the front wheel fork;
- a back wheel attached to a rear of the chassis;
- a hub motor coupled to the back wheel or front wheel and controlled by the controller;
- and
- a swivel bar that is coupled to the deck of the chassis and configured to laterally attach the chassis of the electric scooter to a chassis of another electric scooter.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.