Products we love: The Ninebot KickScooter Model T15

Segway has made a name for itself in pedestrian transportation. For years they’ve been at the forefront of robotic mobility, even inspiring an industry of tourist opportunities for people who wanted to ride one of their devices while seeing sights. They’re a leader in almost every area of personal traversal products and have done it again with one of their most recent entries: the Ninebot KickScooter Model T15.

The stand out electric KickScooter

This high-tech and extremely compact scooter is brand new—Segway began accepting pre-orders on May 19th of this year through a Kickstarter campaign where they raised over $400,000 to bring the project to life. But there are already a number of successful and well-reviewed electric scooter models in Segway’s catalog, so what makes the model T15 so special? It all comes down to form and function.

The T15 looks like something out of the Pixar/Disney hit movie Wall-e, with sleek angles and clean white chassis. But even the details speak to sci-fi fans: with fold-down handles and a bezel-less dashboard, this scooter gives an all-new and attractive face to urban, clean-energy transportation.

Small in a big way

Everything about the new Ninebot scooter is built to be compact and lightweight. The T15 folds in half to (incredibly) less than nine inches tall. Put that up against any other scooter, electric or not, and you’ll immediately see the difference. This KickScooter looks more like an alien laser gun than something you would unfold and ride to your nearest coffee shop. And it conveniently rolls on its front wheel like a long and thin piece of airport luggage, making the transition from street to public transport a lot more seamless.

The T15 weighs only 23 lbs, which is about 20 lbs less than many of the top competitors on the market right now. If you’ve never lugged around any urban transportation device when you’re not riding it then you may not be as impressed with the difference that amount can make. It becomes less a matter of simple convenience and butts up against necessity. Carrying 40 lbs up a flight of stairs after a relaxing ride can almost completely negate the benefits of the device in the first place, but with only 23 lbs, that slog turns into nothing more than a light workout.

A La Modes

The T15 is by no means a racing scooter, and it isn’t meant to be. It’s light and leisurely by definition and has the riding modes to conjugate it. Four to be exact:

1. Pedestrian mode which lets the rider glide at a calm 3.7 mph.
2. Energy Saving bumps that up to 6 mph.
3. Standard takes the scooter to 9 mph and
4. Sport gives it a small boost to a max speed of 12.4 mph.

All of these can be controlled in Ninebots proprietary app. These speeds are by no means rev-worthy velocities, but even its slowest is faster than the average walking speed. Segway themselves describe this scooter as a device meant to cover that “last mile” (though it can cover seven and a half of them) and it really was designed with that purpose in mind. If you’ve hesitated to take advantage of public transportation because you don’t have a stop near your home or office, the T15 is the perfect tool to bridge that gap.

Easy on the eyes. Easy to use.

The T15 comes with a few other nifty yet minimalistic onboard control options. The dashboard indicates the rider's speed, which can be controlled by switches on the rider-facing side of the handles. Left to brake, right to accelerate. Pressing both switches together will sound a functionally loud horn, but the coolest features are controlled with your foot. That’s right. The rear brake fender allows the rider to easily switch between modes but also features something called “regenerative braking,” which allows you to recapture some of the energy that would otherwise be lost during your ride and give yourself a little extra distance to your ride. Outside of that, the Segway scooter benefits from Segway’s signature design talent. The packaging comes with a convenient scooter stand that holds the device upright or flat for convenient charging at home or the office. And it’s recyclable, which we are all about.

So if you are looking for a slick new way to get around town without burning too much of your own or nature's energy, give the NineBot KickScooter Model T15 a look. It’s light, sleek, and environmentally friendly. That makes it a product we love.