A couple of days ago a new e-skate Kickstarter campaign launched. The design looks awesome but I am sure the battery is tiny. Anyways I have ordered one - for science!
What do you guys think?
The marketing language with the constant “her” and “she” seems a little weird.
They make a point to say that the motors are silent while riding, maybe this means that their ESC (let’s be honest, probably a fork of the VESC) is running FOC?
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Uh oh, looking further:
Quoted in full for posterity before it is likely deleted:
For everybody who’s thinking of backing this project, please do your homework first. Remember Murphy’s Law: If it’s too good to be true, it cannot be true. This campaign has massive red flags all over it, and from what I can see, too many of what the @SoFlow team is doing is either shady at best and outright lies at worst. They’ve claimed that the LOU board is an original Swiss design, but the exact same model can be seen from a China company WINboard called the GT-M7. Look deeper and you will see that WINboard operates out of the same city as @SoFlow team’s “procurement” office in Jiangsu Province, China. Proof SoFlow has “procurement” offices in Jiangsu Province, China: https://media.wix.com/ugd/40c439_f6b5420f2321485e95fceb73363d27fd.pdf WINboard is from Jiangsu Province, China as well: https://www.winboardskate.com/electric-skateboard-manufacture/ When this was found out, WINboard suspiciously removed the GT-M7 from their list of products available within one day. If you google WINboard GT-M7 you will still see remnants of the cached images and websites showing evidence, including these: https://www.google.com.sg/search… Google Workspace Updates: New community features for Google Chat and an update on Currents The @SoFlow team is not the first Kickstarter electric skateboard company run by chinese companies masquerading as a caucasian brand. They claim to have a design patent and won the Red Dot Design award but there is absolutely no proof of this on the internet, nor have they produced evidence here to prove otherwise. I have also contacted WINboard and they have confirmed that both boards are EXACTLY the same, and they will sell the LOU board first before they start selling the GT-M7. http://i.imgur.com/3C14O2i.jpg It will also not be the first time an “aspiring” electric skateboard “startup” is offering their boards to you for an “unbelievable” low price with an impossible timeline. Check out the Stary and Leafboard Kickstarter campaigns as example, after TWO YEARS backers still have not received their rewards: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/staryboards/stary-worlds-best-electric-skateboard-get-yours-fo https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/leafboard/the-lightest-and-most-affordable-electric-skateboa This and almost all the positive comments on this page are from people who have joined Kickstarter in April 2017, and ONLY backed Lou? You don’t have to believe me, but take it from people who have more experience in Electric Skateboards and Kickstarters discussing this campaign: https://www.reddit.com/r/ElectricSkateboarding/comments/656d6j/lou_kickstarter_3_epenny_boards_single_single/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ElectricSkateboarding/comments/65634e/newcomer_in_the_industry_apparenty_electric/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ElectricSkateboarding/comments/65og84/meeting_the_lou_team_tomorrow_let_me_know_if_you/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ElectricSkateboarding/comments/65nuav/tempted_to_pledge_for_the_lou_board_on/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ElectricSkateboarding/comments/65e49r/so_lou_board_just_gave_two_updates/ My conclusion is as such:
- The LOU Board is the EXACT same electric skateboard as the WINboard GT-M7.
- There is nothing original. The only thing that the @SoFlow team did is to “design” the Swiss Crosshatch Grip on the LOU.
- Everything else about the LOU board is a complete copy of the WINboard GT-M7, using a battery and hub motor system that has been used and re-used in all the other WINboard models.
- The @SoFlow team and WINboard are working together to sell this LOU board/GT-M7 together, and LOU board gets first dibs in this Kickstarter campaign. I would not have a problem with the @SoFlow team if they were just upfront about the entire matter and admit they are partnering with WINboard to sell this model of the WINboard GT-M7 under another name. However, this team is outright lying to EVERYBODY from the start of this campaign, and I believe this says alot about their integrity and how they will treat you backers after they have gotten your money. You as a backer might have a chance of getting what you paid for, but from the signs and history behind electric skateboard Kickstarter campaigns, be prepared to wait 2-3 years past their promised dates, and when it does reach you, be prepared to be disappointed by the performance versus the claims you were originally promised.
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That is a lot of research you have done here! 
Thank you for the heads up! I should probably have seen the red flags myself but sadly I was not looking!
It is a shame though. This could have been a great product!
Don’t thank me haha, it was David Ngo on kickstarter that wrote all that.
But I agree. Sad to see deception happening again.
I just checked out their kickstarter before this thread and simply dismissed it just because of the she/her lingo used in it. Felt like I was looking at an advert for a prostitute
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I just thought is was a bad translation from german… 
i’m getting sick of the kickstarter pre-order boards…they’re all just rebranded things with 2-5x markup. boring… 
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These Chinese rebranded kickstarters are making me sick… can’t people design their own original electric skateboards instead of running to China?
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Well I live in the same city and gave them a call. A few members of our esk8 squad will meet with them in 30 minutes to test the boards and ask questions.
I will try to ask all of the above mentioned issues and also provide a short review in video format if you like.
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How do you mean? 
Just finished meating with them. He took a solid 3 hours time to show, eplain and answer a lot of questions. Gunna make a write up with the videos together when I am home.
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Awesome man keen to hear what was said.
Im not their supporter, just showing different point of view 
BUt I still think its just a rebrand…
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“She is made from Polyurethane”, “it only takes LOU 2 hours to charge up and she is ready to go again”.
ARE WE STILL TALKING ABOUT A SKATEBOARD HERE? I am not sure i like where this is going.
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Real. bpltplbpltplbptlbpl hahahahahaha
2 hours to charge a board with 7 miles of range maximum? damn. It takes me 2.5 hours to charge my muscle boards and they’ll do 25-30 miles at this board’s top speed i’ll bet. I’ll bet this thing can only do 15-18 mph too.
so far, what i’m seeing here is a whole lot of tradeoffs. Lightweight? yes. Power? no. Does it look great? yes. Does it go far? no. Is it lightweight and easy to carry? yes. Because you’ll have to carry it a lot when it goes dead. Oh but wait, you can push it too. Reminds me of Mitch Headburg: “We’re sorry, the escalator is out of service and is now stairs. We apologize for the conveninece.”
If i had the cash i’d get one for science too. Then i’d hack it.
It might actually be kind of perfect for a beginner though.
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hold up…
Can anyone derive any pack info from this blurry bigfoot pic of a battery? I can’t tell if its a thin stack of lipos or a row of 18650s. It kind of looks like it could also be a 12S 1p lion or perhaps a 14S 1 P lifepo4, which are roughly equivalent in power/voltage. If I had to guess i’d assume they were using lifepo. If they’re stating a range of 15miles on the 3.0 then they must be packing as much juice or close to the juice of the original raptor cell, which was 270 watt hours. I don’t see how they’re doing that though.
This is all very suspect.
BTW i know this is a render. I’m talking about dimensions here.
The suspense is killing me! Tell me what he said!
Was it like this:
Or was it like this:
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The manufacturer’s data says 36V and 2Ah. So it’s most likely a 10s Li-Ion Battery pack because as far as I know LiPos usually have a nominal voltage of 3.7 and LiFePOs of 3.2