In busy cities like San Francisco, car-sharing companies have found some competition from those touting two-wheel alternatives. Scoot Networks offers San Franciscans the opportunity to ride plug-in Vespa-style electric scooters, which provide a convenient and low-cost mode of transportation. The city is dotted with charging stations, and parking is much easier when compared to a car. The “Scoots” as the company calls them, are limited to 30 mph, so riders don’t need a motorcycle license to rent one. Now the company has teamed up with GenZe, manufacturers of electric bikes and scooters, to expand its fleet.
Scoot has seen “exponential” growth since being launched in 2012, and locals should soon spot some new scooters on the street, which come from GenZe’s Ann Arbor, Michigan manufacturing plant. They are keyless vehicles that are unlocked with a smartphone.
“We’ve never been able to fully meet our riders’ demand for scoots until now. The electric scooter is the best way to get around town, and now our riders will be able to get one whenever they need to go anywhere,” said Scoot founder and CEO Michael Keating in a blog post. “Anyone in SF will be able to get from point A to B quickly and affordably. Our partnership with GenZe is huge for San Francisco, huge for the other cities where we’ll one day operate, and huge for electric transportation around the world.“
Think of it as Zipcar with scooters. You locate a vehicle with your smartphone, then sync your phone to the vehicle. Billing is also taken care of this way, and you can use the Scoot apps to find a place to park and charge your rental.
New riders can take a lesson with one of Scoot’s coaches. To date, riders have logged over a million miles.
BYD has launched the third-generation Qin Plus DM-i in China, and the first thing that caught my eye is its price. According to CarNewsChina, the plug-in hybrid sedan starts at 79,900 yuan, which is about $11,980. That’s an incredibly low price for a brand-new car, especially by US standards.
What’s even more impressive is the range. The Qin Plus DM-i can drive up to 137 miles on electricity alone, which should cover most people’s daily commutes without using a drop of gas. Once the battery runs out, the 1.5-liter engine takes over. Thanks to its 17-gallon tank and roughly 91 mpg with a drained battery, the combined range reaches up to 1,423 miles.
Apple won the PC market’s worst quarter, but that’s not the entire story. It won the race by stumbling less than everyone else.
PC makers shipped just 57 million computers worldwide in Q3, which might look good, but it’s a 21% year-over-year plunge (via Counterpoint Research). And despite Apple’s Mac shipments falling by 11%, to 5.6 million, its market share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%. How did that happen?
Update (October 22 23:54 PT): In response to our query, GM clarified that offline recording support is already available on eligible vehicles. Like Tesla's Sentry Mode, it requires owners to connect a USB drive to save incident recordings, which can be viewed on the vehicle's infotainment screen. The upcoming Connected Cameras feature will build on this by giving owners remote access to these recordings via the revamped OnStar app, allowing them to check footage without walking out to their car.
General Motors has announced plans to add a new Connected Cameras feature to its OnStar service starting next year, giving drivers a way to monitor parked vehicles remotely and capture footage of certain incidents.