The humble skateboard is an important form of personal transport that’s been around for decades. However, it has changed little in that time period, relying on ground-based wheels to get the user from A to B. Recently, however, there has been a huge push towards designing boards with electric motors to make the commute faster and easier. Consequently, one of the most popular questions people are now asking is “How fast is the fastest electric skateboard?”. Here we will investigate the answer to that question by looking at the fastest boards in each of the three main categories that can be considered electric skateboards – Single Deck, Dual Deck and Long Deck.
Single Deck: The single deck electric skateboard has been the most popular kind of electric skateboard, and it is this form that we will be looking at first. When designing a board, the two most important factors are how much power is being used and where the power is being applied. The speed depends on how fast the motor can turn, which in turn is determined by how much torque it has due to the amount of amps being used. If a motor can turn at 400 rpm using 100 amps then it will have a lot of torque, but when you increase that to 500 rpm with 200 amps then you get less torque. In order to get a higher top speed, you need a gearing system in place so that you can turn the motor faster.
In terms of acceleration, the most popular single deck boards are the Boosted Board and the OneWheel. The primary advantage of these bikes over others is that they are incredibly compact and make short work of short distances – they can reach speeds up to 24mph.
Dual Deck: The next category we will be looking at is dual-deck boards. The primary advantage of this style of board is that you can move your weight around, so if you’re about to take a huge jump or have a clump of trees coming up then you can put all your weight on one side. This will allow greater balance, as well as reducing the amount of power needed to turn it. In addition to this, the dual deck boards have a lower centre of gravity and grip to the ground when compared to the single deck boards. These boards are also generally lighter than single deck boards.
The DualMotor Buggy is a popular example of this style of board – it has two batteries on the back which you can use separately or together depending on the circumstances that you find yourself in. While it does come with a motor, it doesn’t really need one as it is designed to be used with or without one, so most people will opt for resistance mode rather than boost mode. Its top speed is around 22 mph.
Long Deck: Lastly, it’s also worth mentioning the Long Deck electric skateboard. While there are some long deck boards that have up to three wheels and are speedier than the dual-deck style, this does not warrant them being considered as long decks as they still reach top speeds of around 18 mph.
Conclusion
The way in which you choose to go about achieving your top speed is very much down to personal preference. The main factors are the amount of power being used, the type of board that’s being used and whether it has a motor or not. A lot will depend on whether a person would rather push their own boards or rent from an electric skateboard company, as well as how comfortable they are with pushing their own board. It’s safe to say that there is no best electric skateboard, so when you’re considering buying one it’s important to make sure that it meets your needs.