The Estonian founders of Äike have a background in high speed electric race cars but have headed down the low speed route as they wanted to develop something that would benefit more people in the real world. Their aim has been to develop a more durable and repairable e-scooter.
Aike founded Commodule, which makes wireless chips that fit in small electric fleet vehicles - like hire e-scooters.
Through working with e-scooter hire companies Commodule came to regard many e-scooters as simply too prone to failure under heavy daily use and lacking repairability - many were simply thrown away when they developed a fault.
At the same time Commodule were making their own e-scooters for use in hire fleets and say these showed a much lower failure rate than other brands. The idea for the Äike T electric scooter was born.
Okay, so what makes it more durable and repairable than others?
For a start, the Äike T is IPX5 waterproof rated and the aluminium and steel frame is designed for a rider weight of 150kg. It claims to be able to stand temperatures from -17 to +35 degrees.
It has a broad standing area for larger riders too and relatively large wheels for a scooter, along with tubeless, puncture resistant pneumatic tyres. Braking is both regenerative (electric) and mechanical, using a combination of the motor slowing the scooter and a low maintenance drum brake.
The 583 Wh battery is located in the deck and Äike quote a range of 25 miles. There's also a USB C charging port in addition to the mains style one, so you can charge the Äike T with a USB lead common to many modern electronic devices. It can also be used as a powerbank style battery to recharge your devices.
You can tell it's likely to be very well built from the hefty 19kg weight. The motor is rated at 350 watts - more than the legal limit for e-bikes which is 250W - though speed is restricted to the European e-bike standard of 15.5mph, which is a common requirement for legal e-scooter riding in many European countries.
The accompanying app promises 'ride optimisation' and theft protection in the form of a brake lock and alarm if the scooter is tampered with, along with a theft alert on your phone.
The company don't give an awful lot of detail on exactly how repairability is optimised other than to say the Äike T uses interchangeable parts and all their manufacturing is based in Europe in an effort to reduce supply chain shortages.
Prices start at 999 euros with shipping scheduled for November 2022. It can be pre-ordered now with a 69 euro deposit.
