Not all cars are equal. We know this and that is why you find such a difference between quality, performance and price on a Citi-Golf, versus a top of the line Mercedes Benz. Even then, there are certain cars that are so exquisite and blisteringly fast that you can’t even refer to them by the normal car moniker. We call them Supercars instead because everything about the likes of Ferrari, Lamborghini and Aston Martin are superior to the rest of the merely mortal cars for peasants. They’re also ridiculously expensive, meaning we will only get to view these beauties from afar rather than experience them hands-on.
We are now seeing the same development taking unfolding on the relatively young e-scooter market as one London-based transportation company, D-Fly Group, is preparing to release an e-scooter that deserves a moniker all of its own, the hyperscooter.
So, what separates this planned hyperscooter, named the Dragonfly, from your typical e-scooter? Well, this definition providing by The Verge is its use of premium materials like 7000 series aerospace-grade aluminium and paulownia wood. Its powertrain has dual motors and a top speed of 60 kph. Traction control gives each wheel 1,800 watts and a generous amount of torque. Also, there’s the option to upgrade to a long-range battery pack for up to 45 kilometres of range, and a patent-pending “Full-Tilt” steering technology inspired by F1 racing, that uses three-dimensional tilt and twist controls on a central pillar. It’s also a price tag that starts at a mind-boggling $5000 (R75000). Yes, a scooter that costs the price of a cheap car.
To be fair, those specs sound impressive though the thought of a scooter going that fast feels like a recipe for disaster if it crashes and so I can only assume it will have some pretty impressive brakes on it too. It wouldn’t be the scooter equivalent of a supercar with speed alone and so the Dragonfly also boosts a sexy sleek design along with a 4.5-inch UHD display slowing customers to access various apps and view their speed or turn-by-turn GPS directions after pairing to a smartphone via Bluetooth, along with an impressive sound system so that people can hear you coming even if they can’t see you.
It’s a bold and ambitious project by the start-up company but seeing how the rich like to fork out money for premium items, it may be a successful one. At least until they see the medical bills that come from the accidents that occur when go too fast. As for me, I will probably just treat it the same way I do my supercars – with admiration, but from a distance.
Last Updated: December 20, 2019
