Wheel Scooter Sharing Group Raises $ 50 Million for Seated Electric Scooters

Electric scooter company Wheels believes that riders with a scooter would rather sit than stand. And investors are banking on them, big time.

Wheels & # 39; e-scooters make big cash

Wheel just helped $ 50 million in a funding round led by DBL Partners.

There are a lot of electric scooters.

According to Ira Ehrenpreis, founder and managing partner of DBL Partners:

The micro mobility market has the ability to continue to revolutionize the future electrification of transportation, but security and sustainability issues keep the industry from reaching its true potential. Wheels addresses these issues with its safety-focused product design, including the upcoming release of integrated helmet technology, a more sustainable business and maintenance model, and a mass market design that appeals to a larger demographic gender and age.

It is not DBL's first investment in electric cars. The company was an early investor in Tesla, and Ehrenpreis has been a longtime board member of the California-based carmaker.

The wheel's electric scooters use a similar business model as companies such as Lime and Bird. Electric scooters can be rented with a smartphone and are docked, which means they can stay just about anywhere in a city once the user has arrived at their destination.

Unlike most scooter companies, however, Wheels has a few differences. Wheels use interchangeable batteries to improve the device economy and make it easier to keep charged scooters on the road.

And of course, Wheels & # 39; scooters look a little different thanks to the seated form factor, which almost no other electric scooter sharing company has used.

Are better electric scooters better?

Wheels probably think electric scooters are better, and many riders seem to agree.

Many people feel more comfortable sitting on an electric scooter in a sitting position, which closely mimics the natural feeling of cycling.

The sitting design also gives riders a lower center of gravity, which can help them feel more stable.

Further increasing stability are the larger diameter wheels found on the wheels of electric scooters. It's a question that has plagued many other companies that share electric scooters. With the small wheels found on most electric scooters, even small ledges or potholes can be a serious safety hazard.

But Wheels' focus on safety doesn't just come down to bigger wheels and a seat. The company also has a patent pending shareable and smart helmet design that is integrated directly into the scooter. This ensures that cyclists have proper protection while using the seated electric scooter.

Wheels will use the new investment round to help it expand into new cities in the United States and into Europe. The company believes its electric scooters will be particularly suitable for many European cities, where cobbled streets and paths have proven to be troublesome to many of the established electric scooter sharing companies.

Electrek's Take

There's a lot for me to like here.

The last time I cycled on a limescale in Paris, the cobblestone paths shook me so hard that my vision literally became blurred and it became difficult to see where I was going.

So the bigger wheels for the Wheels electric scooters could be a big advantage in that regard.

I'd rather just sit while riding this type of vehicle. Sure, I've run and tested just about every type of electric micro mobility product. But whether I'm on an electric unicycle or a 40 mph (64 km / h) electric scooter, there's just nothing that feels as stable or natural as an electric bike.

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