Segway

It is priced as much as a high-end small car, but it’ll go where no vehicle has gone before.

You saw Paul Blart drive it in Mall Cop, and every advertisement  for employment at Google shows its employees riding it. Called the Human Transporter when it first came out, Segway has been around for a while, but it was too big and too expensive to import. Well, it is available in India now, but it is still priced too high. Segway is available in two models here—i2 (indoor use) and x2 (outdoor use). Each model has a few variants of its own, but broadly the i2 costs Rs 3–4 lakh and the x2 costs Rs 4–5 lakh. That’s enough to buy a few Nanos, but then you can drive a Nano to a mall or your office. 

The i2 could replace golf carts inside malls and airports. It is nice, but what really interests me is the x2. Its innovative design lets you move around on a variety of terrains: from road to grass or gravel, and hence it suits Indian road conditions. And you can take it down to the market without the bother of parking it. You can take it inside a mall, and even drive it past the checkout counter. With deep-treaded tires, scratch resistant fenders and high-ground clearance, its ride quality is really smooth.

You don’t need a licence to drive it, and it needs only about five minutes to master the art of manoeuvring it. It has no steering wheel or handle. You steer it with your body: bend left to go left, right to go right and just stand straight to stop. At a maximum speed of 20 kmph, a single 12-hour charge lasts about 19 km on the x2 and 38 km on the i2. 

And this is a green vehicle, as it is battery-powered. It is estimated that most people drive 5 km or less for their shopping trips. If even 10 per cent of these trips were on a Segway, the company estimates that 23.5 million litres of fuel could be conserved. And if you buy it, you can also choose from many variants and additional accessories to personalise this vehicle. Of course, if you walked that extra mile instead, you’d gain many health benefits.

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