Electric Scooters vs Electric Hoverboards – Pros, Cons, and Verdict

We will continue our series of comparing the electric scooter with different types of vehicles like skateboards, petrol scooters, bikes, and we’re now at electric scooters vs hoverboards. Electric scooters are very popular these days as a vehicle to do the last mile of your ride, but so are hoverboards, right?

We will put electric scooters and hoverboards head to head and see what’s the best option for your ride. We also will take a look at the most important advantages and disadvantages of electric scooters and hoverboards.

What are these vehicles?

Electric scooters

We already defined what electric scooters are, and, in this article, we will refer to the small and foldable scooters. The entire website is dedicated to them, so you might check other articles on different subjects that you are interested in.

But what are hoverboards?

Hoverboards are self-balancing electric vehicles which consist of motorized wheels connected with a board. The board is actually made of two articulated pads on which you can place your feet in order to ride. Hoverboards are often referred to as self-balancing scooters or self-balancing boards.

Hoverboards are pretty new in the form we know today. The current version was invented only in 2013, and they have been through complex disputes about the patent.

Similar to electric unicycles, which we’ve discussed in another article, hoverboards have a steeper learning curve than electric scooters. You need to learn to balance your body in order to stay on the hoverboard and ride it. As you don’t have anything to hold on to, like handles or a bar, you will control the hoverboard by leaning backwards and forwards. You can control the direction of your hoverboard by twisting the pads.

You will need some practice to ride a hoverboard well, and it’s considered a bit more dangerous as electric scooters by conventional means.

How to ride a hoverboard tutorial

# It may be easier to start on grass, this way you won’t hurt yourself if you fall and the hoverboard can’t slip.
# Don’t freak out when you step on the hoverboard; don’t wave your hands trying to keep your balance.

A small step

Step with one foot at a time. Place your dominant foot on the pad, try to balance your body and then place the other foot on the pad.

Get comfortable

Make yourself comfortable with the neutral position. Get down and back up on the hoverboard for a couple of minutes. Always get down from the hoverboard stepping back, not forward. Otherwise, you will lose your balance and fall.

Get a friend

Friends are always good to have around. If you have problems holding your balance, get a friend to hold on to while stepping on the hoverboard. Also, try to apply pressure to the outer edge of the hoverboard with your feet. This may help you to keep your balance.

Get moving

Now, it’s time to get moving. Gently tilt your feet forward to move forward and backward to move backward. Do this for some minutes until you’re comfortable enough to steer.

The steering part

In order to steer left and right, you need to tilt your opposite leg of the direction you want to go in.
So, to turn right you need to gently tilt your left foot. You should try this on grass for safety.

Wrap up

As you can see, it’s not as straight forward as riding an electric scooter, and the learning curve is steeper. But, depending on your skill, you should be able to ride a hoverboard in 20 minutes to 2 hours. From that point, you will be more experienced with every mile you complete.

Size difference

How big is an electric scooter compared to an electric hoverboard?

Well, the length of an electric scooter is usually 2.5x a hoverboard. An average electric scooter length is about 40-50 inches (1-1.2 meters) while a hoverboard is about 20-25 inches (0.5-0.6 meters). I must point out the difference is size is high percentwise, but the length difference is not that big to count in most cases.

The height of a folded electric scooter is about 10-12 inches while the height of a hoverboard is a maximum of 10 inches (250 mm), as that’s the largest wheel size of a hoverboard.

Most hoverboards have 3 sizes available for wheels:

• 6.5 inches (170 mm)
• 8 inches (200 mm)
• 10 inches (250 mm)

The wheel diameter indicates how well it behaves on uneven ground. The bigger the wheel, the bigger the comfort as you won’t feel every imperfection. As you will see, most hoverboards are designed for flat terrain.

How does a hoverboard work?

We won’t go into too many technical details but understanding the principle behind hoverboards can help you ride one. So, how does an electric hoverboard work?

Electric hoverboards consist of two motorized wheels and a controller that gives instructions to the wheels in order to self-balance itself. The controller takes input from a built-in gyroscopic sensor. There are two more sensors on the pads that provide user input. This way, the controller knows which direction you want to go.

Electric Scooter vs Electric Hoverboard

Mobility

Indeed, hoverboards are lightweight and easy to store in any place. It will fit literally under every office desk as it’s length is only about 23 inches (585 mm) and wheels are 10 inches in diameter (250mm).

On the other hand, electric scooters have a length of about 50 inches, and the folded height is about 10 inches. The size is considerably higher, but I didn’t find any problems fitting it under my desk at work. Always check how much space it takes when fully folded. Some have different folding mechanisms and can take up more space than others.

The weight is not a big difference. Hoverboards are a bit lighter than electric scooters but not by a lot. They are usually 10-15% lighter than an electric scooter.

The size winner is obviously the hoverboard, but foldable electric scooters are still very small and can be carried easily.

Speed

As we saw in the “How fast is an electric scooter” article, an average electric scooter speed is between 15 mph and 20 mph. An electric unicycle speed is usually 8-15 mph, but you may find ones that are capable of doing 20 mph.

Range

The range of a hoverboard is usually between 6-12 miles (or 10-20 km), but it depends on the terrain level, weather conditions, passenger, wind, etc. There are some more expensive hoverboards that can do a range of up to 20 miles.

Note that the range specified by the manufacturer is under “perfect conditions” like for a lightweight person of about 165 lbs and at a cruise speed which is about half the top speed. If you ride at the top speed, your range will be much less.

On the other hand, electric scooters typically have larger batteries and are capable of beating the hoverboard at this criteria. The average electric scooter can do about 15 miles on a single charge, but there are other models which can do 25-30 miles or more. Check out our article on electric scooter range for more insights.

Terrain

While electric scooters can be ridden on the ground or uneven terrain, hoverboards will be in trouble on uneven terrain. Hoverboards are designed to work on a flat road, If you have dirt, grass, or uneven areas in your ride, hoverboards are not considered the best option for you.

If you are adventurous and really want to ride a hoverboard on uneven terrain, you might get a free flying lesson.

Electric scooters are not designed for these types of terrains but can handle them in a limited measure.

Safety

Hoverboards are meant for fairly smooth terrain, as each little bump can throw off your balance. They’re also difficult to stop in an emergency, and I can attest that it’s easy to twist an ankle if you quickly jump off. Plus, riding a hoverboard wasn’t much faster (15 minutes for me) than simply walking to work.

Cost / Price

Both vehicles need little maintenance so the only aspect we can look at is the acquisition price. Let’s take a closer look at the prices, shall we? Here is the list of 6 popular electric hoverboards vs 6 popular electric scooters:

Hoverboard prices:

YHR Hoverboard Self Balancing Scooter 6.5″ – $132

Energen B651 Self Balancing Electric Scooter Hoverboard – $ 229

CHO Spider Wheels Series Hoverboard UL2272 – $ 168

C H O Light Weight Foldable Adjustable Height Smart Electric Power Assisted Scooter for Kids – $ 109

CHO 6.5″ inch Wheels Original Electric Smart Self Balancing Scooter – $125

Felimoda 6.5″ Hoverboard – Self Balancing Scooter 2 – 130$

Electric scooters prices:

Average Adults Electric Scooter’s price

Conclusion

In my opinion, the electric scooter is a much more complete mean of transportation through the city and a much safer one. You can travel longer distances thanks to their battery range, and speeds are a bit higher than hoverboards.

I agree hoverboards are much more interesting and fun, but are they good enough for every day commuting? What is your opinion? What electric vehicle do you prefer?