Subject: How come Electric Scooters/motorcycles aren´t a thing yet?
Dear Elon Musk,
I personally consider you one of my favourite persons through all time. Right up there with Nicola Tesla :). I wish you better success in your business adventures and you should feel free to use me if you think I can help in any way. You are a freedome-fighter of the highest level, and I wish you all the best in all of your endeavours! May you be blessed, always.
I once read a tweet you wrote some time ago, where you used the term “How come ……. are´nt a thing yet”.. it stuck with me, although I don´t remember the subject :). It´s a “Why not”-thing I guess.. and that simple phrase is magical man :)!
My subject is ELECTRIC SCOOTERS (sorry for the caps). How come electric scooters are´nt a thing yet? I´ve had this thought for more than half a year now, trying to spread the idea through people I meet but it´s not going fast enough so now I’m writing this open letter and hoping it will somehow reach you :).
My name is Mark Soldan Ridderstad (you can find me on fb if you want, I´m phone-less at the moment so it´s my way of communicating with the world at the moment) and I live on the beautiful island Koh Phangan in Thailand.
I´m kind of a minimalist-survivalist, “prepper”, anonymous-fan and I try to speak as much truth as possible.
Koh Phangan is a paradise-island with a lot of tourists from all over the world. Coming and going, most people are visiting for the infamous "Fullmoon party” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_Moon_Party where backpackers and travellers (5.000-30.000 people) are streaming in from all around Thailand to attend this huge party. Unfortunately though, this mostly symbolise the destructiveness and detrimentality of human-kind…
The theme is to often “Let´s get fucked up and fuck shit up!” .
Very demoralising and with ALOT of room for improvements.
I would like to make a few changes, for the better. I want to inspire the people coming here and they in turn may inspire their hometown.
When people come here they can easily rent new scooters (125cc) for 150baht (4.7USD) per day. People usually stay a few days while they are here, just to hang around and explore I guess. The increase of traffic is what notifies me that a fullmoonparty is around the corner. And it´s every month, so.. a lot of people to potentially inspire. My dream is having electric scooters available for the same price, that can be charged from a normal electric socket. This in combination with more solar panels would make this island a true paradise on earth :).
What I’m saying is, with your coming Giga-factory you could produce a few prototypes, have some of my beautiful friends driving them around and promoting the hell (but really heaven) out of em :). I think we really should testdrive them for a year or something and this place is perfect for that, we have nearly 40degree angled (I think) roads that a 110cc bike has trouble with, and even the 125cc after a couple of years of use https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-d2KO1nj6_U . We have beautiful scenery and animals that are disturbed by noisy engine-sounds. The people working and spending time along the roads would also love the dissipation of noice-causing-headaches. People would be able to cruise and have nice conversations at the same time, without having to scream into each others ears. This bike should be better, cooler, silent like a ninja and simply make people ask themselves; "Why haven´t we seen these bikes before? It´s 2016 ffs :/.. They should exist worldwide!" Then, when the demand gets ridiculous and we feel it´s good enough through testing and modifying, with the world waiting and wanting, you should mass-produce :). First Thailand, and later the whole world will love these scooters too I think :). Why wouldn´t they?
Having this kind of bike, together with a couple of solar panels on my home roof, would open up so much freedom that I could pretty much live without the need for influence of money. Starting a permaculture in combination with this would pretty much seal the deal and make me totally self sufficient, and able to attend the fun stuff offered by this wonderful place :). Financial freedom that could be exemplary. I know I have friends that would love to try this with me and I would love for them to have the same thing. The feeling that we don´t need a few millions in the bank to be able to relax and be ourselves and enjoy our lives. I don´t think it´s to hard. And we need more like that don´t you think :)? Maybe I could start a video-blog or something.
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Features:
Not to expensive.
Better value than the gas-guzzlers, from day 1 (well.. duh..).
Robust and easy to self-fix, module components.
Customisable, Functional and Beautiful (speakers and/or headphone plugs maybe?)
Comfortable and with room for extra passengers.
Strong and Durable batteries and engine. The batteries should be easy to pop in and out and have a good design so people won´t mind handling them.
Interchangeable batteries 2-5, included in the purchase. but it should be able to roll with just one batterie in place, in case of emergency kinda thing.
They should LOVE their batteries :). Multi-purpose batteries maybe? Why not? Useable for home stuff as well. Headlights that can pop out from the sockets and useable as flashlights.
Solar panels on the bike and breaks that generate electricity would be sweet as well.
Maybe use hemp-material instead of plastic?
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This bike should change the world for the better, for all of us. I really think this is accomplishable. I have faith in you man. I hope to see these on the streets in a not to distant future :)!
Peace, love and understanding from Koh Phangan.
Sincerely, Mark Soldan Ridderstad.
Ps. I´m at your service if you want some inspirational assistance of any kind. I would LOVE to work with / for you. Money is not a priority for me. Hope you don´t mind smiles and / or smileys ;). Ds
