E-scooter? E-board? A new ‘carving’ e-scooter has gone on sale from an e-bike shop in Leighton Buzzard after hitting its crowdfunding target inside 24 hours.

The Yawboard was launched via an Indiegogo campaign in September 2020, raising over £45,000.

Inventor Ray Reynolds (a former world record holder for ‘most table tennis balls bounced against a wall with the mouth in 30 seconds’) told Leighton Buzzard Online that the idea was to combine the best components of a skateboard and scooter.

“Our mission is to provide a unique vehicle with incredible performance, safety and stability,” he said. “Using my background as design engineer and snowboarder, I focused on taking the unique carving experience from the slopes and bringing it to the streets to ride every day of the year.”

The result looks at first glance like a four-wheeled scooter, but the flexible bamboo and fibreglass deck allows the rider to ‘carve’ as you would on a skateboard,

Two 700W motors can get the Yawboard up to 22mph, while the 14Ah battery is said to be good for up to 20 miles.

Yawboard motor.jpg
Yawboard motor (Image Credit: Yawboard)
Yawboard motor.jpg, by Yawboard

“It is incredibly easy to learn and gives an awesome carving experience with minimum effort,” said Dave Allen from Allen’s E-Bikes, the first retailer to stock the vehicle. “The board also has a removable handle so you can choose to use it as a ‘scooter’ or an electric skateboard. It’s two products in one.”

While trials of rented scooters covered by a motor vehicle insurance policy are currently taking place in a number of towns and cities around the UK, the use of privately owned e-scooters on public roads currently remains illegal.

Reynolds said: “We’ve been overwhelmed by the support and excitement we’ve received since launching the Yawboard All-Terrain’ this September; we’ve received amazing feedback from our test riders from all around the UK and we are keeping a close eye on the current e-scooter trials and will be fulfilling all our orders in the spring.”

He added: “As use of public transport is decreasing, and with the government’s increase in cycling infrastructure, we are very excited about the timing to deliver a product we think will be the future of urban mobility.”