Speed has a fatal attraction for human beings.
From the “Maxima” in ancient times to the modern supersonic aircraft, human beings have been on the road of pursuing “faster”. In line with this pursuit, almost every vehicle used by humans has not escaped the fate of being used for racing – horse racing, bicycle racing, motorcycle racing, boat racing, racing cars and even children’s skateboards and so on.
Now, this camp has added a newcomer. In Europe, electric scooters, a more common means of transportation, have also been ridden on the track. The world’s first professional electric scooter event, the eSC Electric Scooter Championship (eSkootr Championship), kicked off in London on May 14
In the eSC race, 30 drivers from all over the world formed 10 teams and competed in 6 sub-stations including the UK, Switzerland and the US. The event not only attracted celebrities from all walks of life, but also attracted a large number of local spectators in the latest race in Sion, Switzerland, with crowds on both sides of the track. Not only that, eSC has also signed contracts with broadcasters around the world to broadcast in more than 50 countries and regions around the world.
Why can this brand new event attract attention from leading companies to ordinary audiences? What about its prospects?
Low carbon + sharing, making electric skateboards popular in Europe
People who do not live in Europe may not know that electric skateboards are very popular in major cities in Europe.
The reason is that “low-carbon environmental protection” is one of them. As a region where developed countries gather, European countries have assumed greater responsibilities than developing countries in various environmental protection conventions in the world. Quite strict requirements have been put forward, especially in terms of carbon emission limits. This has prompted the promotion of various electric vehicles in Europe, and electric skateboards are one of them. This light and easy-to-use means of transportation has become the choice of transportation for many people in large European cities with many cars and narrow roads. If you reach a certain age, you can also legally ride an electric skateboard on the road.
Electric skateboards with a wide audience, low prices, and easy repairs have also enabled some companies to see business opportunities. Shared electric skateboards have become a service product that keeps pace with shared bicycles. In fact, the shared electric skateboard industry in the United States started earlier. According to a research report by Esferasoft in 2020, in 2017, the current shared electric skateboard giants Lime and Bird launched dockless electric skateboards in the United States, which can be used anywhere. park.
A year later they expanded their business to Europe and it grew rapidly. In 2019, Lime’s services have covered more than 50 European cities, including super first-tier cities such as Paris, London and Berlin. Between 2018-2019, monthly downloads of Lime and Bird increased nearly sixfold. In 2020, TIER, a German shared electric skateboard operator, received round C financing. The project was led by Softbank, with a total investment of 250 million US dollars, and TIER’s valuation exceeded 1 billion US dollars.
A report published in the journal Transportation Research in March this year also recorded the latest data on the sharing of electric skateboards in 30 European cities including Paris, Berlin, and Rome. According to their statistics, these 30 European cities have more than 120,000 shared electric scooters, of which Berlin has more than 22,000 electric scooters. In their two-month statistics, 30 cities have used shared electric skateboards for more than 15 million trips. The electric skateboard market is expected to continue to grow in the future. According to Esferasoft’s forecast, the global electric skateboard market will exceed $41 billion by 2030.
In this context, the birth of the eSC electric skateboard competition can be said to be a matter of course. Led by Lebanese-American entrepreneur Hrag Sarkissian, former FE world champion Lucas Di Grassi, two-time 24 Hours of Le Mans champion Alex Wurz, and former A1 GP driver, Lebanese business partnering with the FIA to promote motorsport Khalil Beschir, the four founders who have sufficient influence, experience and network resources in the racing industry, started their new plan.
What are the highlights and commercial potential of eSC events?
A large number of users is an important background for the promotion of electric scooter races. However, eSC races are quite different from riding ordinary scooters. What’s exciting about it?
- The “Ultimate Scooter” with speeds over 100
How slow is the electric skateboard that Europeans generally ride? Taking Germany as an example, according to the regulations in 2020, the motor power of electric skateboards shall not exceed 500W, and the maximum speed shall not exceed 20km/h. Not only that, the strict Germans also set specific restrictions on the length, width, height, and weight of vehicles.
Since it is the pursuit of speed, ordinary scooters obviously cannot meet the requirements of the competition. In order to solve this problem, the eSC event specially created a competition-specific electric skateboard – S1-X.
From the perspective of various parameters, the S1-X is worthy of being a racing car: carbon fiber chassis, aluminum wheels, fairings and dashboards made of natural fibers make the car light and flexible. The net weight of the vehicle is only 40kg; two 6kw motors provide power for the skateboard, allowing it to reach a speed of 100km/h, and the front and rear hydraulic disc brakes can meet the needs of players on short-distance heavy braking on the track; in addition, S1 -X has a maximum inclination angle of 55°, which facilitates the player’s “bending” operation, allowing the player to corner at a more aggressive angle and speed.
These “black technologies” equipped on the S1-X, coupled with a track less than 10 meters wide, make eSC events quite enjoyable to watch. Just like at Sion Station, local spectators can enjoy the “fighting skills” of the players on the street through the protective fence on the sidewalk. And the exact same car makes the game test the player’s skills and game strategy even more.
- Technology + broadcasting, all won well-known partners
For the smooth progress of the event, eSC has found well-known companies in various fields as its partners. In terms of racing car research and development, eSC has signed a long-term cooperation agreement with Italian racing engineering company YCOM, which is responsible for building the car body. YCOM once provided structural components for the Le Mans championship racing car Porsche 919 EVO, and also provided body design advice for the F1 Alfa Tauri team from 2015 to 2020. It is a very powerful company in racing. The battery built to meet the fast charging, discharging and high power requirements of the game is provided by the Advanced Engineering department of the F1 team Williams.
However, in terms of event broadcasting, eSC has signed broadcasting agreements with a number of leading broadcasters: beIN Sports (beIN Sports), a global leading sports broadcaster from Qatar, will bring eSC events to 34 countries in the Middle East and Asia , British viewers can watch the event on the BBC’s sports channel, and DAZN’s broadcast agreement is even more exaggerated. They not only cover 11 countries in Europe, North America, Oceania and other places, but in the future, the broadcasting countries will be more increased to over 200. These well-known broadcasters invariably bet on this emerging event, which also reflects the influence and commercial potential of electric skateboards and eSC.
- Interesting and detailed game rules
Scooters driven by motors are motor vehicles. Theoretically, the eSC electric scooter event is a racing event, but what is interesting is that eSC does not adopt the mode of qualifying + race in the form of competition, except that it is the same as general racing events In addition to the practice match, eSC arranged three events after the practice match: single-lap knockout match, team confrontation and main match.
Single-lap knockout races are more common in bicycle races. After the start of the race, a fixed number of riders will be eliminated every fixed number of laps. In eSC, the mileage of single-lap knockout races is 5 laps, and the last rider on each lap will be eliminated. . This “Battle Royale”-like competition system makes the game very exciting. The main race is the event with the largest proportion of driver points. The competition adopts the form of group stage + knockout stage.
The driver can get the corresponding points according to the ranking in different projects, and the team points are the sum of the points of the three drivers in the team.
In addition, eSC has also formulated an interesting rule: each car has a “Boost” button, similar to FE cars, this button can make the S1-X burst out 20% extra power, only allowed in It is used in a fixed area of the track, players entering this area will be prompted to use Boost. But what is interesting is that the time limit of the Boost button is in units of days. Drivers can use a certain amount of Boost every day, but there is no limit to the number of times they can be used. The allocation of Boost time will test the strategy group of each team. In the final of the Sion station, there were already drivers who could not keep up with the car in front because they had exhausted the boost time of the day, and missed the opportunity to improve the ranking.
Not to mention, the competition has also formulated rules for Boost. The drivers who win the top three finals in the knockout and team competitions, as well as the team champion, can get a right: each of the three players will be able to choose a driver, reducing Their Boost time in the second day’s event is allowed to be repeated, and the time that can be deducted once at each station is determined by the tournament. This means that the same player will be targeted for three deductions of Boost time, making his next day’s event even more difficult. Such rules add to the confrontation and fun of the event.
In addition, the penalties for foul behavior, signal flags, etc. in the competition rules are also formulated in more detail. For example, in the past two races, runners who started early and caused collisions were fined two places in the race, and races that committed fouls at the start stage needed to be restarted. In the case of ordinary accidents and serious accidents, there are also yellow and red flags.
Post time: Nov-18-2022