California Start-Up Wants You to Commute to Work on Electric Roller Skates - East Idaho News
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California Start-Up Wants You to Commute to Work on Electric Roller Skates

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GETTY 071014 skating?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1405007370222File photo. iStock/Thinkstock(SAN FRANCISCO) — Electric cars are a big-ticket item, but a California start-up company has a less pricey option for folks who want to get from point A to point B in a greener way: electric roller skates.

ACTON Global announced a Kickstarter campaign for its RocketSkates at the Wearable Technologies Conference in San Francisco on Tuesday.

The dual-wheeled RocketSkates attach to your shoes and can reach a top speed of 12 miles per hour.

The RocketSkates can run for up to 90 minutes on one charge, and recharge in about the same amount of time.

Users lean forward to go faster and lean back to slow down. Brakes are positioned on the back of each skate.  Users track battery life by using an iOS app.

The company reached its Kickstarter goal of $50,000 in 24 hours.

RocketSkates will be available in three versions with different size batteries. The $499 “Rocket Red” can cover six miles on a 45-minute battery.  The “Terminator Chrome” costs $599 and gives the rider eight miles of skating and 70 minutes of battery life. The “Deep Space Black” offers a ten-mile limit and a 90-minute battery at $699.

But wait, there’s more.  Paging Doc Brown! Jennifer Choy, a transportation engineer at ACTON Global, says the company is also developing a hoverboard.


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