If you’ve been hoping to get your snowboarding fix even in the summer, Traqpod just might have the thing for you. The Barcelona-based skateboarding company has just gone electric, launching a powered version of their board known as the Traqpod 3 Electric.
The board eschews typical skateboard trucks and uses a novel type of folding mechanism that stows and deploys the front and rear wheels. The unusual trucks feature steel springs instead of rubber bushings and allow the board to carve hard – much harder than a typical electric longboard or all-terrain skateboard. The board also sports an ultra concave deck with the unique design being said to offer the closest sensation to snowboarding or surfing while on the street.
As the company explained:
“If Traqpod makes you feel like you are surfing in Hawaii or snowboarding in the Alps, this means you are doing it right. The sensations are just the same, you won’t need waves, snow or sunscreen.”
This isn’t Traqpod’s first rodeo (or wave) as the company has been around for several years and several board iterations. The Traqpod 3 Electric builds on those years of design development, as the company explained:
“Traqpod 3 Electric is the result of years of product development and on-the-ground experimentation and user feedback. It combines the iconic design of original Traqpod 1, the countless performance improvements of Traqpod 2 and 3, and, finally, the incredible possibilities of a powerful, state-of-the-art electric drive. “
The latest Traqpod 3 Electric board comes in either a single motor or dual hub motor version, offering single or dual wheel drive. A handheld remote controls acceleration and braking, similarly to most electric skateboards. With the Traqpod 3, that regenerative braking is perhaps just as useful as the motors’ ability to accelerate, since carving downhill can be a lot more enjoyable for beginners or experienced riders when they have a brake available. I’m no skating expert myself, but I can tell you that trying to brake with your shoe sole while flying downhill is not for beginners or the faint of heart.
With either one or two 450W motors, the board isn’t as powerful as many other electric skateboards on the market. But the design prioritizes relaxed carving over breakneck speeds and acceleration, giving riders more of that snowboarding or surfing sensation that has previously proven elusive in the electric skateboarding market.
The 187 Wh battery is also much smaller than we’re used to seeing, but again, the board appears to be designed for giving a nice boost instead of serving as an entirely electric alternative to kicking. That’s good, because the all-electric range is just 18 km (11 mi), which isn’t very far on its own.
The Traqpod 3 Electric is launching on Kickstarter for €449 (US $490), marked down from its €749 MSRP (US $821). We generally don’t cover crowdfunding campaigns here on Electrek unless we can test the product in advance or the company has a proven record of making deliveries. In this case, Traqpod fulfills the latter as they’ve been building and delivering non-electric boards since at least 2020. In fact, the company got their start just a week or two into the COVID-19 pandemic. Talk about trial by fire.
When it comes to crowdfunding, we always advise caution since the project doesn’t always prove to be a success, and in rare cases can end quite negatively.
To assuage fears though, the Traqpod team is already showing off their production process to demonstrate that they’ve got inventory ready to go.
via: NewAtlas