F1’s Top Team Gets Into the E-Scooter Game With RBS#01
Is F1 too easy for Red Bull Racing? The fact that the race team just launched a new e-scooter tells us maybe it is.
Want a Red Bull Racing vehicle to call your own? You can’t get behind the wheel of Max Verstappen‘s RB18, but you can order a RBR e-scooter. Designed by Red Bull Racing, it’s a performance scooter tweaked and tuned by the same engineers who work on the Formula 1 car.
Yes, it’s a scooter designed by F1 engineers, but is that just marketing puffery? A close look at the RBS#01 shows that it isn’t.
Carbon-Fiber Scooter: Hypercar Cool
For a start, this scooter is made from carbon fiber. The lightweight material isn’t an F1 exclusive, but Red Bull Racing is very well-versed in the use of the composite material. Carbon fiber helps keep the weight of the scooter down — it’s still 51 pounds — and it looks race-worthy too.
The Red Bull e-scooter’s naked carbon finish looks like something you’d expect from a high-end supercar, not an economical electric runabout. It’s more Pagani than pedestrian.
Finite element analysis (FEA) done by the same designers and using the same software as the RB18 ensures this scooter is strong. Red Bull Racing says it can handle a 3.5g (g-force) crash into a curb with a 210-pound rider on board. Slide sideways into a curb, and it can take 1.75 g (g-force). Want to do more sweet stunts? Jump or drop the RBS#01 and it can take even higher load forces.
Large-diameter wheels are fitted with 11-inch-wide semi-slick tires. Red Bull Racing says the high-performance tires let you lean confidently into corners and you won’t need to worry about potholes or drainage grates. When it’s time to stop, the scooter has four-piston hydraulic disc brakes. No, they aren’t carbon like the F1 cars.
Red Bull Racing E-Scooter: Most Powerful on Market
The e-scooter has a 750W motor, meaning it makes almost exactly one horsepower. While that might not sound like a lot, the electric motor also makes 59 pound-feet of torque, so it has some real get-up-and-go. The team says that this is the most powerful e-scooter on the market and that it delivers “brutal” acceleration — though we’ll have to try it before we’d agree on that last bit.
A 760Wh battery gives the e-scooter a top speed limited to 29 mph and a 37-mile max range. It can be recharged in 5 hours from a standard wall plug. The RBS#01 scooter can hold a rider up to 265 pounds and can climb hills up to 25 degrees.
Even the handlebars, which the brand is calling a “cockpit,” are cool. There’s a small LCD display that gives you your speed and other data as well as a thumb-operated throttle. An integrated LED light gives you enough lumens for night riding as well as daytime fun.
The incredibly sleek design hides all cabling and is the result of hundreds of hours of design work. But it’s the bare carbon that catches our attention.
Is Ducking the Same as DRS?
There is no kinetic energy recovery and no drag-reduction system — unless you count ducking down as you approach the scooter’s top speed. It does come with an oversized deck, so you can find your footing and get a stable ride.
Red Bull Racing E-Scooter: Price & Availability
At $6,000, this isn’t a cheap scooter. But it’s the only one designed by Formula 1 engineers, so you can have at least one thing in common with the now two-time F1 champ.
Preorders for the Red Bull Racing RBS#01 scooter are now open. A $600 deposit gets you on the list, with $5,400 due when it ships, for a total price of $6,000.
Red Bull Racing expects the scooters to start shipping next summer and is offering free delivery on the premium ride.
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