Michael Reeves Built a Car Out of Lime Scooters

Go to almost any urban area in the United States and you’ll find the sidewalks littered with rentable electric scooters. Those provide convenient and affordable short-range transportation, but they’re also notorious for filling the local emergency rooms with fresh patients. Accidents are extremely common and these scooters have quickly developed bad reputations in the areas where they’re available. Michael Reeves has a friend that broke his arm in one of those accidents and that motivated Reeves to build a “safer” “car” out of electric scooters.

The idea was pretty straightforward: strap together four scooters to create a car-like vehicle. Because it can’t fall over, it is ostensibly safer than a two-wheeled scooter alone. Reeves lives in LA where Lime-branded scooters reign supreme. Similar to scooters from other brands, users initiate rentals through an app. That unlocks the selected scooter, letting the user ride to their destination. After the trip, the user can leave the scooter on the sidewalk for someone else to rent next.

Reeves wanted his “car” frame to work with Lime scooters that are in-service. The advantage being that if one scooter’s battery dies, the driver can swap that scooter out for another. They also wouldn’t have to purchase any scooters outright. The disadvantage is that Reeves couldn’t permanently modify any of the scooters, which made the whole project more challenging.

For that reason, Reeves attached an Arduino development board to each scooter’s handlebar. The Arduino controls a servo motor that pushes the throttle lever. A pneumatic piston actuates the brake lever. To steer the vehicle, Reeves needed to be able to control each scooter’s throttle independently and so a laptop on the vehicle connects to the Arduino boards. A Nintendo Wii steering wheeling provides input, with a Python script translating that input into throttle commands.

Reeves first implemented this idea with a rigid wood frame, but found that it didn’t turn as anticipated. He then went back to the drawing board and welded together a steel tube frame. That has a bearing acting as a pivot point, so the front two scooters can turn like the front wheels of your car. That was effective and gave the vehicle the ability to navigate turns. There is even a pneumatic "kick-off" piston to automatically get the scooters going.

To test his citrus-themed contraption, Reeves hit the streets of LA. Surprisingly, it worked as transportation without causing any injuries. When one scooter’s battery failed, Reeves was able to swap it out for a fresh scooter. He even picked up his previously injured friend, who wasn’t too traumatized to go for a ride.