Scooter Brakes: How to Choose the Safest Option

The most crucial safety component of an electric scooter is its brakes. Current electric scooters have solid motors and can go at over 20 mph speeds! Although you might anticipate a car accident as typical, most electric scooter falls are isolated. A scooter with powerful brakes may be the only thing separating a close encounter from a hospital trip.

Why are scooter brakes so crucial for safety?

Front and rear scooter brakes

Difference between mechanical and electronic scooter brakes

Different scooter brake types and their pros and cons

     - Disc brakes

     - Drum brakes

     - Foot brakes

     - Regenerative brakes

     - Electronic brakes

Concluding remarks

The brakes control several elements, including stopping distance, activation effort, durability, and wet weather performance. At least one braking system will be on an electric scooter, and some will have more than one. In case one brake system fails, we recommend scooters with several braking systems. In the US, researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, reported a 365% rise in hospital admissions related to electric scooters (from 313 to 1374) in a year. Proper brake usage could avoid almost all of them.

In some electric scooters, the front or back wheels are the only ones with brakes. Having individual brakes on each wheel is preferable to this. When compared to scooters with dual brakes, those with single-wheel brakes will stop more slowly and provide less redundancy. Scooters with a single brake are more prone to slide in wet weather when traction is weaker. So you must apply all braking efforts to one rather than two wheels. Nonetheless, most scooters have a front electronic brake and at least one mechanical brake, usually at the back. The SmooSat SA3 Prime has two individual brakes on two wheels, creating an outstanding balance between value and safety.

The type of braking system(s) installed on your scooter determines how effectively your brakes work. Mechanical brakes consist of disc, drum, and foot brake types, and drum brakes come second to disc brakes in terms of performance. Mechanical systems typically have a 20-foot stopping distance at 15 mph, with 10 feet or less providing the best stopping capability. Riders deem electronic brakes to be almost unanimously the most inferior type.

The way disc brakes work is that the wheel of the electric scooter is attached to and rotates with a metal disc known as a rotor. The hand lever brake control that you would find on a regular bicycle is the most popular design. A caliper encircles a rotor segment, activated when you draw on the brake lever. Brake pads on the caliper squeeze the rotating rotor, creating friction that slows the wheel.

Drum brakes contain pads that push outward the surface and reside inside the wheel hub. This friction slows the wheel. The entire encasing of the brake helps shield it from the outside elements. Drum brakes lose effectiveness as they heat up. Thus, the enclosure is both a plus and a minus. Given the speed and weight, it's not as likely to be a problem with scooters as with other vehicles, but it can still impact how well drum brakes work.

These brakes place a hinged fender into the back tire to create friction and slow the wheels. By applying pressure with your heel to the fender, you can activate them. You must apply pressure to the back tire to slow the scooter down. To brake, you must either remove your back foot from the deck or keep it ready. The last thing you want to do when braking is to lose balance. This pitfall is especially true of scooters with smaller tires.

A switch that electrically ties the motor to the charging system and produces resistance to motor spinning activates regenerative brakes. The concept is that you can increase range by recovering energy while braking. Some scooters start regenerating the moment you let on the power. On others, a particular button or the brake lever is the only way to restore the brake. Regenerative braking is rarely the only type used in electric scooters because it is not a reliable enough mechanism. They are weaker than other mechanical brakes discussed here.

Besides not drawing battery charge, electronic brakes work almost identically to regenerative brakes. They are turned on by a switch that shorts the motor's terminals, preventing the engine from rotating. Push buttons or brake levers can be used to engage electronic brakes. Some scooters have an electrical brake activation button along the handlebars, while other designs need you to pull and release the brake levers lightly. The scooter will slow down a little as the electronic brakes kick in.

Because brakes are crucial for your safety, it's critical to understand how they operate and check them regularly between rides. It's a good idea to get comfortable with how accelerating and braking feel and learn how to stop quickly but securely before entering traffic for the first time. While looking for an electric scooter, consider the brakes it has. We usually advise scooters to have at least two brake systems for redundancy and added safety. To get a rundown on the best electric scooter in terms of braking safety, we welcome you read to read our blog - Best Electric Scooter Buying Guide