A pair of central Alberta men have created an electric skateboard they say is unlike any other.
A campaign to raise money to make the board launched last week, and support for it has exploded online.
The Juiced Electric Skateboard was designed by central Albertans Matti Deacon and Edward McIntyre.
It rides like a longboard, and is powered by a handheld Bluetooth control. It also has regenerative braking, so instead of draining the battery when you slow down, it re-charges. It’s also light enough that if you run out of juice it can just as easily be pushed, like a normal board.
But unlike others on the market, the creators say this board is battle tested for Canada.
“All of these products are designed in sunny California and we're Alberta,” McIntyre said. “We're distinctly not California, so water resistance and being able to weather the storm was really important to us.”
Deacon explained that he and McIntyre decided to create their own electric board after others they found fell short.
“We were looking about a year ago for electric skateboards to ride around on and everything on the market was either too expensive or just poor quality,” Deacon said.
The pair has perfected the board, making it user friendly for new or long time riders. They went live with their Indiegogo campaign one week ago.
“What’s really interesting about crowd funding is you’re putting your baby out there and you never know what’s going to happen,” McIntyre said.
But the response has been overwhelming. In less than one day, they filled the $50,000 campaign total and the funds keep rolling in.
“It's exciting, we've spent the last year working on this project, spent a lot of time, a lot of effort, a lot of heart,” Deacon said.
They say they’ve heard lots of different people interested in it; from those using it for leisure, to making long trips around a university campus and even business professionals.
The duo will now begin the production process and plan to roll out the product by mid-summer.
