The Last Mile

So it has arrived; Earth Day 2008. With all the glitz and glamor in every shade of green hitting you from left, right and upside the head, we’ve decided to take a more prudent approach. So instead of spending (read: wasting) lots of money on advertisements that gloat about our commitment to the environment, we’re simply going to focus our efforts on continuing to build a product that’s 11 times more efficient than the average American car.

As you can imagine, we consume a lot of media coverage about what other companies are doing to get friendly with the environment. Most of it is unexciting. A significant amount of it is controversial. Plenty of it is plainly unauthentic.

Our corporate mission is clear: to be the leader in green, personal transportation. It’s a hotly debated statement, just like the challenging proposition of what we do. Still, we feel that the Segway PT deserves another look if you haven’t considered it lately – if not for us, for your Mother.

With that, consider this stat from Sunday’s New York Times (Week In Review; page 4):

For every American who bikes to work, 5 commuters walk to work, 9 take public transport, 154 drive alone to work, 21 ride in car pools.

Even if we bring that number of people who drive to work alone to work each day down to 150, we’ll be making significant progress on reducing our dependency on oil.

So if you’re bored at work today and looking to dive into a little light reading, check out our white paper on efficiency. Not looking for that level of detail? Check out this spread that helps simplify it all. Or, head on over to Segway Social to calculate how much carbon and money you’d save by switching your commute from car to Segway PT.

Happy Earth Day!

-Eric

A recent publication by WWF, one of the most important environmental organizations, mentioned the Segway PT as one of the sustainable alternatives to the use of the car in urban areas. The report is called “Plugged In: The End of the Oil Age” by Dr. Gary Kendall.

“[Electric two wheelers] and the Segway Personal Transporter – examples of which are illustrated in figure 21 – all offer virtually silent personal mobility, a very high degree of energy efficiency, and zero emissions at the point of use. They afford the user far greater flexibility than is possible with rigid public transportation services and far greater opportunity for work and leisure activities due to their extended range and speed compared with non-motorised forms of transport. To the extent that they can replace journeys made by ICEVs – until now the de facto alternative to public transport for suburban commuters – electric two-wheelers can dramatically improve the local environment and contribute to lowering greenhouse gas emissions” (page 127).

The report also quotes our REC program:

“[..]only sustainable renewable resources. Even here, businesses promoting grid-connected vehicles may have an important role to play. Take the example of an electrified two-wheeler: the Segway PT. For every unit sold, Segway pledges to purchase 200 kWh of electricity from sustainable renewable sources, which the company calculates is sufficient to power a typical Segway PT for more than two years of operation.*
Thus, the Segway PT rider need not have access to a liberalised electricity market in order to enjoy carbon-free personal mobility. Innovative marketing packages of this nature – explicitly linking green energy with mobility solutions – lend themselves perfectly to grid-connected vehicles of any shape and size.”

*The Last Mile Editor’s Note: Segway Inc. purchases 200 kWh of renewable energy credits that encourage the development of clean sources of energy for future consumption. The 200 kWh amount is based off of a rider charging his/her Segway PT frequently during a 1-year period. Learn more here.

A video interview featuring the author riding a Segway PT can be seen here.

Abstracts from:
Plugged In: The End of the Oil Age by Dr. Gary Kendall. PDF versions of the full report and summary report are available now for download:

Access the full report or summary.

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Nicola Dallatana
Director International Marketing and Regulatory Affairs

Target, one of the nation’s leading discount retailers, is rolling out a security upgrade in 150 of their retail locations, literally. Security personnel will use the Segway i2 Police to patrol parking lots and surrounding areas in an effort to increase mobility, visibility and response time.

Target chose the Segway PTs because personnel stand 8 inches taller, allowing them to scan larger areas at a time; the units can also be used indoors and out, due to their zero-emission, battery-powered platform.

The Segway PTs are expected to roll across parking lots nationally, with immediate plans in Seattle, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles and Dallas.

Thanks to B2B Segway for delivery of the units.

Company press release

Building off of a collaboration we established with GM Europe’s Opel brand, the party is moving stateside.

Starting today, GM is showing off a Saturn version of the Flextreme concept at the 2008 North American International Auto Show. And yes, it’s complete with two modified Segway PTs in the FlexLoad cargo space.

GMnext has a couple of videos about the development of the concept. Check them out.

Some folks got word of the announcement early, but it’s never too late to think about a day when Segway PTs could be integrated into a car for - dare we say - the last mile.

Earlier this week, a few of us participated in a podcast with Todd and Sandy over at Segway Today to address many questions from posters over at the chat.

Listen here.