It's so easy to drive too fast with a Voi bike

A new video published on Youtube describes step by step how to make Voi electric scooters go faster than the maximum permissible speed. The clip shows how a fully charged electric scooter can reach speeds of up to 35 km / h.

All that is required is a very simple maneuver involving only the gas and rear brake.

SVT tested

When SVT Nyheter tested the method, we reached a straight line on repeated occasions speeds of between 30-31 km / h on several randomly selected electric scooters. The electric scooter maintained the speed until the driver slowed down or released the gas.

We then showed the test to Johan Sundström, who works as group manager for the traffic police in Stockholm.

- It worries me how easy it is to manipulate them. When you come up with these speeds, the risk of accidents is imminent and the injuries can be very serious, he says.

Do you think there is reason to take these electric scooters out of traffic?

- It might be too early to answer that question. However, we need to start dealing with the problem of electric scooters. The authorities must be tough on those who supply them, says Johan Sundström.

The question of who is responsible for the supervision of electric scooters is not easy to find out. Responsibility rests somewhere between the Swedish Work Environment Authority and the Swedish Transport Agency.

Like, for example, hooverboards, electric scooters are today not classified as vehicles but as machines. This means that the Swedish Work Environment Authority is the responsible regulatory authority.

But if it goes faster than 20 km / h, it is instead classified as a moped, which makes it under the supervision of the Swedish Transport Agency. The question of how and who should control them is thus somewhat unclear today.

- It's something we're talking to the Swedish Transport Agency about right now, how we can do such checks, says Jens Åhman, head of unit at the Swedish Work Environment Authority.

Whoever is responsible for carrying an electric scooter at an unauthorized speed is also not easy to find out.

- If you have to take a handle to get it going faster, it can be the driver's responsibility, says Jens Åhman and continues:

- But at the same time, the manufacturer must be able to protect and inform about simple misuse. We haven't looked at electric scooters yet but that is something we will do now.

Kristina Hunter Nilsson, communications manager at Voi, says this after SVT's publication:

- Safety is our top priority. Our electric scooters are limited to 20 km / h and we do not tolerate any kind of third-party manipulation of our software and hardware. Just as with other vehicles, it is the driver's job to act responsibly and follow traffic rules. Manipulation or abuse of our service will lead to suspension, she says.

See the test in the player above.