When it comes to motorized inline skates, pretty much every product we've seen requires you to buy a whole new set of electric skates. The Blade Booster is different, as it adds a removable powered wheel to your existing third-party rollerblades.
Currently the subject of a Kickstarter campaign, the Blade Booster was invented by German inline skater/entrepreneur Marcel Frerichs.
The main aluminum-framed device slides onto one of the user's inline skate boots, and gets screwed into place (via existing holes) so it sits over and in front of the nose of the boot. It incorporates a 250-watt brushless electric motor at the top, which is connected via a belt drive to a polyurethane drive wheel that protrudes out of the bottom.
A rubber power cable runs from that module, up through two guides that are strapped onto the user's leg, and into a backpack-carried 36V/6-Ah lithium-ion battery pack. The system's one other component is a wireless handheld remote.
For regular non-powered rollerblading, the skates are used just as they always have been. When it's time for a boost, a squeeze of the remote's throttle sets the drive wheel spinning. Tilting the foot forward then brings that wheel into contact with the ground, and the boosting begins.
Depending on factors such as user weight, the Blade Booster has a top speed of up to 25 km/h (16 mph) and a claimed range of 10 to 20 km (6 to 12 miles) per charge. The whole system is said to tip the scales at 2.2 kg (4.9 lb), with the main device making up 1.4 kg (3 lb) of that figure.
The Blade Booster currently exists in the form of a fully functional prototype that has been in regular use for a year, hence its rather scuffed appearance in the photos. Funds from the Kickstarter campaign are intended to finance production of an initial batch of the systems, which should help "establish the Blade Booster in the inline skate scene."
You can see the Blade Booster in use, in the video below. The way that the power cable loops out in some shots does look a bit hazardous, although it could presumably be tucked in better for out-on-the-street use.
And if you like the idea of an electric boost for your existing skates, but don't like the idea of mounting something right on them, check out the REM and the Veelo – they're essentially "powered wheels on a pole" that respectively push or pull their rollerblading user.
Sources: Kickstarter, Blade Booster
