Like a Flash: Engineer Smashes E Skateboard Speed Record

• by E4TP Contributor
• January 3, 2023
• 2 min read

Australian engineer, Raine Kent, has absolutely smashed the electric skateboard speed record using a custom-built board fit for riding the lightning.

Quicker than a hiccup © Credit to Raith

How fast can e skateboards go? Pretty fast when you look at what Raine Kent has just achieved.

Kent, a mechanical engineer used a custom-designed skateboard to travel 82.25 mph (132.37 km/h), smashing the previous record in the process by a significant margin. The previous record was set at 59 mph (95 km/h), which is 23.25 mph slower than this new feat — a feat recognised by Guinness World Records.

Street-ready electric skateboards typically travel up to 18 mph on average (depending on where you live in the world), and that feels pretty quick as is.

So you can imagine how much of a difference travelling at that speed, and on that type of transporter, makes. This is why Kent wore a full-body crash suit alongside a full-face racing helmet, looking like something from Tron.

Kent built his own motors and is currently in the process of patenting the design for future use.

One of the most impressive parts of the design is how it tackles something known as “speed wobbles,” which is where an electric skateboard begins to oscillate at higher speeds, often turning into a runaway condition which can lead to a crash.

“I love the adrenaline rush that you get from e-skateboarding. I began my career in skateboarding in downhill racing so negotiating hills at speed and sliding and now I’ve moved into e-skateboarding,” said Kent.

“The speed, the adrenaline, the rush — I love it. It was very scary but exciting at the same time and it was good to achieve something that I had been talking about for so long. Breaking the record was awesome and hopefully we hold it for a few years to come.”

It might be a while before anyone breaks this record, which is a testament to Kent’s engineering abilities and his abilities on the board itself.

E4TP Contributor

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