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by Elena Gorgan from https://www.autoevolution.com It’s a sad day for electric two-wheelers: the iconic and often-derided personal transporter Segway, a true pioneer in urban mobility, has come to the end of life. The factory producing the PT will shut down permanently on July 15, 2020. When it was teased back in 2001, Segway was said to come to replace the car. It would be, they said, what the car was for the horse and buggy, an invention more revolutionizing than the computer itself. The Segway, a two-wheeled personal transporter (they called it human transporter, HT, back then), was more than just a product; it was, in very simple terms, the future. In many ways, Segway, with its self-balancing technology and versatile functionality, was a trailblazer. It never got to be as popular and commercially successful as inventor Dean Kamen thought (hoped?) it would be, but it was a revolutionary product. It’s now time to pour one out for the Segway PT, because it’s curtain call. The Bedford, New Hampshire factory that produces it will shut down permanently on July 15, 2020, Fast Company reports. Production on the PT comes to an end, and there are no immediate plans to ever revive the product in another form. That said, the decision is hardly surprising. For all the new ground the PT broke in terms of urban mobility, it could never attain wide appeal with the public for a very simple reason: it was – and is – too expensive. A PT still costs as much as a used motorcycle, and it only gets a top speed of 12.5 mph (20 kph) and a range of 31 miles (68 km). Considering it boasted a 10 mph (16 kph) top speed back in 2001, it’s hardly made any progress in this regard. Judy […]