One of the more memorable scenes in the newly released film Her Story features protagonist Wang Tiemei speeding through the night, gliding effortlessly like a martial arts master until the camera pans out to reveal a self-balancing scooter beneath her feet.
Riding the self-balancing scooter, she frightens off a stalker tailing Xiao Ye. Later, she uses it to track the man in return. This self-balancing scooter becomes the starting point of their friendship. Xiao expresses interest in learning how to ride it, but Wang coldly refuses—she plans to sell it.
For most self-balancing scooters in China, being sold as secondhand items has become their destiny.
Initially heralded as a solution to last-mile transportation, self-balancing scooters became a booming industry a decade ago, when its market size surpassed RMB 10 billion (USD 1.4 billion). By 2017, there were thousands of manufacturers across China, over 600 of which were based in Shenzhen. Notable brands included Segway Robotics, Chic, and i-Robot, among others.
At its peak, the industry boasted over 600 manufacturers, 1,000 accessory suppliers, and 200 e-commerce platforms. At least 80% of the world’s self-balancing scooters were exported from Chinese factories.
Self-balancing scooters once zipped through streets and alleys across the country. However, the vision of using these devices as a mainstream tool for personal transportation eventually fell apart due to persistent issues with road rights. Despite initial enthusiasm, they were relegated to the status of toys.
Many self-balancing scooter companies pivoted toward overseas markets, and Ninebot emerged as one of the rare winners. Today, self-balancing scooters contribute less than 4% of Ninebot’s annual revenue—a testament to the shrinking market both domestically and abroad.
Unfit for the roads
Wang’s sleek and dashing maneuvers are undeniably captivating—a glimpse into why self-balancing scooters once became so popular. Yet, the device’s last appearance in the film Her Story is as a listing in Xiao’s Taobao app.
Had self-balancing scooters been allowed on public roads, Xiao and Wang’s story might have taken a different turn. However, regulations in China explicitly ban self-balancing scooters and other gliding devices from road use.
According to local regulations on road traffic safety, pedestrians in China are prohibited from using gliding tools such as skateboards and rollerblades on roads. Cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Wuhan, and Chengdu have explicitly banned self-balancing scooters from public roads.
For users, self-balancing scooters come with a steep learning curve. Riders must constantly adjust their balance to maintain stability. Lacking a physical braking system, self-balancing scooters rely entirely on the rider’s weight shifts for acceleration, deceleration, and turns. This makes them difficult to control and prone to accidents due to loss of balance.
Moreover, self-balancing scooters are not classified as motor vehicles or non-motor vehicles under China’s traffic laws, making legal accountability murky in the event of an accident.
In a media interview, Wang Ye, founder of Ninebot, said, “From a technical and safety perspective, self-balancing scooters are still in the early adopter stage and cannot achieve widespread adoption. They are more suitable for short-distance use in non-motorized settings and are not ideal for users without prior driving experience.”
This inability to operate on public roads has dashed the idea of self-balancing scooters as a viable last-mile transport solution. Instead, they are now primarily seen as toys for children, ridden in neighborhoods or playgrounds. In China, the market’s decline has become an established reality.
Venturing into overseas markets once seemed like a lifeline for many self-balancing scooter manufacturers, but patent disputes presented significant hurdles. In 2014, Segway sued multiple Chinese companies and initiated a Section 337 investigation in the US over IP violations.
The industry faced further turbulence in late 2015. Amid concerns over fire hazards, Amazon halted sales of certain self-balancing scooters and required all sellers to certify their products met safety standards and were non-infringing. Many manufacturers failed to comply, leading to a wave of delistings, further crippling the industry.
A generational trend
The decline of self-balancing scooters in China can be attributed largely to the lack of road rights, but in overseas markets, they have struggled to compete with electric scooters as the preferred tool for traveling over short distances.
This outcome reflects both market trends and corporate strategy. Ninebot, once a leader in self-balancing scooter innovation, shifted its focus after acquiring Segway in 2014. Instead of launching new self-balancing scooter models, the company concentrated on developing electric scooters.
In media interviews, Ninebot’s team said that self-balancing scooters are not intuitive for everyone to use, particularly in uncertain road conditions where risky attempts often lead to accidents or injuries. In contrast, bicycles and scooters are universally familiar and require no learning curve. People also have an instinctive understanding of their safer operational boundaries. Technically, electric scooters are faster and safer than self-balancing scooters for road use.
From 2017–2018, as shared economies gained traction and sustainable technologies were embraced, shared electric scooters surged in popularity across Europe and North America. Self-balancing scooters were left out of this wave of shared mobility.
A closer look at Tao Motor, a Chinese company specializing in outdoor recreational and short-distance transportation tools for the US market, underscores the trend. According to its financial reports, the revenue growth of self-balancing scooters significantly lagged behind electric scooters. In 2019, revenue from electric scooters and their accessories reached RMB 140 million (USD 19.6 million), compared to RMB 90 million (USD 12.6 million) from self-balancing scooters—a modest difference. By 2023, however, revenue from scooters had climbed to RMB 718 million (USD 100.5 million), over twice the RMB 296 million (USD 41.4 million) generated by self-balancing scooters.
The learning curve of self-balancing scooters, while an innovative feature, has become the ultimate limitation on their market. While a niche for self-balancing scooters persists, the market ceiling has long been reached.
Forward-thinking companies like Ninebot have chosen to pivot from self-balancing scooters to scooters and even e-bikes. The 2015 shakeout of the self-balancing scooter industry eliminated many companies but preserved an advanced and comprehensive supply chain. Components essential for short-distance transportation tools—motors, control systems, and batteries—are largely interchangeable across self-balancing scooters, e-bikes, electric scooters, and mopeds. This adaptability allows manufacturers to pivot swiftly.
As for self-balancing scooters, once the object of fascination, they now mostly reside in storage rooms or secondhand platforms. Still, they remain a symbol of their time—an era when hardware innovations excited the masses, venture capital flowed freely to startups, and the legend of Ninebot was born.
KrASIA Connection features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This article was written by Leslie Zhang for 36Kr.