History of electric scooters
Minimotors and the birth of the hyperscooter class: from Goped distributor in Busan to OEM foundation of the performance segment (1999–2026)
A dedicated historical profile of the South Korean company Minimotors — founded in 1999 in Busan as a motor-boards distributor, becoming the Korean exclusive partner of the American brand Goped in 2006 (and launching Silverwing, an electric scooter for seniors), incorporated in 2010 with HQ moved to Ilsan (Gyeonggi-do), launching the Speedway sub-brand in 2014, creating the Dualtron MX and EX in September 2015 — the world's first production dual-hub-motor AWD electric scooter, breaking out the Dualtron Ultra line as the first hyperscooter in 2017, pushing the platform to 5.4 kW with Thunder in 2018, releasing the Eagle Pro with a 3.6 kW twin-motor pair in November 2019, simultaneously launching Storm Limited (84 V × 45 Ah, 74.5 mph), X Limited (12 kW peak, 5,040 Wh, 65+ mph) and Thunder 2 (10 kW peak) in 2021, moving the platform to the EY4 LCD with IPX7 and adding a swappable battery in the Storm UP in 2024, and closing the cycle in 2025 with Thunder 3 (62+ mph, 100-mile range, IPX5, NUTT 4-piston). The profile is the logical counterpart to Segway-Ninebot: one OEM foundation of the consumer/sharing class, the other of the performance/enthusiast class. The role of the EY3 and EY4 controller-displays is laid out as an industry reference (Kaabo Wolf Warrior 11 borrows EY3 from Thunder), alongside coexistence with the Speedway/Rovoron/Kullter/Futecher sub-brands, relationships with the Weped spin-off (CEO Sang Wook Jeon, 2014) and the Chinese Kaabo (Zhejiang Kaabo Electronic Technology, 2013), the distributor-network architecture (Minimotors USA, VORO Motors as the international distributor from Singapore, Dualtron Nordic, Dualtron UK, Fortunati in Italy, Smartwheel in Canada), and the effect of the 5 November 2019 Singapore PMD ban on regional demand.