Swiss police in St. Gallen have confirmed that they have detained an electric scooter, which when tested clocked speeds of 98 kilometres an hour. The emergency services soon discovered the scooter had 10 times the power of the rental scooters available in Swiss cities.
Shortly after 9pm on June 2, police in St. Gallen noticed an e-scooter travelling across a junction, decked out in rainbow-neon lighting. After following the scooter, they discovered that the driver could achieve sudden and rapid acceleration at the touch of a button.
Sensing something was amiss, police apprehended the 27-year-old man and confiscated his scooter. Police decided to test the vehicle to see whether it was legal and discovered the scooter could achieve a top speed of 98 kilometres per hour, well over the 20 km / h limit imposed on electric scooters by the government.
The souped-up machine was found to have 5.000 watts of power on board. Putting this into perspective, a police spokesperson said "an e-bike with pedal assistance up to 25 km / h has a motor output of 250 watts."
The 27-year-old was detained as the vehicle was “not permitted on Swiss roads.” He also did not possess a driving licence and had no vehicle insurance for the scooter, which because of its speed was defined as a motorcycle. Prosecutors are now debating whether to charge the individual and allow him to use his modified set of wheels, so long as he is on his own private land.