Boosted is best known for its orange-wheeled electric longboard, but that’s about to change because the company has made the biggest expansion yet to its product lineup. Four new boards were announced today in two different form factors, including the company’s smallest and cheapest electric skateboard, the Boosted Mini.
The Boosted Mini comes in two versions: a standard range model (S) that lasts up to seven miles and has a top speed of 18 miles per hour, and an extended range (X) that can do around 14 miles with a top speed of about 20 miles per hour. The Boosted Mini S will cost $749 and ships in May, making it Boosted’s cheapest board ever. The Mini X costs $999 and ships in June. Both boards have a kick tail, all-new 80mm wheels (now custom-made by Boosted), three different speed modes, and they use the same remote used on the bigger Boosted boards. The Mini is just 29.5 inches long, though it’s still not particularly light. The S model weighs 15 pounds, and the bigger battery on the X pushes its weight to 16.8 pounds.
Boosted also announced two new third-generation versions of its electric longboard today: the $1,399 Boosted Plus and the $1,599 Boosted Stealth, both of which ship in “late May / early June,” according to the company. Both boards come stock with the extended range battery for around 14 miles of range, a slightly shorter, straighter, and wider custom deck made out of new materials, the existing Boosted remote, and all-new 85mm wheels.
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The big difference between the two is that the Stealth has five ride speeds to the Plus’ four, and it can reach a top speed of 24 miles per hour to the Plus’ 20 mph. The Stealth is also decked out with gray wheels and a black-and-gray deck, and it has metal pulleys to help handle the higher speeds while also offering a slightly quieter ride. The Plus still rocks the orange wheels, and the underside of its deck is gray and white with a bamboo graphic.
The new deck on the longboards might give some existing Boosted riders pause since the bamboo deck has been a hallmark of Boosted’s first two boards. The company promises riders will experience the same flex with this new board, which is primarily made from a spine of poplar wood surrounded by high-density foam — technology Boosted says has been borrowed from snowboarding.
This composition will help the board handle vibrations at higher speeds as well, Boosted says. It also makes the deck about 430 grams lighter, though that weight is offset by the extended range battery pack and the slightly bigger wheels. The result is that both the Plus and the Stealth weigh 17 pounds. Also, all four new boards have custom-built trucks that Boosted says are twice as strong as the ones it previously used.
These changes to the construction of the board, down to some of its components, are a sign of a big shift in strategy, according to CEO Jeff Russakow. Whereas before it still sort of felt like Boosted was tacking electric motors onto (admittedly capable) parts from other skateboard suppliers, now the company’s products are “all Boosted from the ground up.”
“Skateboards were not designed to do 1,500 or 2,000 miles a year at 20 miles an hour in road conditions,” Russakow tells The Verge. “At some point, you have to really start to optimize for basically being a heavy-duty vehicle grade-quality [company], as opposed to electrifying something that’s more of a skateboard.”
Getting more involved in the manufacturing process also sets the company up to eventually move beyond electric skateboards and longboards, an idea that has been around since former CEO Sanjay Dastoor founded the company, and something Russakow has talked about since taking over as CEO last year. “Our road map does include other form factors in the future of various types that may look familiar to people, and other things that may be unique form factors,” he says.
Russakow’s obviously still careful about sharing what those new form factors will be — and for good reason. Despite a spate of cheap competition and outright knockoffs in the electric skateboard scene, Russakow says Boosted still grew 450 percent financially in 2017 and is now up to around 100 employees. Adding shorter and, more importantly, cheaper boards to the lineup is only going to add fuel to that fire.