Evolve has applied for a patent in Australia claiming to have invented the electric skateboard. But obviously Evolve did not invent the electric skateboard.
This post has been updated. New info added to the end.
Gas-powered skateboards came on the market in the 1970s. Wireless electric skateboards came in the 1990s. Evolve was founded in 2012.
Evolve founder Jeff Anning himself stated in a video that he got the idea of making electric skateboards because he saw someone else on one.
But surely Evolve invented something, right? And they did, sort of. They put double kingpin trucks on an electric skateboard. Does that count? Seriously, that is as close to an invention as they get.
They first used Gullwing Sidewinders (the original double kingpin trucks) and then made their own copy and named them Super Carve. Sorry, Evolve fans – Evolve didn’t invent those trucks either.
Oh but now with the Hadean they have that drop-in enclosure which doesn’t offer any benefit to customers. It just lets Evolve call their deck a forged carbon fiber deck when it’s actually mostly plastic. Will they patent that?
What will Evolve do with this patent? We don’t have to wait to find out. According to Scott Davies:
Evolve have sent letters from their legal team to a number of ESK8 brands demanding they stop selling their Carbon boards in Australia, they have also demanded they turn over % profit and destroy stock & a number of other demands.
Community post on Scott Davies YouTube channel
Evolve Skateboards’ legacy
First electric skateboard company to use double kingpin trucks.
First and only electric skateboard company to make a racist video.
First and only electric skateboard company to become a patent troll.
Update – July 9, 2021
Evolve has made a response to this stuff:
The patent was applied 4 years ago and has since been approved. It does not apply to the entire concept of an electric skateboard, Evolve has been very clear that they did not invent this. It specifically addresses a moulded Carbon deck with a series of other claims about internal electronics accessible from the top cover etc. A board must infringe against ALL claims in the patent or they have nothing to worry about.
Evolve Ambassador comment in Evolve Skateboard Owners Intl. Facebook Group
So Evolve actually intended on being a dick since 4 years ago but just hadn’t been able to.
Do they really believe that a “moulded carbon deck” with “internal electronics accessible from the top cover” is some sort of innovation that deserves to be protected?
For those who don’t understand, this is basically a lid you unscrew to access the inside – like unscrewing your computer case, or unscrewing the back of your watch, or unscrewing the vent cover on the floor.
Evolve Skateboards, like all other e-skate companies, benefited from a sea of incremental innovations that came before them in skateboards, radio control, batteries, etc. And now they’re threatening competitors with a patent on a conventional lid.
Fuck off, Evolve.