Lavoie folding e-scooter is literally the McLaren of scooters

The best way to summarize the Lavoie Series 1 electric scooter requires these four words: The McLaren of scooters. Not only does that describe everything from the engineering to the price, it's almost the simple fact. McLaren Group, the motorsports team and supercar maker, created McLaren Applied as a technology development arm. The group sold McLaren Applied in 2021, so the mothership connection is once removed. However, the executive and engineering core at McLaren Applied bring the same high-level engineering and motorsports backgrounds you wouldn't be surprised to find at McLaren Group. All of which means that we can't imagine a greater amount of technical prowess has ever been applied to a scooter.

Lavoie is the "premium e-mobility company" within McLaren Applied. This first product off the line is made from aerospace-grade aluminum and magnesium alloy — a statement you should consider foreshadowing for the price — that keeps weight down to either 41 pounds or 43 pounds depending on the battery size. A deck longer and wider than the typical e-scooter's improves stability on the go and when parked, its trick move enabled by a hinge toward the forward part of the deck. Instead of having a kickstand, the rider gets off, presses a button to get into Park Mode, and the deck hinges downward into a V shape, resting on the ground to support the scooter without appendages. If the rider wants to take the scooter along, he can just keep working the hinge to fold the unit into a compact bundle.

The standard Series 1 is powered by a 468-Wh battery in a waterproof shell, the Series 1 Max uses a 702-Wh battery. A motor on the rear axle makes a peak 1.2 horsepower and continuous 0.8 horsepower to go along with 22 pound-feet of torque. The Series 1 is rated to get 30 miles in Eco mode, 25 miles in Cruise mode, or 15 miles in a Sport mode that unlocks the full potential, all achieved with what's called KERS regenerative braking on the rear wheel. The bigger battery in the Series 1 Max pushes those numbers of 45 miles, 35 miles, and 20 miles. using the 250-watt charger, the big battery can be refilled in less than three hours. 

McLaren tapped Ian Callum's design agency, Callum, for assistance with the finer aesthetic points — another bit of foreshadowing about price, eh. Luxury touches include a full lighting system, being a headlight, turn signals, side and marker lights, and a brake light. A screen in the handlebars shows data like speed, battery charge level, tripometer and odometer, and drive mode. The Lavoie app provides turn-by-turn directions, and allows owners to modify power output and speed ceilings for each drive mode. There's a horn, too.

The company used lots of car-like language to describe its micro-mobility breakout, and is launching it like a car as well. The Lavoie Series 1 starts with a Founder's Edition available in just 469 units, in one of four colors: Electric Blue, Racing Green, Silent White, and Sunset Orange. McLaren Applied says the unusual production number "pays tribute to first electric two-wheel vehicle patented in April 1869." We'll guess that's 400 units plus the '69 patent year; Joseph Marie's April 28th, 1869 patent for a "Vélocipède magnéto-électrique" received patent number 85499. Every Founder's Edition will be individually numbered, bearing a plaque also designed by Callum.

The Series 1 costs $1,990, the Series 1 Max costs $2,230. Preorders are open now, a $500 deposit gets a place in line, paying the full amount up front gets a 5% discount.