More like the realities of chemistry and physics have been the limiting factors.
Batteries will never be greatly improved no matter how much wishing goes on.
This piece of metal and guano does 15 miles on an overnite charge? I can drive my Jeep 15 miles on the Diehard in it now (of course, the starter burns out)
This has to be one of the most impractical, dumbest inventions I come across since I met a guy working on an asparagas harvester.
Think "fuel cells". Hydrogen and air in, water out. Range limited by tank size.
"This piece of metal and guano does 15 miles on an overnite charge? I can drive my Jeep 15 miles on the Diehard in it now (of course, the starter burns out)
"This has to be one of the most impractical, dumbest inventions I come across since I met a guy working on an asparagas harvester."
Translation: "Get a horse!"
Some things never change, I guess.
BTW, I've been working on (in my head) ideas for an asparagus harvester for several years now. If I can come with one that does "almost" as good as migrant pickers, I'll be retiring in luxury shortly thereafter. I live in "asparagus country", and let me tell you, it's been rough for the asparagus farmers the past few years, thanks to NAFTA and Clinton's Chinese friends. For the past two years, quite a few farmers didn't pick at all, they just mowed their crop down. It would have cost more to pick than they'd be able to sell it for.
It used to be that asparagus was the crop that lifted farmers out of "dirt poor" condition into very comfortable income. People with 40 acres lived like kings. All it took was sandy, well-drained soil and the right climate.
Those asparagus fields are still there, and if they can be economically harvested, a lot of farmers will be able to once again make decent livings.
Yea I remember something similar being said about the "noise barrier" and recording technology in the recording industry about 20 years ago!
The "noise barrier" was a problem encountered when one Recording a copy of a copy of a copy! Each successive copy showed deterioration until all you heard was "White Noise" Many folks said that Dolby encoding was the end-all-be-all answer to recording and noise suppression and the "Physical Laws" would not allow any better signal processing!
Then came Digital technology and well, Now we can copy a digital recording as many times as we wish hell we even remaster OLD Analog recordings and make them better! Digital Recording is so mainstream now we even have a generation who never lived without it!
So I would be careful using the word "NEVER!" This guy may have worked around the Battery problem or maybe he increased the efficency of the motor, or maybe he has something that decreases the resistance of the electrical system!
I watched this machine in action and am amazed at what it did with what has to be a battery smaller than an average 12 volt car battery!
I really believe there is something more to Segway than a 2 wheeled scooter!