The Air T15 is remarkable as the first of its kind, representing risk-taking innovation with this signature design. It’s built from cast aluminum that’s so seamless it feels like a perfectly-pieced puzzle, with no exposed wires, bolts or gaps in the build. This is the opposite of a Frankenscooter, which is what we call scooters that feel bolted and mishmashed together from spare parts.

Although it doesn’t set the standard for performance, it does set the bar for cohesive, streamlined construction, giving the entire scooter a snag-proof profile free of sharp edges and angles. Imagine Dyson built a last-mile scooter for TRON, and you’ve got the Air T15. We can’t think of anything that represents that collab better, with its futuristic, ultraportable, streamlined design that doesn’t take you very far, very fast. 

The Segway Ninebot Air T15 takes first place for last-mile commuting, but last place for nearly everything else. It’s super lightweight at 23 lbs and if you need to stow it, it’s smaller and faster at folding than most entry-level electric scooters. The rear fender is cleverly designed and multiuse, but not very user-friendly. The fender switch powers the scooter on and off, turns on the lights, and switches riding modes, which means if you accidentally hit it there’s a few things that can go wrong.

The T15 delivers a stable ride, with a surprisingly roomy deck, and slow 12.4 mph top speed. Along with a tiny size, it’s got tiny wheels, and a tiny 4.2-mi range to match. Spoiler alert: It failed our hill climb test, so don’t expect it to go up anything more than a 6% grade.

Even on sale for $769, the Air’s range-per-dollar ratio is… the worst. The Air’s really only made for between 0.5 mi and 3 mi round-trip. For round-trips longer than 5 mi, you won’t make it there and back without charging. However, if you need to go a very limited distance and want the ultimate in portability, we can’t think of anything that does it better than the Air T15.

Big Dawgs are larger riders that are over 200 lb and 6 feet or taller, often favoring oversized decks, tall handlebars, pneumatic tires, and suspension.

Barely Moves with a Heavier Rider

Although the Air T15 boasts a solid weight capacity, its performance when someone of that weight actually rides it proves otherwise.

The Air T15 has futuristic good looks and eye-catching lights, especially the color-changing stem, but it simply can’t carry Big Dawgs on those teensy wheels, and barely moves when loaded with a rider over 200 lbs.

The Ninebot Air T15 is (resoundingly) not Big Dawg approved.  

The Ninebot Air T15 has comfortable acceleration, which rolls on automatically. It’s very easy to ride. As a kick-to-start scooter, you have to kick it up to around 2 mph, then apply the thumb throttle. It took an average of 13.9 s for the T15 to get up to its 12.4 mph top speed.  

We generally measure acceleration in 5-mi increments starting at 15 mph speed. Compared to the next slowest scooter, which has a 13.5 mph top speed, the Gotrax GXL V2 got up to speed in around -. 

First let’s talk about the Ninebot Air T15’s top speed, which is not top (it’s actually at the bottom of all electric scooters that we’ve tested). 

The good news is that the Air T15 is very stable at its 12.4 mph top speed, which is a tad slower than the average shared scooter (around 15 mph). However, that’s limited to riding on really flat ground; otherwise, you might not reach this speed in the first place.

The Segway Ninebot Air T15 has the shortest range we’ve ever tested, going only 4.2 miles and forcing our rider to do the dreaded walk of shame pretty quickly. Even the Unagi Model One (E500), the previous shortest ranged scooter, has more than double the T15’s range. 

As with all of the scooters that we test, we place the scooter in its highest performance mode — which for the T15 is sport mode (with the lights off).

Learn more about how we perform our testing of electric scooters.

When we attempted our usual 200-foot, 10% grade hill climb, the Air T15 simply replied, “Yeah, I’m not doing that.” Within 10 s of attempting to launch up the hill, the Air T15 barely got up to 5 mph before coming to a halt with our 165-lb rider. Watch the T15 fail our hill climb test up this quaint Berkeley, California (USA) street. 

Even the Segway Ninebot ES2, which has the slowest recorded hill climb time of 36.9 s and an average speed of 3.7 mph, made it up the incline, however slowly. 

Riding the Ninebot Air T15, you almost don’t need brakes. During the range test, the regen brake was used maybe once, as it slows easily on its own. Even on the lowest energy recovery setting, the T15 applies a large amount of drag anytime you let off the throttle, so it’s pretty easy to come to a complete stop without using the brakes at all. 

However, if you want to use the rear regenerative brake, it is very easy to use and applies a gradual, comfortable slowing even from its top speed. You can use the brake thumb throttle or the rear fender to activate the regen brake. The brake throttle is preferred to using the fender, as the fender also controls the headlight and power. 

The Ninebot Air T15 is designed to ride on super smooth, level pavement, and pretty much nothing else. If it climbed inclines better (or at all), it might be ideal for a spry valet parking attendant in a large, multi-level parking garage  — but the Air’s not actually built for that.

The narrow handlebars are as comfortable as they can be, being – from the deck to handlebars (a bit low for riders over 5’10”). Although it rides pretty nice on pristine roads, the range is very short, even too short to be used on some college and business campuses — and it can’t handle hills or rough terrain at all. The Air T15 rattles continuously on rough pavement, even with bent knees. The brain massage can be buzzy enough to make your vision blurry sometimes. 

You really need to watch out for obstacles like large sticks in the road more than you would on other electric scooters because of those small solid tires, large turning radius, and low – ground clearance. In fact, the Air T15 deck is closer to the ground than any scooter we’ve ever tested, which makes it very nice for stop-and-go riding — like pushing off after a stop sign. 

Cruise control is a nice feature to have on this scooter, since riders will most likely be at full throttle all the time. You can enable cruise control in the Segway mobile app, and it takes 10 to 12 seconds to activate once held at speed. An audible beep and on-screen indicator let you know when cruise control is on, and you can disable it by tapping either the brake or throttle. 

When parking the scooter, riders will notice that the Air T15 has a very large turning radius, due to the way the steering is designed. It doesn’t affect riding at all, but does affect maneuvering when you are pushing it. If the scooter were heavier this would be an issue, but, since it’s so light, it’s easy to lift and slide the front end if it’s not steering in the direction you want.

Rear fender step controls

Using the step controls on the Air T15 is pretty easy, once you know how many taps or steps does what.

Power Press once on the rear fender to power the scooter on, including the stem light. To power off, long-press the fender for 3 seconds. 
Lights When powered on, a short press turns on the headlight and taillight. 
Modes When powered on, double-press the fender to switch between modes (pedestrian, eco, standard, and sport). According to Segway, pedestrian mode limits the speed to around 4 mph, eco or energy-saving mode limits speed to 6 mph, standard mode limits speed to 9 mph, and sport allows you to reach its max speed of 12 mph.