Filling up your gas tank stings right now. I go to Costco specifically to save money on gas, and even there, I’m spending at least $15 more than usual to fill up my Volkswagen Jetta. If you drive a truck or an SUV, you already know a trip to the pump can run you well over $100. 

Summer is right around the corner, which usually means lake days, beach runs, road trips, and generally getting out more often. That also means using gas to get there. With gas averaging over $4.50 per gallon nationally, every little trip adds up faster than it used to.  

That got me thinking about the trips that probably don’t need a car at all, like quick grocery runs, going to a coffee shop down the road or going to the gym for a daily workout. For those kinds of trips, an electric scooter starts to make a lot of sense. 

While an electric scooter won’t take you on a multi-hour summer road trip, it’s a solid alternative to those short drives we make without thinking about them. So I tested out the Gyroor C1 Pro and dug into the data to find out how much money it can actually save you on those short, everyday trips.

We do the math: E-scooter vs. gas car

Before buying an electric scooter, it helps to know if it will actually save you money or if it just feels like it does. So, let’s run the numbers. 

AAA puts the national average for regular unleaded gas at $4.52 per gallon. If your car gets 25 miles per gallon, which is typical for a sedan, you’re paying about 18 cents per mile. 

The Gyroor C1 Pro gets you up to 25 miles on a single charge. You plug it into an outlet, like you would a laptop, and you can get back to a full battery in about 5 hours. The scooter runs on a 36-volt 10.4Ah battery with a total capacity of 374 watt-hours. Watt-hours measure how much energy a battery can store. The higher the number of watts, the farther you can go on one charge.

The national average electricity rate is 17.65 cents per kilowatt-hour, according to the Energy Information Administration. At this rate, a full charge costs about 66 cents. That works out to $0.003 per mile, which is 60 times cheaper per mile than driving a gas car.

Here’s the formula we used to get there: 

Cost Per Mile = (Battery Capacity in Wh ➗1,000) X Electricity Rate per kWh / Range in miles

$0.003 per mile = (374 ➗ 1,000) X $0.1765 ➗25

Comparing the cost of a gas car vs. an e-scooter

If you swap out one short car trip per day at about 3 miles each way, that’s 168 miles a month that you no longer need gas for. In a realistic sense, this looks like your coffee run, a trip to the gym or another errand you’ve been driving to out of habit. Here’s how the cost compares for using the Gyroor C1 Pro electric scooter versus a gas car.

*AAA

**US Energy Information Administration

For the same 18 cents it costs to drive one mile in a gas car, you could ride the Gyroor C1 Pro about 60 miles. Replacing just one daily short trip with an electric scooter saves you nearly $30 per month. Make it a habit and swap a second trip, and you’re looking at closer to $60. 

If you drive a truck or large SUV that gets lower gas mileage than a typical sedan, your savings will be even higher. Either way, charging an electric scooter costs significantly less than filling up at the gas pump. 

Hidden savings add to that total. Car ownership comes with several costs that add up over the year, such as registration fees, oil changes and insurance. As someone who hates paying for parking, being able to lock up to a bike rack for free makes my day every time. 

At $30 in monthly savings, the Gyroor C1 Pro pays for itself in about 15 months at its current sale price of $460 (regularly $600) before you add in savings from parking and other car-related fees. A well-maintained electric scooter can last three to five years, meaning years of savings after the scooter has paid for itself. If you’re filling up weekly, you’ll burn through that same $459 in less than two months at current gas prices.

Gyroor C1 Pro

The Gyroor C1 Pro’s sibling scooter, the C1S, made CNET’s best electric scooter list as the top pick for backpack-free errands. The C1 Pro takes everything CNET loves about the C1S and adds more range, power and a higher weight capacity (at a slightly higher price). 

I had never ridden a seated scooter before, so the motion took a ride or two to click. But the whole experience of riding a scooter is so much fun, it makes my inner child come out in full force. The seat is comfortable, so you can actually enjoy the ride instead of wanting to get it over with. It comes in pink or green, so you can show a bit of personality with your ride.

The basket storage is a major part of what makes it great for everyday use. On a standing scooter, you’re stuck with a backpack and whatever fits inside it. The C1 Pro’s storage is spacious enough to carry groceries and a work bag without putting any of the stress on your shoulders and back. 

The LED display shows your speed and battery level, so it’s easy to stay aware of your pace. There is also a headlight built in for nighttime rides, which is super helpful if you’re in an area with fewer street lights. The dual suspension keeps the ride smooth and easy to stay steady on two wheels. When I pushed the scooter to its highest speed (18.6 mph), it felt quick but not scary. 

The 25-mile range comfortably covers most of my daily use cases. Plug it in overnight and you can start the morning with a full charge.

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The reality check: Minor negatives

Where you live plays a big role in how much you get out of this scooter. If you’re in a city with mild weather, bike lanes and greenways, the C1 Pro fits into daily life pretty seamlessly. In areas with frequent heavy rains or harsh winters, the riding season will be shorter and slow the payback period. However, the battery compartment is sealed, and the IPX4 rating handles a light drizzle, but I wouldn’t recommend riding it through a storm. 

Bike lanes and existing scooter culture make a big difference. In cities where sharing the road with scooters and bicycles is already normal, the transition is smoother. Areas without that infrastructure take more adjustment as you’re learning to ride as an exposed person next to traffic. I recommend finding the routes that fit you, including backroads, greenways and less hectic areas if possible. It’s not always the fastest route, but it can be a lot more enjoyable.

At 48 pounds, it’s not the lightest scooter on the market, but that’s due to the trade-off of having a seat, dual suspension and basket storage. It folds down easily enough to load into a trunk or to store away when you’re not riding. I wish it could fold small enough to fit in a suitcase and travel with me everywhere. 

One other thing worth noting is that this scooter is best for a single rider. You could fit a small or medium-size dog in the basket, but it’s not the best scooter for shuttling kids around or running family errands together.

Car vs. electric scooter: The verdict

If your daily routine involves a handful of short trips you could easily make without a car, the Gyroor C1 Pro electric scooter will quickly pay for itself and then some. It’s a great fit for your office commute, or for a quick ride to a coffee shop, gym, grocery store or getting around a college campus. It allows you to skip the traffic, eliminates parking fees and costs a fraction of what a gas car does per mile. 

It’s not the right fit for families moving more than one person or for those in a climate that would limit you to riding for only a few months of the year. 

Replacing just one car trip a day with the Gyroor C1 Pro can save you around $30 a month, and you’ll have fun while doing it. If you go with the pink one, you’ll be twinning with me. At its current sale price of $460, it’s a fraction of what you could spend on gas this summer alone.

AI companies have grown into data-hungry entities as their models require ever-larger datasets to train on. To meet that need, many AI startups defy long-standing internet conventions — like respecting robots.txt files, which signal to automated crawlers which parts of a website are off-limits — and scrape data aggressively. This has forced websites to restrict access to their data and, in some cases, strike licensing deals with AI companies. Fitness and social running company Strava is making a move in this direction by restricting its website and introducing fees for developer access.

To stop scraping, the company is increasing security around its website and will now only allow authenticated users to view certain data. Earlier, users were able to see details like public profiles and fitness club listings without logging in. The company is putting all that data behind authentication to protect it from unauthorized AI scraping.

On the API front, developers could previously start building apps on Strava through a free, tiered access program — applying for basic access first, then requesting more as their app grew. Now the company is adding a flat $11.99 per month fee for all developers, though it noted the price may vary by geography.

Strava said its developer community has grown from 185,000 members last year to 241,000 this year, and the company plans to continue supporting them. As part of that, Strava also plans to add support for Model Context Protocol (MCP), an emerging standard that lets AI assistants and apps access external data in a structured way, giving Strava more control over exactly what gets shared and how.

The company is also planning to retire some API endpoints — discrete access points that let outside apps pull specific data, like club details — to protect user data. Strava had already tightened API rules in 2024, banning its use for AI training and limiting third-party apps from displaying other users’ data. Those changes drew backlash from developers who said their apps would be severely affected.

While some developers may accept paying a subscription fee, sunsetting certain API endpoints could still impact dependent apps. Strava is giving developers a 90-day grace period before making these changes.

In an interview with TechCrunch, Michael Martin, Strava’s CEO, said unchecked AI scraping could be the death knell of the public internet.

“AI companies are ruthlessly scraping public websites, given their endless need for training data, which is degrading site performance across the board,” Martin said. We’ve had multiple instances in the last several months where performance has been diminished and, in some cases, impaired. Beyond scraping the public sites, they’re also trying to use our API to get access to our data, ignoring API terms.”

He noted that Strava has refused overtures from leading AI labs seeking data licensing deals. He specifically singled out Perplexity, saying the AI search startup routed its scraping through aggregator services to obscure its origin despite being turned away. This is consistent with Perplexity having been accused of similar behavior elsewhere in the past.

Martin also flagged server overload caused by poorly built vibe-coded apps, whose API calls are often inefficiently structured and generate a disproportionate load on Strava’s systems. It’s a pattern: when Meta banned third-party chatbots from WhatsApp last year, it made a similar argument about system overhead.

The timing probably isn’t coincidental. Strava confidentially filed for an IPO earlier this year, and its move to protect its data may be intended to signal data discipline to prospective investors. The comparison to Reddit’s 2024 crackdown on API access is one Martin was quick to address. Unlike Reddit, which priced API access by the number of calls (making it unaffordable for many app developers), Strava is betting a flat fee keeps the developer ecosystem intact.

“We want the users to feel that they own their data and feel comfortable with how we are controlling and securing it. But we want the developers to continue to flourish and grow,” Martin said.

The iPhone 17 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra are the two most obvious choices if you want a no-compromise flagship phone in 2026.

Both are big, powerful, expensive, and built around the same basic promise: you get huge displays, elite cameras, long battery life, high-end performance, and a growing number of AI tools if you’re willing to pay the high asking price.