2017 will be an important year for personal electric vehicles of all sizes

Longer range. Smaller batteries. Sleeker, more integrated designs. These are things you can expect to hear touted in 2017 by the companies that make what we at The Verge call electric rideables — an imperfect catch-all term that covers everything from electric skateboards to hoverboards to whatever the hell this is.Some of those features are starting to hit the streets, and smart connectivity is making these things more than just boards with wheels and motors. That brings us to a point whe