8 Things to consider Before Buying an Electric Scooter

A boom of electric vehicles is going on in India, Causing a tremendous amount of growth in the EV Segment. But it is still in its initial stage and that’s why we can see New EV brands pops-up every day. However, most of them are EV Two-Wheeler manufacturers specially Electric Scooters, due to their compact side, practical use, Low Maintenance and Cheap Running cost, They sell very-well, and the majority of electric vehicle sales in India come from electric scooters.

Although, they are great alternative of petrol scooter, Although electric scooters have emerged as a great alternative to petrol scooters, there are a few things you should keep in mind before buying an Electric scooter, which will act as a filter

Table of Contents

1. Price

A wide range of electric scooters are available in India covering almost every price segment. But due to the high cost of Batteries Electric scooters are fairly expensive than standard ICE (internal combustion engine) Scooters. Most of the state governments produce subsidies and tax benefits to promote e-scooters and green mobility that you can benefit from.

2. Build Quality

Never make a choice on any scooter by looking at its pictures and online information, there are many low quality scooters that look super attractive and shiny in photos but have very low build quality in the rear world. The panel fitting, material quality, quality of switches, seat cushioning, plastic quality and the material from which the scooter body is made. These things you must check physically in any E-Scooter before taking any decision.

3. Range In Single Charge

There’s a broad range of scooter claimed range between 50 km to 300 km in single charge. Like the mileage of petrol scooters, the claimed range of electric scooters is also slightly low in real life, for example, Ola Electric claimed 181 km of ARAI certified range but the real life range is around 135 km, where there is a variation of 25%. However, it totally depends on your daily running, But if you are someone who travels long distances and doesn’t have infra in your city, then you should consider something which has a longer range in single charge.

4. Top Speed

Not all electric scooters have the same top speed, in India you can find scooters with 25kmph to 100 or 120kmph Top speed but it depends how fast you want to drive and how much top speed you’ll require reach your destination timely, If you are going to ride it on the same route every day. If you don’t want quick acceleration, then you can go with a slow scooter, which also costs less than a fast one, but buy something that fully fills your required speed as well as fit in your budget.

5. Maximum Load Capacity

Now, Electric Scooter are lighter than our conventional petrol scooters, So you might worry about the weight limit that E-scooters can carry, let us clear that a good-performing Electric Scooters today can carry weight very similar to a Regular petrol scooter – somewhere around 150kgs to 175kgs, and scooter with these load capacity will cost you around 1 Lakh. keep in mind that your scooter should be able to carry the weight of a Two average adults.

6. Battery Facility

There are many types of Battery Facility company offers at time, like the removable battery which you can take home and charge with your normal socket just like your smartphone, another one is Battery swapping facilities where you can exchange the drained battery for a new one at the Battery swapping station, and the last one is the fast charging, does manufacturer offers fast-charging on their scooter, Fast charging can save your lots of time but it needs a fast-charger. Having any of these Facilities could make your life easier.

7. Features

The modern Electric scooter are loaded with tech & features but it’s important to check that whether your scooter has these features includes Digital display, Bluetooth connectivity, Charging port, boot space, Riding modes and Navigation, apart from these some scooters like Ola S1 also offers a External Speakers and Ather 450X has Reverse Gear and many more. So if you are a tech guy and like to have more features, you’ll definitely love Electric scooters.

8. Charging Infrastructure

All Electric scooters get a charger along with a scooter so that you can charge from your home, but they are not as fast as public chargers. So you should look at the availability of Public chargers around you, also check whether your scooter supports third-party chargers, which could make your charging process a lot easier. If there’s not enough charging stations around you, then You need a scooter with enough range to take you to your destination without stopping.