5 things to consider when buying your first electric scooter, bike

So it's World Environment Day and you’ve made up your mind to do your part by buying your first electric two-wheeler. Or perhaps you simply cannot stomach the fact that our exorbitant fuel never really came down after the pandemic. Either way, there are plenty of good reasons to buy your first EV, but there are also some important factors you need to consider before taking the leap.

1. Make sure you can charge it easily

Perhaps the most important aspect of EV ownership is to ensure that you can easily charge the vehicle. This can be challenging in cities like Mumbai where parking space itself is at a premium. Even if you do have the luxury of covered parking, be advised that some societies may not permit you to run a powerline down to your parking space, so it is best to be sure about that before making a purchase. 

Companies like Ather and Ola offer public fast charging and others have promised it. However, it would be wise to consider this only for occasional use rather than relying on it to charge your scooter. These services may be free now, but that won’t last forever and they will also get quite crowded as the number of EVs on the road goes up. 

Many EVs also offer removable batteries, so you might be tempted into thinking that you could simply take the battery up into your apartment to charge it. Again, this is something best saved for occasional use. That’s because such batteries are quite heavy and can weigh anything from 7kg to 25kg, based on the various scooters we have tested so far. Hauling such a heavy battery around is doable on an occasional basis, but to do so every day can become very tedious.

2. Consider the other advantages of an EV

For most people, the two big attractions with buying an EV are the lower running costs and lower emissions. However, there is much more that makes a (well-made) EV appealing. Essentially, they’re more pleasant to ride than their petrol counterparts within the city. The silence and complete lack of vibration is something that you will quickly grow to love in the crowds and chaos of our big cities. 

Most of all though, the effortless torque is an addictive experience. Even when compared with a peppy 125cc automatic scooter, the strong mid-range performance of an EV makes carving through city traffic an absolute pleasure. After spending some time on a good EV, most petrol-powered scooters will feel loud, rough, sluggish and outdated. 

3. Consider how much range you actually need

After being accustomed to petrol vehicles that can be refilled almost immediately – and almost anywhere – the idea of a limited range on an EV caren certainly cause some anxiety. Having lived with quite a few EVs now, we can tell you that once you get accustomed to it, the anxiety factor reduces significantly. 

What helps is to consider how much running you actually do on a regular basis. It would be wise to get an EV that can cover this distance with ease, while leaving a generous buffer for any extra short trips that may occasionally come up. For example, if your daily round trip to work and back is 40km, a scooter that has a real-world range of 60-70km is more than sufficient. Be careful not to confuse this with claimed IDC range figures and look for the more realistic figures that you will find mentioned in our road test reviews. 

With the FAME-2 subsidy having recently been scaled back, scooters that pack a bigger battery have become significantly more expensive, so this is one area where exercising some carefully calculated restraint can save you a lot of money.

4. Understand how much you will actually save

If your primary motivation behind buying an EV is to save money, it's worth doing a rough calculation to see how long it will take to break even. This calculation needs to be done based on the electricity rates and fuel costs in your region, as well as what your average daily running will be. 

EV service costs are relatively negligible, and it will cost you vastly less to ‘fuel’ your EV, but the initial buy-in price is much higher when compared with a similarly capable petrol-powered scooter. This holds especially true after the FAME-2 subsidy cut-back. For example, if you were to compare the prices of the base TVS iQube (Rs 1.25 lakh, on road, Mumbai) vs the base Suzuki Access 125 (Rs 1.03 lakh, on road, Mumbai), you will end up spending a lot more for the initial purchase. 

As for the common concern about how many years your battery will last, it is somewhat of an unknown at the moment as two-wheeler EVs have not been on the road for that many years. However, going by current data, you can expect a lifetime of about seven years if not more from the reputed products on the market. We did a comprehensive story on this that you can read about here. Essentially, if you buy from a reputable company you can safely expect a long life. Which brings us neatly to the last point.

5. Buy from a proven, reputed company 

The Indian EV market has been flooded with dozens of players over the past few years thanks to the juicy benefits of the FAME-2 subsidy. Unfortunately, a vast majority of those products were Chinese-origin, low-cost, low-quality and low-performance machines that were not designed with our tough conditions in mind. With the potential phasing out of the FAME 2 subsidy, expect to see most of these players (at least in the high-speed segment) start to fade away. 

As always, we recommend buying a good quality product from any of the leading manufacturers out there currently, including the likes of Ather, Bajaj, TVS and Vida. By doing so, you not only get a strong performing product but also one that has been rigorously tested and developed to perform well and last a long time. You will end up paying more, but it will be worthwhile in the long run.