Ampere Nexus ST road test, review

The Nexus features three riding modes: Eco, City and Power. The throttle response is smooth across all modes, ensuring a predictable ride without jerky acceleration. However, it is a bit too dull and reserved up to about 25kph even in City and Power modes. In my experience, these two modes struck a good balance, and I’d often oscillate between them on my commutes. On the other hand, Eco mode is very slow and is best reserved for extreme bumper-to-bumper traffic or to get home on a low battery. For reference, in Eco mode, the Nexus takes over 12 seconds to reach 40kph, whereas the TVS iQube takes a mere 4.63 seconds to do the same.

In our tests, the Nexus performed adequately, with a 0-60kph time of 12.98 seconds in Power mode, which makes it one of the slower scooters in its segment. It features a 3kWh LFP battery and sports a peak motor output of 4kW. The Nexus has a certified range of 136km, but in our tests, we managed to extract just under 100km, which is around 10 percent lower than similarly priced rivals with similarly sized batteries.

In City and Power modes, you can expect a range of about 50km and 70km, respectively. Once the battery drops to 10 percent, the Nexus goes into limp mode, which severely limits performance. The Nexus’ braking performance is decent, and the combi braking system works well. However, the brakes require a firm pull and could do with better feedback. In our tests, the Nexus managed to come to a halt from 60kph in 22.04m. For reference, the popular TVS iQube managed to do the same in just 19.71m.