THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO BUYING AN E-SCOOTER
This Guide to Buying an e-scooter will advice you on how to choose the best electric scooter you can get in the market. Features of interest are motors, IP rating, wheels among many
With so many choices and factors to consider, purchasing an electric scooter can be a daunting task. You can easily purchase an electric scooter for $400 but it can cost as much as $3,000. Many dubious websites feature “reviews” from people who’ve never even touched a scooter before. Electric scooters come in a wide range of styles, features, origins, and even customer support, as you’ll discover in this guide to buying an e-scooter.
Our guide to buying an e-scooter covers factors to consider when shopping for an electric scooter. Such factors include the range, battery, motor suspension, water resistance among others. More and more people are buying e-scooter.
Making a decision about a vehicle depends on several factors, including speed, size, weight, range, reliability, and cost. Our guide explains all the things you need to consider when purchasing an e-scooter.
This article contains the following topics, feel free to select one of the heading links to jump to the most relevant area for you:
What to look for when buying an electric scooter ~ guide to buying an e-scooter.
Quality of ride
It is super important to have a smooth ride, but the degree to which it is important will depend on your own preferences. Numerous factors determine the ride quality, including wheel type, size, suspension, the weight of the scooter, the size of the deck, and handlebar width and stem.
The tyres and suspension play a major role in ride quality.
You must ride in the right place and on the right surface. Solid tyres and no suspension are fine for scooters that are used for light commuting on paths. You should, however, use pneumatic tyres and suspension on a scooter if it is going to be used off road.
Last but not least, your weight is an important factor. Larger people, those who weigh more, need scooters with softer tires and suspension. For stability, a wider deck is also more important.
Also read : best electric scooters with seats for adults
Battery
Manufacturers exaggerate their estimated battery capacity, which is one of the most confusing & exaggerated statistics. Several real-life variables play an enormous role in determining a scooter’s range, so it’s practically impossible to predict how many miles it will travel. It is vital that weight, height, headwind, terrain (hills), and how much starting and stopping you do are taken into account when calculating the rider’s overall performance.
In some cases, the battery capacity rating of the scooter is misleading. The size of most batteries is expressed in amp-hours, or Ah. This information is useless without knowing the battery pack’s nominal voltage as well. The capacity Watt-hours is derived by multiplying these two numbers together (Wh = Ah x Volts). According to MiniMotorr`s Dualtron Thunder website, the battery sizes quoted are shown in Watt-hours. This would make the claim more honest/transparent.
Motor power & hill climb ability
It is important to choose an electric scooter with a minimum power output of 250 watts. This will be enough to get you from point A to point B on flat ground and over small hills. If you live in an area with a lot of hills, a scooter with dual motors will be more practical than a scooter with a single motor.
You will slow down even with a 500-watt motor going up a steep hill. With scooters such as the Uberscoot 1000W, hills are no problem at all.
Tires
Solid tires
It is no mystery why they’re called solid tyres – they’re made of rubber throughout, from the tread to the rim of the motor. A pneumatic tyre, however, is an air filled tyre. They come in two variations – tubeless or with an inner tube.
In general, solid-tyred scooters are used for slower, budget electric scooters with smaller wheels (usually between 6 and 8 inches). Unlike other materials, they are impervious to punctures and last a very long time. Nevertheless, these materials are very hard. With no suspension and no tyre impact absorption, the ride quality of your scooter will be harsher. Bumps, stones, uneven road surfaces, and uneven paths will be felt more.
A ride on solid rubber tyres is generally more difficult than on pneumatic rubber. You may find it exhausting to ride a scooter if you commute a couple of miles each day on uneven surfaces. Furthermore, solid rubber tyres do not provide as much traction in the rain. Due to their rigidity with less tread depth, they do not provide as much traction. An example a scooter with solid tires is the Razor E-90 Core.
Pneumatic tires
Electric scooters usually have pneumatic tires that offer a smoother ride than other types. Pneumatic tires are filled with air, which means there is more “give” in the tyre, which makes them more able to absorb impacts, stones, and uneven surfaces. Motor hubs typically measure 8″ – 13″ inches on average when these tyres are used. In general, pneumatic tyres provide a better grip and can be used off-road as well. On-road air filled tyres for E scooters are available (low tread profile) and off-road air filled tyres for E scooters, called “knobbly tyres” for maximum traction on grass and mud.
You’ll find solid rubber tyres on most low powered scooters (250w-500w) if you’re looking for a basic scooter for commuting. You’ll typically experience a rougher ride. You shouldn’t have any problems commuting on smooth paths.
You can buy a scooter with air-filled tyres if you’re a commuter looking for something to use both on and off road. Solid tyres are an option, but the scooter would need suspension to compensate for them.
When you want a powerful scooter with larger air filled tyres, go for a scooter with 11-inch air filled tyres if you’re a speed freak.
The scooter with air filled knobbly tyres will fit your needs if you love off-roading. A tubeless tire would be ideal, since its rubber wall would be thicker, allowing it to resist punctures more easily.
Choose a scooter with air filled tyres over solid tyres if you are looking for a “good ride” throughout
Water-resistance
If you want to to preserve your e-scooter and use it for a long time, you ought to understand IP rating or water resistant rating. Water destroys motors and other electric components.
There are e-scooters that can survive in water for a considerable amount of time and other that cannot. IP rating should tell you should survive and which will not.
Suspension
Adding suspension to an electric scooter will help to improve ride quality significantly. With suspension, you can effectively handle road / off road surfaces that are rough and uneven. A suspension system absorbs shocks and prevents them from transferring to other areas of the scooter.
Some cheaper electric scooters feature suspension (albeit in a limited manner). However, suspension is common on higher end, more powerful electric scooters.
The ride quality of your scooter will be compromised if it doesn’t have suspension.
Scooters come with a variety of different suspension systems, depending on what type you purchase.
Adding a suspension system to your e-scooter significantly improves your ride quality & durability. Since not all e-scooters have suspension, we have gathered a list of e-scooters with suspension here for you.
e-scooter with No Suspension
There is no suspension on most budget scooters. Therefore, a scooter without suspension is likely to provide a much poorer ride quality than one with suspension. While this may seem counterintuitive, it’s not. In areas with good pavement/roads/byways, you should use your scooter even when it does not have suspension. You probably won’t need it.
Nevertheless, ALL types of road/path/pavement defects are uncomfortable to ride on. You may not be able to use your scooter outside of the city centre if it does not have suspension and has solid tyres.
Scooter With Suspension
Suspension may significantly improve your scooter’s ride quality. You will notice a significant improvement in ride quality after installing suspension. There are many reasons to choose scooters with suspension over those without. For example, if you’re interested in finding a scooter that does it all well Invest in a scooter with suspension.
You should always choose an electric scooter with front and rear suspensions if you want one with suspension.
Electric scooters come with a variety of suspension types, including springs, rubber cartridges, and gas or air suspensions.
The type of suspension you need for your scooter depends on what you plan to do with it.
Kaabo Wolf Warrior and Dualtron Ultra 2 are off-road electric scooters with quality suspension (largely spring suspension). Dualtron 2’s Rubber Cartridge Suspension System provides superior dampening settings adjustment flexibility.
Normally, road scooters are equipped with a combination of gas, spring, and air suspension.
Gas-assisted scooters, such as the Weped SST, offer a more comfortable ride while providing adequate shock absorption.
Maximum load
The maximum load an e-scooter can carry is a very important you should consider. This e-scooter guide we shall discuss while this is important.
First, the maximum weight is put in place to protect your motor. Motors has limited torque capacity. Exceeding the weight will either destroy your motor or you scooter will not move.
Secondly, you may be above average weight. A scooter with less weight capability will not serve you well. It will fail after a short time. It will also destroy your battery. Here is a list for you of e-scooters for heavy adults.
Range
You can travel a certain distance on a single charge depending on your scooter’s battery capacity and where you plan to ride.
If you’re only going to be driving short distances, a smaller, less costly battery will be better for your needs. You may want a larger battery if, however, you plan on riding for hours without recharging, or your route includes a lot of hills.
You will usually be able to travel longer on a single battery charge if you use the throttle in short bursts and use a slower speed mode (most scooters have multiple speed settings).
Speed
Electric scooters typically have top speeds of 15 mph, which for many is more than enough to get the buzz and make you smile – trust us, riding a scooter at 15mph is more fun than cruising at 15 mph in a car!
Others can reach up to about 18mph, but if you would really like to feel the wind against your cheeks, some models can reach up to 40mph.
Having said that, it’s important to keep in mind that riding a machine at that speed with wheels that small can be extremely dangerous. If you are driving at those speeds, it is easy to lose control or come off uneven ground.
Additionally, you should remember that the fastest electric scooters require bigger batteries and more powerful motors, which are typically much more expensive.
You can determine your e-scooter’s speed by controlling how fast it is powered, how much weight you are, how much pressure is in the tyres, and the terrain on which you ride.
According to manufacturers, electric scooter speeds are generally based on 70kg riders using a smooth, flat surface with properly inflated tyres. Electric scooter top speeds can get people a little hung up, but we generally advise against chasing maximum speed. You should aim for a speed of around 15mph. As a comparison, the average walking speed in London is four miles per hour, the average car travel speed is seven miles per hour, and the average commuter cycling speed is 14 miles per hour.
Please wear a helmet whenever you ride your scooter. Despite the safety of e-scooters, they can still cause accidents.
Brake
Typically, e-scooters have three different types of brakes. Considering the importance of what they do, you should take the time to consider the best option you can afford.
A lower-end model may come with a friction mounted on rear mudguard that you can operate by pushing down on it. Some readers, especially younger ones, may be used to these from pushing scooters, but others may take a little practice. Even so, you have to learn how to effectively use them if you want them to be useful.
Next best on a budget are drum brakes. Despite their limited stopping power, they can deliver consistent performance regardless of the weather or conditions. They require little maintenance and are enclosed within the wheel hub.
While disc brakes are generally more expensive, they are also lighter and more effective than drum brakes. You will also have more range or power if you opt for disc brakes.
As your e-scooter brakes, regenerative braking systems turn some of the energy into electric power, increasing its range. This braking methods, however, can be more expensive and less efficient in emergency situations.
Reliability
The peak power output of an electric scooter motor is higher than its average power output. As the wattage of your motor increases, so does its ability to accelerate and climb hills.
A typical budget e-scooter starts at 250 watts and is capable of reaching 15 mph. If you weigh over 80 kilograms, these models will struggle to reach their top speed and may not be able to climb hills. Scooters such as MotoTec e-scooters have motors that are more than 1000W.
If you are larger than average and will regularly climb hills, we recommend upgrading to a model that has a rating of at least 350 Watts. From there, you might want to consider going even higher.
Lights
It is essential that you have sufficient lighting on your e-scooter for safety reasons. The best scooters come with great lights built right in, but you can always purchase additional lights for your e-scooter. When riding in the dark, both front and rear lights are a necessity. In addition to its high-brightness LED headlights, the NanRobot D6+ also features LED taillights.
Size & weight
Since e-scooters are harder to tether and leave in public places than a bike, you are more likely to carry your e-scooter around with you.
Therefore, you must consider the scooter’s weight, which will not only be determined by the battery size, but also by its size. In addition, you should ask whether the handlebars can fold up to make it easier to store.
The average weight of an e-scooter is 8-15kg. In terms of size, the former can be compared with a bowling ball, while the latter is almost twice that size, and heavy enough to be uncomfortable for most people.
Warranty
It’s important to be careful when buying e-scooters from foreign companies, since there aren’t always guarantees you can trust. You can also buy cheap scooters on Amazon without warranty protection. A one-year warranty is included with Xiaomi M365 . If anything goes wrong with your scooter during the first few months, the supplier will send you a new one.
How to find an electric scooter for the best price
The retail price of your chosen e-scooter is just one of the many costs you should consider:
Funding is available
You can spread the payments on your chosen e-scooter over a period of time to make it more affordable.
Depending on the dealer, you might have a number of financing options to choose from. In the first six months, you can either split payments evenly over three equal payments or over three equal payments split evenly over three, six, twelve, or twenty-four months.
. Taxes on imports
There are companies that are currently quoting very low prices for e-scooters, but they fail to disclose the overall costs.
In some cases, customers have had to pay around 30% of their purchase price (in VAT and import taxes) before receiving the seemingly cheap e-scooter stuck in UK customs.
Postage
It is not always the case, but some reputable retailers offer free delivery. Postage can also be very expensive. Check the product pages carefully as postage is not always listed!
How much do electric scooters cost?
it won`t be fare to fail to cover the costs of an e-scooter in Our guide to buying an e-scooter. Electric scooters come at a variety of prices. The upper-tier scooters can be a bit expensive. they can cost up to $ 3000.
However, there are middle-tier and lower-tier scooters which can satisfactorily serve your needs. Perhaps you need the scooter as last mile commute or as a way to commute to work. When distance is short even the lower-tier scooters can serve you very well. Lower-tier e-scooter can cost as low as $ 350.
Where to buy an electric scooter?
You cannot exhaust places you can buy an e-scooter of whatever the size. The first and the most obvious choice is from the Amazon which is the largest retail market in the US. You can important if you are not from the US. For instance, you can check the specs and the price of the Gotrax e-scooter from their webpage by clicking this link. Amazon is reliable and you can always return the product if it is not satisfactory.
You may opt to the manufacturer`s website. For instance, you can buy any of the dualtron scooter model from the MiniMotors directly. This is one of the many manufacturers who sell their products directly to the consumers.
What should you avoid?
Obviously, you should avoid unbranded products. You should avoid buying replicas, clones, or anything without a brand. If you do, you will thing e-scooters are not worth it. It is possible that scooters that are unbranded are of inferior quality, are untested, or are unsafe to ride. Amazon and eBay are good places to find unbranded scooters – you can find listings where the branding is missing, or, where photos don’t reveal the brand clearly.
When it comes to unbranded scooters, it is ideal to stay away from them because you do not know if they are safe nor will they be able to be repaired if they break.
Also, if you don’t know much about electric scooters, avoid brands whose sole purpose is to add their logo to generic scooters. It might seem harmless, but many of the rebranded generic scooters do not undergo as much quality control as established companies.
Often, you will find the same scooter with different names while searching for an electric scooter – this is called “model hijacking”. While this does not necessarily mean that the scooter is bad, it does mean that if you run into troubles and the brand disappears, you are more at risk of having no one to turn to.
Best value electric scooters
Glion Dolly electric scooter
One of the best value electric scooters is the Glion dolly scooter. It is a middle-tier scooter and has impressive features. For instance, it has pneumatic wheels and also has suspension. Additionally, it also has the direct drive motor hub. This is an added advantage for an electric scooter. You can read more about Glion Dolly scooter in our review here.
Hiboy S2 electric scooter
Hiboy S2 scooter is another best value e-scooter you will find in the market. It has everything good you may ever need from an electric scooter. In our HiBoy scooter review, we saw that it has a large lithium-ion battery that gives range that can only be rival by few upper-tier scooter. It is a scooter you might consider buying for commuting large distances.
Electric scooters for adults
Gotrax XR ultra e-scooter
A scooter that is capable of handling a maximum weigh above 220 lbs. or 100 kg. It also has a regenerative braking, a feature which is missing in many scooters in the market. It is also an affordable scooter. You will not spend too much on this e-scooter and yet it will give you performance. You can read more about Gotrax XR in our review here.
Dualtron mini
Dualtron mini scooter is a middle-tier e-scooter. It is from the same company with the Dualtron Thunder. Though it is expensive, this scooter offers you undisputed performance. For example you can cover over 30 miles on single charge. You see, this is more than last mile commute scooter. Read more about dualtron mini in our review here.
Do electric scooters have resale value
The last thing to cover in Our guide to buying an e-scooter is the resale value. Depending on the model, you can expect to recover about 50-75% of the retail price by selling your old Electric Scooter. All you have to do is negotiate hard. If you’re smart, you’ll get a good deal. Buy another Electric Scooter that has better features with the money you save.
A pawn shop is the perfect place for you to pawn off your Electric Scooter if you don’t want to sell it. Taking your electric scooter to a pawn shop can help you get some emergency cash. As if you were selling your electric scooter, you get the same amount of money. That means 50-70% of its retail price is yours.