I am looking for an electric scooter to ride to and from 3.5 miles to my work 5/6 days per week. It is mostly flat no hills to speak of. I weigh approx 170 lbs. I would like to keep the time as close to 15 minutes as possible. Also are there advantages to being able to free wheel down inclines to save power if so are there an appropriate scooters that free wheel or would that be a mod?
thanks for yr time and consideration,
Peter
You don't tell about weather? Down under? or Europe or even North America? Can you charge at work? What cruising speed do you have to maintain? As for free wheeling! Most scooter seem to do that. Maybe a C-130 or VX-1 may be the only exception giving regen. After a year of riding I wore out my batteries on XM-3000 and now I am using two XM-3100's and now the charger went south on both of them. One the controller went too and the other never got around to replacing speedometer assembly cluster.
I feel no real savings in GAS / repair cost. I just seem to trade GAS prices for trouble shooting. I used to get 9 to 10 miles one way and charge at work place. Now my best range is 5 miles and into yellow LED clicking over to red. If you need to maintain 30 MPH get a 2000 Watt motor or larger but 750 Watt motor will maybe push 20 MPH or slightly more.
KB1UKU
I am east coast USA only riding Spring Summer and into Fall. Yes I can charge at work. I would need to maintain 13-15 mph min. 18-20 mph would work fine too.
Peter
I may be stating the obvious - but y'all are talking about completely different kinds of scooters. A 15 miles/hr scooter is a completely different animal from the Vectrix VX-1 or CuMoCo C-130.
A recommendation in the 15 mile/hr scooter category is the Go-Ped ESR750H or Currie e-Zip E750 and there's a Schwinn scooter that's also designed by Currie. Both are by reputable manufacturers and decent quality. I think the Go-Ped is light and small enough to carry onto a bus or train. Are these the kind of scooter you're thinking of?
Also have you thought about bicycles (electric or otherwise)?
- David Herron, The Long Tail Pipe, davidherron.com, 7gen.com, What is Reiki
I would say the first step is check city, county, state laws regarding the type scooter you are thinking of. An "electric assisted bicycle" might be legal, but a stand (skateboard) or sitdown scooter might might not be legal in some areas for road use. If licensing isnt a problem, I'd recommend a larger scooter, as that might give you more road choices for use, and more power to avoid bad drivers (or fast running dogs) In the Electric bicycle range of scooters, b e w a r e! Many online dealers are just drop shippers and you will have near zero tech/repair support from them. To my knowledge, there is not one American Made e-bike out there. Most are made in China. Some builders are reputable, some are NOT. With a drop shipper, when you open the carton, that is exactly how it left China, plus any rough handling it may have encountered on the way. If they claim to have a brick and mortar store, ask for pics of the store, and the street address, use google maps to try to verify there is a visible sign in front of the place. DO NOT take a store website's word that an ebike or scooter is legal in your area, and dont believe it if they point to HR 727 as the final word. That only establishes a Minimum federal law, which allows State or local laws to be more restrictive. Some of these places will go so far as to sell scooters with never mounting the pedals, (since most people dont use them) despite the legal requirement for them to be functional. (that means a quarter mile on flat test track capable) Usually they wont mount them because they wont stay on. (Do NOT buy from a place like that!) I have a scooter like this, and need to machine a quality spindle, and crankset for it before i can use it, rediculous for a $1250 investment! In the meantime my Currie Ezip Trails is serving me nicely.