Scooter Info

There are various electric vehicles called "Electric Scooters". One is the "Mobility Scooter" which is basically an electric wheelchair. There is also the kids "Electric Scooter" which is a skateboard with a handle and an electric motor. Similarly there are "electric bikes" that are basically a bike with an electric motor. However, those are not the vehicles discussed here. Here we are interested in electric vehicles that are more like a moped or Vespa style scooter - that have a long seat and a platform to rest your feet.

Stated Performance

Manufacturers will give you numbers on how far and how fast their scooters will go, but these should not be used to compare scooters since they can be very different from each other (and from reality).

Speed

The main factor that will determine the top speed of a scooter is the size of the motor (in watts) and the voltage of the battery. Of course hills and wind and the size of the rider will also affect the top speed as well. However, on level ground with no wind and a 150 pound rider, here is the speed you can expect after 10 seconds of full acceleration:

Watts Voltage Speed
600w 48v 20 mph
1500 48v 25 mph
2200 60v 30 mph
3000 60v 35 mph

 

Range

When manufacturers figure how far their scooter can go on a charge, they often test it at 15-20mph on flat ground with no stops and a small rider. Others will try to determine a more real-world range with a normal number of stops and normal riding habits and medium sized rider. These methods will produce very different numbers for the maximum range, even for the same scooter!

However, for a given riding style how far the scooter can go on one charge is really determined by how much power the batteries hold. This can be calculated by multiplying the voltage (v) and the amp-hours (ah) to get the watt-hours (Wh). A typical scooter uses about 75Wh to go one mile.  So here is the range you can expect for different battery configurations:

Voltage Amp-Hours Watt-Hours
 Range
48v 26Ah 1248Wh 17 miles
48v 50Ah 2400Wh 32 miles
60v 36Ah 2200Wh 29 miles
60v (Lithium) 40Ah 2400Wh 48 miles

 

Note: on the last entry, a lithium battery was included (the rest were sealed lead-acid). Lithium batteries provide about 50% more range for the same power and also weigh less than half as much, which will also increase the range. However, lithium batteries are still very expensive and not commonly used in scooters.

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Revised on September 14, 2007 12:56:57 by Max Dunn (69.226.252.210)