In the previous post I mentioned that I was looking to buy a new electric scooter. In this post I will list the scooters that I have shortlisted and the reasons for excluding some others.


I had a few requirements and chose my list based on that. The first requirement is that the cost of the vehicle should not exceed Rs. 1 lakh with some 10% tolerance. The number comes from my budget that I made before my early retirement. To make sure I don’t overspend after retirement, I have budgets for most things. It is similar to the Rs. 6 lakh budget I had for my car.


The next requirement is that the EV should have a minimum IDC range of 90 kms. That translates to about 72 kms real world range. What I found was that you get about 80% of IDC range in eco mode. But you would not drive in eco mode all the time right? So I assume another 80% on eco-mode range, which comes to about 60 kms. Our longest drive is 40 kms, but we need some buffer too. That accounts for any loss of range as battery ages and also we cannot expect to drive from 100% battery to 0%.


There are cases where we need the scooter to go at highway speeds, especially since the drive to our kid’s school involves using a brief stretch of highway. So the next criteria is that the scooter should be capable of reaching at least 60 kmph in any of the driving modes.


The next requirement was a long warranty on battery. Most vehicles are giving 3 year warranty, but I want 5 years at least with extended warranty and preferably 8 years.


As opposed to what most people prefer, I wanted a slow charger for two reasons. One, the battery life will be better with slow charging. Two, it won’t put too much load on my UPS + solar system. Of course I could always use a 15A plug (which is not connected to my UPS), but I want to be able to charge the scooter from my solar panels which are connected to my batteries and UPS.


Finally, the higher the battery capacity the better.


I have a few preferences, but not requirements – like a PMSM motor is preferred over a BLDC. An LFP battery is preferred over NMC because of more charge cycles and less risk of thermal runaway in LFP.


Other good to have features I would like are disc brakes, vacation mode or removable battery so I can reduce self discharge on long vacations, reverse mode, hill hold assist, USB charger, navigation, cruise control, charger network etc. But they don’t carry a lot of weight in the final decision.


There is one major problem I see with most electric scooters these days which is that many of the features are disabled unless a subscription or special pack is taken. For example, without Ather’s Pro Pack, many of the features such as ride modes, extended warranty, reverse mode, regenerative braking etc are all gone. I don’t need pretty much most of the features except for ride modes and extended warranty. As I mentioned before, we need to hit highway and if the speed is limited to 45 kmph it might not work well for us (will know more after a test drive). So, many of the EV prices will actually turn out to be more than the reported on-road price if I add the packs.


Anyway, I made the following table in a spreadsheet with the list of scooters I might test drive. I may add or delete some. But for now this is the list (in no particular order) based on all my requirements above and any additional details I was able to gather thus far.


Vehicle Price (ex show) Range (>90) Top speed (>60) Warranty on battery Charger power (W) Battery (kWh) Pros Cons
TVS Orbiter 104,900 158 68 3 years 650 3.1 hillhold - USB charger BLDC motor
Ather Rizta 113,181 123 80 3 years std - 8 years ex 350 2.9 accurate range - hillhold - reverse mode - disc brakes - charger network only eco mode without pro pack - pro pack extra 13000
Chetak 3503 109,500 151 63 3 years std - 5 years ex 750 3.5 hillhold - reverse mode only eco mode without tech pack - drum brakes - tech pack costs 3000 extra - BLDC motor
TVS iQube 101,735 94 75 3 years std - 5 years ex 650 2.2 accurate range - reverse mode - disc brakes BLDC motor
Hero Vida VX2 plus 104,980 142 80 3 years std - 5 years ex 580 3.4 reverse mode - disc brakes - charger network (ather)  
Hero Vida VX2 go 94,740 90 70 3 years std - 5 years ex 580 2.2 reverse mode - disc brakes - charger network (ather)  
Ampere magnus neo 81,999 90 65 5 years 650 2.3 LFP battery - reverse mode - USB charger BLDC motor


For the most part, you get what you pay for. Ather Rizta is currently my most favorite, but it is also the most expensive and that too the price is without pro pack. With pro pack it will be way over budget.


My second favorite is oddly Ampere Magnus Neo because it is the simplest (tech) of all of them while checking all the boxes that I care about. It is a no-nonsense – just a replacement of petrol scooter type – with almost no bells and whistles.


Third choice as of now is Hero Vida VX2 go given the price. Anyway, things might change once we actually do the test drive and get quotes from the dealers.