I am unsure whether I tested the “new” flavour of Elecscoot 4 or the “old” flavour.

Let me explain:

The “new” bike has battery management. The test bike had this. The “old” bike was hub drive not “belt drive”. The test bike was hub drive.

Anyway, lets not get bogged down in the detail. The first and most striking thing was that the E4 was how very very fast it goes. I had a brand new bike with only a few K’s on the clock. This means that even though I tested it for a few days, it still won’t be “run in”.

In theory after a week or so, once the battery is conditioned. It will accelerate faster and get a longer range and a higher top speed. I only had the bike 3 days so I didn’t have time to condition it.

The battery management was very protective of the new battery and wouldn’t let me have full acceleration. Despite this the E4 was faster off the mark than the majority of scooters in the 50 – 125cc range. The mid range torque meant it would out-grunt 250cc machines with ease. This is a good and bad thing, good because I got to work 10mins quicker than with any other electric scooter. Bad because it is extremely easy to reach speeds that are a) illegal, and b) dangerous. So novice riders beware, even though this is a 50cc equivalent bike. The performance is far greater. Make sure if you ride the E4 you have the correct training, or you will get distracted, look down and you are going over 50mph towards your demise.

Scary part over, in the hands of an experienced rider the E4 makes light work of commuting and has much better low speed control than some of the smaller electric scooters. Despite being a “maxi scooter” the bars are narrow enough to let you filter as if you were on a normal sized scooter.

I found while riding the E4 that I was riding with the “big” bikes and leaving the scooters behind. The real change was the mid-range pull of the 4000w motor. I found that I could easily keep up with riders on 500-1000cc bikes if they were not accelerating too hard. Try doing that on a 50cc petrol scooter.

As I said with the Elecscoot 3, the future is here. The E4 is a technological wonder and really shows up the petrol powered bikes. Going back to my petrol scooter after the E1 and E2 was like having a rocket powered cushion strapped to my behind. After the E4 it was rattly, vibrating, slow and agricultural in comparison.

The E4 was also the only bike where astounded riders would pull up next to me (having been overtaken) and ask “is that electric?”. I rubbed it in a bit more by telling them it was a 50cc and cost £69 a year in fuel.

As a reviewer I was a bit upset that while whizzing about on the E4 was fun, I didn’t get it for long enough to give it a range test or condition the battery. I did however take it to the A3 (a 3 lane road in south London famed for speed cameras). While I was there I managed a good 45-53mph (depending on hills etc) cruising speed, and I’m sure that a conditioned bike would do better. It also showed the E4′s potential to replace your car in a way no other 50cc commuter could. Cruising along at 50mph in the fast lane of what is a motorway without the name (the A3). I realised that this was as fast as my car, but would be even faster through the traffic once off the A3.

This is where the E4 comes into it’s own. In town it is king of the scooters, for commuting. So it is only fitting to say it is the emperor of suburbia. Around suburban London, the bike flies, zipping through traffic and overtaking (where extra lanes and speed limits allow) any cars.

It left me in no doubt that if I was to use it everyday, it could be my commute bike for the week and get me to my parents / mates places in Surrey on the weekend (much faster than a car).

If you are considering buying an E4, I would give it my personal recommendation. even If it turns out I tested an “old” one, it was excellent and in a different league from similar petrol machines. My only sadness was that I had to give it back. I will be requesting an E3 or E4 as a long term test bike from Elecscoot, they may be persuaded if it will answer potential buyers questions, so please comment if you support this idea.

If you feel I have missed anything from the reviews of the E1-E4, please comment and I will be happy to answer your questions. The future is here, dump the petrol-powered lawnmower with handlebars and get a real bike.

Ladies and gentlemen, get out your chequebooks the future is finally here!

Lets have a quick recap before I give away the figures:

• Elecscoot 1 – Claimed range 40 miles. Range achieved during commute test – 29 miles
• Elecscoot 2 – Claimed range 40 miles. Range achieved during commute test- 21 miles

The above bikes did well and don’t forget how little they cost and how they use regular battery technology (none of this fancy lithium stuff). So now, lets see how the lithium battery powered Elecscoot 3 fared.

• Claimed range – Upto 30 miles.
• Range achieved during commute test… A whopping 24 miles. Finally a bike which can meet its paper targets on the road.

For those of you who are still wondering, 24 miles in the worst traffic imaginable, out of a claimed 30 is fantastic. The lithium batteries are so fast to charge (2 hrs) and so light that I wouldn’t be surprised that if you were to take it gently on suburban roads, away from traffic you could achieve over 30 miles from an Elecscoot 3. Lets not forget that the test bike hasn’t even got the regenerative braking option, and is the smaller 20Ah version. With the 40AH bike and regenerative braking (on either bike) even more miles are possible.

Congratulations Elecscoot, this bike is easy to use, rides well and is the best green transport by far. Based on this test alone, If I was not a lowly trainee (with courses to pay for) I would be getting my own wallet out and buying myself the 40ah version with regenerative braking as an extra. Using the 40AH bike I think 90% of my riding and driving could be done with zero emissions. Think about it, when do you go over 50miles in daily life in one trip?

As for the rest of you, what are you waiting for. The Elecscoot 3 proves that there are zero emissions vehicles out there which are affordable and “do what they say on the tin”.

The bike itself works very well indeed, I will quickly summarise what made me conclude this so early on:

• Speed – With a quoted top speed of 30mph I wasn’t expecting much. However, the speedometer on this bike is spot-on accurate (I know I’ve tested it) and it will actually reach speeds in excess of 30mph quite easily. I expect it to reach 35 or higher once run in, this brings it into Vespa 50cc territory. The acceleration gets you off the lights faster than the traffic, but not a viciously as a petrol 50cc would. Despite this the Elecscoot 3 did out accelerate all the Aprilla Havana 50cc bikes I came accross and overtook some unbranded Chinese petrol 50cc bikes on a long straight.
• Technology - The battery on this bike is removable (although that still didn’t persuade my work to let me charge it there) and charges in a lightning fast 2 hours. To put it in perspective, the Elecscoot 3 charges faster than my laptop, mobile or ipod. Today, as part of the conditioning process I gave it a top up while I shopped for snowboard bindings. It is a true, “have a coffee and it’s ready again”, charge time. This technology means that you don’t need a massive range, and the associated heavier batteries. You can get home from a long commute from work, have dinner and go another 20 – 30 (claimed) miles.

My conclusions from the first day are that this is a good clean way to get around the city. It makes my slightly faster petrol bike look old school and expensive to run. Also if you are looking at Electric Scooters buy lithium. You will save so much time charging your bike, and the batteries are much much lighter.

For now this is all I will say. the Elecscoot 3‘s batteries are almost conditioned now and I will be carrying out a range test tomorrow.

Being a “generation 2″ scooter it has the lighter lithium batteries and a faster recharge time (around 2 hours). It also has a more powerful motor than the last test bike.

The bottom line as quoted by many a motoring reviewer (including UK and Australian Top Gear), is that once electric vehicles are faster than petrol vehicles, the general public will accept them as the future.

After the initial running in period, I will review the Elecscoot 3 for a week and then switching to the Elecscoot 4 next weekend. I am hoping that these will be the bikes to convert the petrol riders of London. Riding slower than most bikes and being occasionally bullied by angry folk on the gen 1 machines (notably the Ego as stated by commenters elsewhere on this blog) has put off petrol bike riders, and made electric scooters too big a step for train commuters looking to save money. I’m hoping that the high tech bikes will show petrol machines up as slow, outdated and dirty.

I reached this conclusion as I saw one of London’s growing fleet of electric trucks, a real life, full sized lorry, powered by electricity. This thing accelerated away from the lights faster than everything else despite it’s size. Following the truck were taxis and buses travelling slower and belching out diesel smoke.

Hopefully I have seen the future and will soon be riding it. Watch this space.

Now that the budget end of the range, the first generation or “gen 1″ bikes have been tested, it’s time to move on to the high tech stuff.  The gen 2 machines have lithium batteries, longer ranges, regenerative braking and a whole host of fancy electronics to help you stick it to the petrol bikes.

As soon as the E3 arrives I will be putting it through it’s paces. I will also be getting a chance to ride the E4. Some manufacturers have bikes similar to the “old” E4 for sale for around £4000 but the gen 2 E4 from Elecscoot looks to be a far better bike for the same price.

On a different note, I apologise for not getting a “buyers guide” together sooner. The consumer law around vehicles is more complex than I thought. I have had the opportunity to speak to some importers and the general view is that there are a few rogue machines (mostly gen1) that will need a bit of attention. So the advice is still to go to the manufacturer / supplier first. That way you can rule out any known issues. If your problem is a new one, an over reading speedo for instance. They will probably carry the parts to fix that too.

• Commute test - Central London traffic. Scooter loaded up with spare waterproofs, charger, charging lead and big lock. Headlamp on. Riding style, normal.
• Long distance test – Surrey A road loop (16miles). No traffic and open roads. Top speed all the way. Scooter loaded as above. Headlamp on. Normal riding style.

In the commute test I got to 21 miles in horrible traffic. Until the battery protection “cut out” activated. You can still ride a bit further and fight the battery protection, but it’s not advisable, fun or safe.

The long distance test gave me 24 miles of top speed (30 something mph) cruising. I think more would have been achievable if today didn’t have gusty winds and rain to contend with.

So, the verdict is at least a 12% improvement in mileage if you ride out of town. If you were to ride more conservatively and remove some weight / turn off the headlamp. You could achieve more.

You may have noticed this is not near the 40 miles range quoted by Elecscoot. This is because it is my aim to get below claimed mileage, and make it as hard for the bike as possible. As stated above, better riding technique / lower speed would improve things.

In my mind, this means I can think “oooh I’m going 20 miles today, rain / shine / hills / nighttime / whatever. I know my Electric Scooter will get me there with some miles to spare”.

I will also find a huge long road and do a cruising test, taking the E2 up to top speed for as long as possible. this will give a fair representation of the range likely to be achieved by most users.

Steve, you are not in any way barred from the discussion, but please bear in mind this is a review site. I have very little time to help people with consumer issues (many comments are not allowed due to them being about bikes I have not yet tested). Please approach Elecscoot directly with your issue, but by all means get back to me when you are done.

Andy, I believe your issues with the Elecscoot 2 you received (originally commented here), have been resolved. After mentioning your disappointment to Elecscoot, I have been told that your bike was the first E2 to go out and there was an initial spec error. Elecscoot offered the following explanation of the situation:

“We weren’t aware of the spec [change] until he rang us, as his was the first to go out. We immediately changed the website details. He wanted to keep the scooter so we offered him some money back for the inconvenience, and we also are replacing the “H” stand free of charge.”

The new Elecscoot 2 that is on it’s way, is also promised to be the 60v 3000w version you and Elecscoot ordered originally. I must say at this point that the 48v 1500w does a good job, and the new bike sounds great.

So guys and gals, please by all means comment on the reviews but please keep it relevant to the bike being tested and only vent your frustration if you have exhausted other avenues of redress. Manufacturers / suppliers / importers don’t want you to be unhappy. As you can see by how Elecscoot have handled Andy’s issues, this technology is new and if you need help they are willing to give it to you. It is in the interest of the supplier to make sure the scooters are as good as possible for the money and their customers are happy. Just look at www.newride.org.uk to see how competitive this market is becoming.

In response to the issues some are having, I will be setting up a buyers / owners guide this weekend for all those who have grievances or are worried by the problems of others.

I was so shocked by what I saw this morning, I have published the onboard footage incase you don’t believe me.

So there you have it, don’t rely on technology to get you to work. Haul your lardy frame from the bus seat and get on a bike.

I have had a few worries, but have been reassured by the Elecscoot boys that they are not a long term issue. Firstly I am finding the advertised top speed of 40mph elusive (which is academic in London traffic anyway) and secondly, the range I have been achieving has given me cause for concern. Nevertheless, I have been told that both these issues are part of a “conditioning” period for the E2‘s batteries. So no more can be said until I’ve put a few more charges in it.

I was a bit worried that I was going to suffer the same problems as Andy who commented on this post and is having a bit of a hard time loving his E2. Andy please get back in touch and let us know how you are getting on with your Elecscoot 2.

My worries stemmed from the fact that I have been finding my test E2 likes sitting at about 36 on the speedo. The problem with this is that I have a non-standard speedo fitted to the test bike (i.e not the speedo that comes on your new E2) and it is known to over-read a little. By my rough workings out, I’m seeing a real world 32ish, not quite the advertised 40mph.

Now the doom and gloom is over with lets focus on the sunny side of the E2.

The bike is very good looking and doesn’t feel slow to ride. Whatever “real world” speed I am getting, this is adequate for my commute and the range gets me from home to work and back (approx 18miles) with a tiny bit left over (This should improve  with time). The wide bars are not tiring to ride, and save you from the embarrassment of bad filtering where riders commit to a gap (using bad judgment) and find themselves sandwiched between vehicles.

Today I came across one of the bread and butter bikes of London, everyone’s favourite, the Vespa. The particular one I met was of the 50cc flavour and the 2 stroke “speedy” variety (see video below) The E2 didn’t out-pace this super nippy commuter, but costing over £300 less and putting out no nasty emissions. I can’t say I would choose the Vespa if it was my own money. I can also guarantee, the Vespa rider got to work just as fast as I did on the E2. As you will see below, the way to blur out numberplates is to upload to youtube, the quality does the rest:

To conclude today’s EV based ramble, I will be in search of the magical 40mph after a few charges, but otherwise all is well and the little E2 is proving itself to be a far better commuter than the 48v E1.