So you are thinking about buying an electric vehicle for your everyday commuting right? If you are not sure where to start we have created a list of ups and downs for each product category. Even if you already have some ideas in your mind you should read on. The question is: Electric bike, scooter or moped?
Regardless where you live, you can see exciting news about electric cars every day. However the infrastructure is not yet capable in most countries and depending on the governments it may be the case for the next few years. However you can still join the revolution of transportation without the requirement of charging stations. The light electric mobility solutions are more budget friendly and also offer lots of fun!
Electric scooters
Based on the standard kick scooters lots of manufacturers offer two-wheelers with electric drive. Simple but proven technologies are making it possible to be relible and affordable at the same time.
Electric scooters are a great choice if you are looking for the following features:
- Affordable price
- Low weight
- Low maintain costs
- Mainly used in urban enviroment
- Great portability and storage capability (You can easily take it with yourself to the office)
- You are living 5-10 kilometers from your workplace and use it for daily commuting
- You live in a big city far from your workplace, but you can easily hop on and off the bus whenever needed
- A foldable design makes it possible to keep it in your car or boat and take it out whenever you need to use it. You can park your car in the city outskirts and aproach the center by scooter.
- The narrow design also makes it a perfect choice for sight seeing in a crowded city.
Electric bicycles
Just as conventional bikes, the possiblities of electric bicycles are countless. Either you choose to buy a complete ebike, or you would like to build your own, there is a wide selection to choose from ranging from compact foldable bikes to full suspension mountain bikes.
Electric bikes is your choice if the following features are important for you:
- Usually higher price, especially when it comes to specific road and mountain bikes
- Moderate to high weight (ranging from around 14 kilograms to 28 kilograms)
- More complex configurations which means higher maintain costs
- Depending on type, they are suitable almost everywhere. Can be used in cities, long distance roads, uphill and downhill offroad tracks, etc.
- Big size compared to scooters (except bikes with folding design)
- Every day commuting between your home and workplace. Thanks to the electric drives its even comfortable if you live 20-30 kilometers away.
- Long distance rides on- and offroad. Good quality bikes from trusted manufacturers can usually take 80-120 kilometers with one charge.
- Just like a scooter, an electric bicycle with folding design can be packed in the car trunk without taking too much space and assambled whenever needed.
- Up and downhill rides in the hills. You can even explore places which would be almost impossible with conventional bikes.
Electric mopeds or scooters
I usually use the word moped because if you try to google electric scooter, you will 90% to find the small 2 wheeler. Maybe it is because they are mostly used in Asia and are not widely spread in the western countries.
Electric mopeds are in the same classification as regular fuel mopeds. You need a license and insurance to drive them and depending on the state and country you are mostly limited to use the road only.
Electric mopeds has the following features:
- High price. It's mostly depending on the brand and type, but it's easy to say that they are usually priced higher than the conventional mopeds
- High weight. Big battery packs and massive buildup means more kilograms
- Moderate to high maintain costs. Until the battery is okay, the same price can be expected as for a regular moped.
- They can be used in cities and for shorter road trips as well, however the size and restrictions are limiting the usability.
- Big size which means you can't fold or pack it.
- Every day commuting between your house and your workplace.
- Comfortable long distance rides. This depends on the maximum range of the moped.
- Usually the bigger body provides you with some extra space so you can easily do your day to day grocery shopping with it.
There is also an alternative category between scooters and mopeds, which we will cover in our next post.