The idea of electric scooters is to meet the requirements of a growing market, especially in the urban environment that requires short but frequent commutes through the congested city streets. It is targeted to replace cycling and walking with a less demanding yet exciting experience. You can easily daily drive electric scooters to your workplace or school if it happens to be within a 2–7mile radius. Ever since the launch of this product, a lot of companies have started to pour their time and money to come up with a well-equipped, rugged, and inexpensive scooter. Varla Scooter is a fairly new entrant in the scooter manufacturer lineup that has come up with its 2 well-equipped scooters at a very appealing price point to disrupt the competition.
The answer to this question “Are Electric Scooters Good for Commuting” can vary with the geographic location, drivers’ personal taste, and the cities rules and regulations, etc. But for most urban cities, electric scooters are proving to be a great tool for short trips within the city. More and more people are getting used to the experience after trying scooter-sharing services like Lyft and Bird. These electric scooters can get you through the traffic fast without much hustle and bustle.
We have highlighted the pros and cons of an electric scooter below so that you can help yourself in deciding whether or not it is a good choice for you.
Swift Through the Congestions
The small size of the electric scooters allows them to pass fairly quickly through congested areas of the city when compared with a car. Electric scooters are best for within city frequent commutes, and it takes little to no time to get them out of the garage and park them at the destination. High-end scooters like the Varla Eagle one also packs the punch to get you at speeds up to 40mph and can climb on up to 30+ degree inclines easily.
No Parking Problems
Parking is getting costlier these days especially in urban areas, but you do not have to put much effort into finding a suitable place to park your little scooter. It can be parked in bike racks or can be secured with a pole with a U-lock. Most of the electric scooters are made portable i.e., it can be folded and carried along you indoor to place it under the desk or in a corner.
Little To No Maintenance
Electric Scooters just like electric cars have a lot fewer moving parts than mechanical bikes or cars. Tires and brakes can be your only concerned areas that might require service throughout the usage.
No Licensing or Registration Required
In most of the states across the US, you do not require any registration for your electric scooter to get it out on the road. You also do not require any special license in order to drive the thing through the streets. Buying the scooter and learning how to drive it in a safe environment are the only steps that are required before getting onto the road with it.
Can Conquer Almost Any Terrain
Most of the starter’s electric scooters are built to be used just on-road, but some of the flagship models like the Varla’s Eagle One are designed to handle gravel and rocks as well. These heavy-duty electric scooters have a decent suspension setup that can handle much more beating than what road bumps and potholes have to offer.
Environment and Pocket Friendly
Electric scooters obviously do not emit any greenhouse gases through their commute unlike fossil fuel-powered vehicles and assuming that electricity production in the coming few years will completely switch to renewable sources. The carbon footprint of these electric scooters is expected to be very small. You also save quite a lot on the fuel, maintenance, parking, and upfront cost when compared with a car or a ride-hailing service.
Fun Factor
The whole experience of upright electric scooter driving can be much more fun than driving bikes and cars around. It revives back the once-popular idea of Razor scooters, with it being a lot less physically demanding. The whole experience feels a lot faster when there is not a windscreen blocking the rush of wind towards you.
Active Research and Development
The concept of electric bikes is still quite new in the market; hence it has a lot of space for improvements in design and feature set. Companies are investing in developing better and better designs to facilitate the user and cater to this emerging market.
Limited Range
Although these electric scooters are intended for very small trips, still added weight and incline in your trip can deplete the battery quite fast. Range figures provided by most of the manufacturers are calculated in a very ideal environment, and can highly deviate depending on the payload, incline, and driving style. If your electric scooter dies on you, out on the street you cannot even use it as the kick scooter due to the risk of damaging the electronic components and its sheer weight. So, one has to have a sharp eye on his available range before taking the scooter out.
Upfront Cost
Being a new product in the market, it will take time to optimize the design and lower the manufacturing cost of these electric scooters. Nowadays decent electric scooters start from around 500$ dollars and go all the way up to 2000$.
Limited Payload Capacity
The weight limit on these electric scooters is usually very limited as the scooter itself has a considerable weight due to the weight of the frame and the batteries. You do not have a lot of space left in your backpack to carry before you hit the payload limit on your bike.
Electric scooters are being adopted at a rapid pace in urban cities that have traffic congestion and parking issues. They provide a hassle-free, inexpensive, and safe way to commute through the city. Varla a new entrant in electric scooter manufacturers has introduced its two very well-equipped, rugged models, the Pegasus and the Eagle One for starters and enthusiasts at a very reasonable price point to cater for the increasing customer base.