Closer Look: The Vectrix VX-1 Electric Scooter
Scooters have come a long way from their early days as glorified bicycles and nerd-haulers. They aren’t just for geeks anymore, but have grown up into stylish and sleek performance machines. The Vectrix VX-1 is one of the top machines on this list and is fast becoming the world’s leader in all-electric, road worthy electric scooters. Even the NYPD is fielding them!
These scooters (they look more like a small motorcycle to me) debuted in America in 2006 and went into broader national sales in 2008 and are now available in most major cities in both the U.S.A. and the EU. The ‘08 and ‘09 models retail for about $11,000 (before rebates or incentives) with all the trimmings and are made (for the most part) in the company’s Massachusetts plant while EU models are made primarily in Poland.
Sounds pretty expensive. Right? It is, all at once, for a “scooter.” Consider this, though: if you continue to drive your car, what will that cost? Let’s do some quick math. Over a year, the average person will drive their car to work about 250 days of the year. At a commute of about 30 miles round trip, gas prices at $2.50/gallon, and miles per gallon at 25 in-city, that works out to $750 in gas (7500 miles, 300 gallons). That’s an optimistic set of numbers and does not include maintenance costs, but it gets the point across. A VX-1 scooter, under the same conditions, would have less than half the maintenance costs of a car and zero gasoline purchases. Ad in the other errands you use a car for and you can see why these are becoming so desirable to people.
Models have been test-driven and adopted by several large groups, including the New York City Police Department and police departments in Scotland, Italy, France, and others. So these aren’t fly-by-night machines, but real workhorses. Their 24-month warranty is standard. Of course, that means nothing without specs. Right?
Exactly. So let’s look at how these electric scooters stack up. The VX-1 2009 model specifications are pretty impressive for an electric. We’ll start with the fast numbers, the ones that will make-or-break this electric for most daily users:
- Max Speed: 62mph / 100km/h
- Acceleration: 0-31mph (50km/h) in 3.6 seconds
- Range: 68 miles under optimum conditions (35 miles average)
- Battery recharge time: 80% charge in 2 hours (110v)
- Estimated battery life: 10 years or 50,000 miles (80k km)
Those numbers will probably decide it for you. For some of us, an all-electric is not likely because of range restrictions, but for suburban and urban commuters, this little scooter is a very likely candidate. This is also one of the very few all-electrics available right now that is federally highway and freeway rated. That’s an important consideration for many.
The VX-1 has a lot of other impressive features besides it’s core specs. It’s really friendly LCD instrumentation is one. These can be seen in most light conditions and tell you at a glance where you are in terms of speed, battery power, etc. There’s even a “backwards mileage counter” on the display that shows you about how many more miles you can go under your current riding conditions.
The whole bike weighs about 450 pounds and has a “trunk” (under the seat) big enough for a full-face helmet to fit into, plus a small glove box at the front big enough for a cell phone, iPod, etc. (even with accessories). An optional cargo box ads even more storage. This means no nerdy backpack required while riding your scooter.
Other great ideas like regenerative braking, where you turn the throttle forwards (rather than back) to decelerate without using your physical brakes, can ad up to 15% of the power returning to the scooter. This form of braking still activates the brake lights, so it’s not dangerous to use it in traffic. Standard hand brakes (working like a motorcycle’s disc brakes) are also on the scooter.
Here’s the rest of the specs for you number junkies:
- Tires: Pirelli GTS23 12/70-14 (front) and GTS24 14/60-13 (rear)
- Suspension: Sachs Twin Shock
- Battery: Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH)
- Battery Capacity Rating: 30Ah, 3.7kW-h
- Battery Voltage Rating: 125V
- Charger Type: 1.5kW (on-board, 8ft cord in trunk)
- Battery Discharge Cycles: 1,700 (80%)
- Motor Type (rear-wheel drive): Brushless DC, radial air-gap
- Peak Power: 20kW at 3,000 rpm
- Max Torque: 65Nm
- Gearbox: Integrated rear-wheel planetary gear drive
- Electronics: DSP & IGBT-based all-digital
- Communications: CAN and Bluetooth wireless for diagnostics
- Seat Height: 30 inches
- Frame: Aluminum
So there you have it, the Vectrix VX-1 electric scooter. Watch for further developments too, as they test market their new three-wheeled model, which has better stability and handling.
Check out videos of the Vectrix VX-1 below - one is an official promo video, the other is a ‘drivers-view’ of what it’s like to ride a Vectrix:
Tags: electric moped, electric moped review, electric scooter, Featured, vectrix
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A friend of mine just emailed me one of your articles from a while back. I read that one a few more. Really enjoy your blog. Thanks
I like the idea of electric scooters, but I really don’t think that you can make an economic argument for them at this point in time.
Last summer I bought a Genuine Buddy 150 for approximately 3200$. It can get almost 90 mpg, 65mph, and can travel 100 between fill ups. It also comes with a 2 year warranty, and the recharge time is as long as it takes you to pump another 1.2 gallons into the tank. Even with 5$/gallon gas, it would take 19 years for the VX-1 to recoup its 7800$ price premium. That’s neglecting the cost of replacing the battery after it dies, and the increased electric bills.
Granted the awesome factor is huge, but the economic argument doesn’t make sense at this point in time in comparison to other scooters in the 100cc to 200cc range. Maybe in a few years when it’s a few thousand less, and gas is topping 7$/gallon.
It looks like a cool ride.
I am a little confused by the savings example using a 7,500 miles a year driven, but in the battery life section 10 years or 50,000 miles is a 5,000 miles a year average. It would make more sense if you are making the case on economics, that you use the same annual miles traveled in the length of battery life.
Plus you should really factor in the kW used for recharge, because while cheaper, electricity still costs money.
That being said, if you were to give me one, I wouldn’t say no, and would definitely drive it next summer.
Jeff,
The problem with gas scooters is the reliance on gasoline, the laws in California regarding small engines, and the maintenance. I can understand your economics and am not going to argue those, but all small engines that are put under fair amounts of torque (which includes scooters and small motorcycles) will have a goodly amount of wear and tear and therefore maintenance. Electrics have little of this concern.
I’m not trying to sell scooters, though, so which one you buy is your business. I just happened to like this one because it doesn’t look like the average scooter. No offense to you, but I’d never own a Buddy or any of the lookalikes in that vein. Not my style at all.
Of course, I live in Wyoming and I like tractors and know how to double-clutch. So what do I know about big-city style?
Josh,
I understand a little confusion about the economics listed, but the point of those numbers I listed (7,500 year miles) is to illustrate the average person’s commute and justifying buying something that costs half what a car costs and has obvious down-sides versus a car (open to the weather, limited carrying capacity). The point was to justify why spending the money on this “scooter” could be worthwhile for some people.
Honestly, I wouldn’t buy one, but that’s because of where I live and how far I have to go to get to Wal-Mart and McDonald’s and the other trappings of civilization. At least directions to my house don’t include anything like “now you turn off the paved road…”
The numbers I used in the article were first my own (average miles driven per year, average cost of gasoline, and so forth) and then the manufacturer’s numbers (battery life). If I change one or the other, the context changes in regards to what these numbers are pointing out in very separate paragraphs.
The first is in its own paragraph and is comparing numbers based on average daily commutes. The second set of numbers is regarding the bike itself and what the manufacturer promises.
Again, I’m not selling scooters. I don’t even know anyone at the company that makes these things. Neither do I own one. I’m just a guy who writes about them.
Do keep in mind that the price of battery packs is not constant, and that economies of scale and technological breakthroughs will make the price of replacement batteries much cheaper when the time comes.