PROs and CONs: A review of the disadvantages of electric scooters and bikes
Important note:
The disadvantages reviewed in this section are substantial but not fatal. There are a lot of happy e-bike users who have learned to live with or work around these disadvantages.
Minor disadvantages have a side heading in blue font.
Major disadvantages have a side heading in red font.
Personal experiences are in brown font.
1. Environment:
Given that most of the electricity in India is obtained from the firing of coal, e-bikes are not really friendly to the environment. They merely shift the location of the pollution from the city to the source of electricity generation. This is not necessarily bad, given that high levels of city pollution are medically damaging to the residents of the city. However, it is bad for the planet, as a whole.
Also bad for the planet is that the batteries require to be replaced frequently, and batteries cannot be completely recycled. There is substantial battery waste for which disposal will be a large problem should a major shift occur to the use of e-vehicles. This concern applies to all batteries, including lithium ion batteries.
2. Weight:
The weight of the batteries makes the bike heavy; so, you may not be able to carry heavy pillion riders (unless you hyperinflate your rear wheel tyres), and you will need to check the tyre pressure regularly, perhaps every 10 days.
3. Cost and concessions:
E-bikes are generally more expensive than petrol bikes. Note that accessories for e-bikes increase the cost; be aware of all these hidden charges. Also note that some states in India offer concessions in costing, or concessions in taxes. Check these concessions in the state in which you live; and remember that concessions may vary from year to year, depending on the provisions of the State Budget.
E-bikes can actually work out more expensive than petrol bikes given the high cost and short life of the batteries. However, there are many factors to be considered in the final reckoning, and the reader is strongly recommended to the section of this website on cost analysis.
5. Resale value:
E-bikes have very low resale value. Owners who want to sell their e-bikes may have difficulty in finding buyers. If the battery requires replacement, the bike has almost no market value at all, and is unlikely to fetch more than scrap value.
6. Motor life:
E-bikes may not have the same life as a petrol vehicle because motors may not last as long as engines. However, motors are replaceable.
[My experience: I used my e-bike for 7+ years over >21,000 km and had had no problems with the motor during that period.]
7. Battery life:
The most important expense that the owner might bear is that of the batteries. The sealed, maintenance-free, lead acid batteries have a limited life and have to be replaced if they get damaged or if they no longer offer a range that is sufficient for the user's needs. Batteries generally last for about a year; it is rare for batteries to last for 2 years. A lead acid battery set for an electric scooter set costs about Rs.13,000-19,000, depending on rating, brand, quality, and warranties. Lithium ion batteries do not seem to be available for electric scooters, as yet (at least in India); however, whereas these are better than lead acid batteries, they are far more expensive.
Factors that limit a battery's life are:
a) Use. The more you use the bike, the earlier the batteries reach the end of their life. This, actually, is like most other things under the sun.
b) Time. Lead acid batteries deteriorate with time even if the bike is sparingly used.
c) Overcharging. Lead acid batteries can get permanently damaged if they are overcharged.
Note that a set of batteries can permanently die out, all of a sudden, right in the middle of a journey. You may however have some warning, such as decreased range or power, or decreased charging time, in the previous week or two.
8. Running range:
The range of an e-bike is the distance that the bike will run on a single charge. E-bikes have a low range. In city riding, it would be risky to expect a range of more than 30 km, even with new batteries. This means that it would be unwise to travel more than 15 km away from home (because you would need to travel the same distance back) unless you have an opportunity to charge the batteries for an hour or longer at your place of halt. This also means that you may not have enough of charge for unexpected additional travel during the course of the day.
The range of the bike decreases with the life of the batteries, and even with the best of care, could decrease substantially after a year or so of use. It is not uncommon for the range of the batteries to decrease to 5-10 km towards the end of their life.
9. Power and pick-up:
E-bikes have low power and pick-up. Whereas you would be able to ride up slopes such as those of flyovers in a city, you might have difficulty if the slope is very steep, or if you are carrying a pillion rider up a steep slope. You also cannot suddenly accelerate from a stationary position, or suddenly accelerate to overtake a vehicle. This is not really a problem in most circumstances for most riders, and this problem is less with motors of higher wattage.
10. Other things that can go wrong
Service engineers tell me that the motor hardly ever fails; I have certainly had no problems with the motor during over 7 years of use. At the most, the sensors in the motor may require replacement, and this is not expensive.
11. Servicing, repair, and breakdown maintenance:
If you buy an e-bike, make sure that you have the name and contact number of a trustworthy breakdown mechanic. E-bikes can be serviced or repaired only by the dealer, or by persons who have been trained in the job. Most scooter mechanics do not know how to deal with e-bike problems. The problem can be very simple, such as a wire that has come loose, or a wire that has been chewed by a rat, or a puncture in the front or back wheel, or almost anything. Whatever goes wrong, the whole bike stops and nothing will get it going again other than attention from a qualified e-bike mechanic. Note that even a puncture requires a qualified mechanic because most of the bike needs to be taken apart just to get the wheel off. God help you if you get stuck late at night, or on a public holiday, especially if you are far from home. Either you push the bike home (and you can't do that if you have a puncture) or you leave it where it is until someone can be brought there to attend to it.
12. Body:
In order to reduce vehicle weight, the body of some e-bikes is made of light material. This can make the bike fragile in the event of even a minor collision.
Electric scooters don't have much storage space below the seat; however, check this out for the specific model in which you are interested because there could be variations across models.
The disadvantages reviewed in this section are substantial but not fatal. There are a lot of happy e-bike users who have learned to live with or work around these disadvantages.
Minor disadvantages have a side heading in blue font.
Major disadvantages have a side heading in red font.
Personal experiences are in brown font.
1. Environment:
Given that most of the electricity in India is obtained from the firing of coal, e-bikes are not really friendly to the environment. They merely shift the location of the pollution from the city to the source of electricity generation. This is not necessarily bad, given that high levels of city pollution are medically damaging to the residents of the city. However, it is bad for the planet, as a whole.
Also bad for the planet is that the batteries require to be replaced frequently, and batteries cannot be completely recycled. There is substantial battery waste for which disposal will be a large problem should a major shift occur to the use of e-vehicles. This concern applies to all batteries, including lithium ion batteries.
2. Weight:
The weight of the batteries makes the bike heavy; so, you may not be able to carry heavy pillion riders (unless you hyperinflate your rear wheel tyres), and you will need to check the tyre pressure regularly, perhaps every 10 days.
3. Cost and concessions:
E-bikes are generally more expensive than petrol bikes. Note that accessories for e-bikes increase the cost; be aware of all these hidden charges. Also note that some states in India offer concessions in costing, or concessions in taxes. Check these concessions in the state in which you live; and remember that concessions may vary from year to year, depending on the provisions of the State Budget.
- My experience in Karnataka: I paid about 20% more for my e-bike than I would have paid had I purchased a low-end petrol scooter; however, I did not have to pay the lifetime road tax for the first 5 years, and paid a reduced tax when my 5-year tax holiday ended.
- I do not specify costs in this website because costs vary from model to model, company to company, state to state, and time to time. The easiest way to obtain information about costing is through an internet search using the search terms " electric scooter cost India" (without the quotation marks).
E-bikes can actually work out more expensive than petrol bikes given the high cost and short life of the batteries. However, there are many factors to be considered in the final reckoning, and the reader is strongly recommended to the section of this website on cost analysis.
5. Resale value:
E-bikes have very low resale value. Owners who want to sell their e-bikes may have difficulty in finding buyers. If the battery requires replacement, the bike has almost no market value at all, and is unlikely to fetch more than scrap value.
6. Motor life:
E-bikes may not have the same life as a petrol vehicle because motors may not last as long as engines. However, motors are replaceable.
[My experience: I used my e-bike for 7+ years over >21,000 km and had had no problems with the motor during that period.]
7. Battery life:
The most important expense that the owner might bear is that of the batteries. The sealed, maintenance-free, lead acid batteries have a limited life and have to be replaced if they get damaged or if they no longer offer a range that is sufficient for the user's needs. Batteries generally last for about a year; it is rare for batteries to last for 2 years. A lead acid battery set for an electric scooter set costs about Rs.13,000-19,000, depending on rating, brand, quality, and warranties. Lithium ion batteries do not seem to be available for electric scooters, as yet (at least in India); however, whereas these are better than lead acid batteries, they are far more expensive.
Factors that limit a battery's life are:
a) Use. The more you use the bike, the earlier the batteries reach the end of their life. This, actually, is like most other things under the sun.
b) Time. Lead acid batteries deteriorate with time even if the bike is sparingly used.
c) Overcharging. Lead acid batteries can get permanently damaged if they are overcharged.
- I am presently using mysixth set of batteries in a little over 7 years of use. On two occasions the original batteries lasted just 6 months but were replaced free because they failed within the warranty period; the replacements lasted about a year, each. On one occasion, the batteries lasted for nearly 2 years but gave me poor service during the last 6-9 months. On some occasions, the lower life of the batteries was probably due to overcharging, something that can be guarded against. This will be discussed later. Nevertheless, despite the high costs associated with battery replacement, my overall running costs have probably been the same or lower than what they might have been had I used a petrol scooter during the same period. Now that the battery cost has substantially increased, my running costs will clearly exceed that of a petrol scooter.
- In my experience, at different times, dealers and service engineers have labelled different battery brands as good or poor in quality. There is no consistent guidance, at present.
- My own experience does not favor any particular brand over others, or any brand over unbranded batteries.
Note that a set of batteries can permanently die out, all of a sudden, right in the middle of a journey. You may however have some warning, such as decreased range or power, or decreased charging time, in the previous week or two.
- I have had the experience of a battery dying out midway between home and workplace. The batteries could not be recharged to provide any meaningful range, and had to be replaced.
8. Running range:
The range of an e-bike is the distance that the bike will run on a single charge. E-bikes have a low range. In city riding, it would be risky to expect a range of more than 30 km, even with new batteries. This means that it would be unwise to travel more than 15 km away from home (because you would need to travel the same distance back) unless you have an opportunity to charge the batteries for an hour or longer at your place of halt. This also means that you may not have enough of charge for unexpected additional travel during the course of the day.
The range of the bike decreases with the life of the batteries, and even with the best of care, could decrease substantially after a year or so of use. It is not uncommon for the range of the batteries to decrease to 5-10 km towards the end of their life.
- Some bikes have a greater range than others. This may be because they are less powerful and run more slowly, or it may be because they have greater battery back-up. The latter bikes are more expensive.
9. Power and pick-up:
E-bikes have low power and pick-up. Whereas you would be able to ride up slopes such as those of flyovers in a city, you might have difficulty if the slope is very steep, or if you are carrying a pillion rider up a steep slope. You also cannot suddenly accelerate from a stationary position, or suddenly accelerate to overtake a vehicle. This is not really a problem in most circumstances for most riders, and this problem is less with motors of higher wattage.
- Power, pick-up, and speed are maximum when the battery is fully charged. Power, pick-up, and speed fall when the battery charge is low.
10. Other things that can go wrong
Service engineers tell me that the motor hardly ever fails; I have certainly had no problems with the motor during over 7 years of use. At the most, the sensors in the motor may require replacement, and this is not expensive.
- However, after six and a half years of use, the speed controller suddenly packed up and my bike stopped running; pushing it was also difficult. I was told that the speed controller can be repaired, but there is no guarantee whatsoever on the repair. I was charged Rs.5500 for changing the speed controller. A small plus point is that the new controller could be expected to give good service for many years into the future.
11. Servicing, repair, and breakdown maintenance:
If you buy an e-bike, make sure that you have the name and contact number of a trustworthy breakdown mechanic. E-bikes can be serviced or repaired only by the dealer, or by persons who have been trained in the job. Most scooter mechanics do not know how to deal with e-bike problems. The problem can be very simple, such as a wire that has come loose, or a wire that has been chewed by a rat, or a puncture in the front or back wheel, or almost anything. Whatever goes wrong, the whole bike stops and nothing will get it going again other than attention from a qualified e-bike mechanic. Note that even a puncture requires a qualified mechanic because most of the bike needs to be taken apart just to get the wheel off. God help you if you get stuck late at night, or on a public holiday, especially if you are far from home. Either you push the bike home (and you can't do that if you have a puncture) or you leave it where it is until someone can be brought there to attend to it.
- From my practical experience, it is reasonable to expect to have one or two breakdowns a year. Punctures and battery trouble have been the commonest problems.
12. Body:
In order to reduce vehicle weight, the body of some e-bikes is made of light material. This can make the bike fragile in the event of even a minor collision.
- I have suffered cracked bodywork over the front wheel after a minor collision with a vehicle that suddenly braked in front of me.
Electric scooters don't have much storage space below the seat; however, check this out for the specific model in which you are interested because there could be variations across models.