Scooter specs, explained

Three different range numbers appear on this site and they mean different things. The claimed range is the manufacturer’s, measured in the lowest speed mode on flat ground with a rider near 165 pounds. The estimated range is ours: watt-hours divided by consumption. The tested range, where one exists, is somebody outside the company riding one until it stopped, and it is the most valuable of the three.

The formula is deliberately simple, because a complicated one would be no more accurate: battery Wh ÷ Wh per mile. We use 25 Wh/mi for single-motor scooters, which is the bottom of Rider Guide’s published 25-35 Wh per mile commuting band, and 38 Wh/mi for dual-motor scooters that top 28 mph, because those get ridden at speed and drag rises with the square of it. A 20 mph dual motor is a commuter with two small hub motors and gets the commuter figure.

Across the 55 scooters here the median claim is 1.6× the estimate. The widest gap belongs to Ausom GoSoul 2 Pro, at 2.5×; the tightest is Kaabo King GTR at 0.9×. Of the 31 models with a published independent test, the average delivered 67% of the claim — best NIU KQi Air at 97%, worst Ausom GoSoul 2 Pro at 44%.

The estimate is an estimate. It assumes a rider around 165 pounds on mostly flat ground in mild weather. A heavier rider, a hill or a cold morning all take from it, and Rider Guide’s own guidance is that riders over 220 pounds should plan on roughly half the claimed figure.

Watt-hours are volts times amp-hours, and it is the one figure on a spec sheet that cannot be measured optimistically. A 48 V 10 Ah pack is 480 Wh whoever is selling it. Voltage on its own tells you about power delivery rather than capacity: a 60 V or 72 V system pushes harder up a hill and holds speed better under load, but says nothing about distance.

The catalog runs from NIU KQi Air’s small pack up to Dualtron Thunder 3 at 2880 Wh. Two derived numbers are worth more than the raw figure. Watt-hours per dollar says where the money went — Ausom GoSoul 2 Pro leads at 1.57 Wh per dollar. Watt-hours per pound says how much range you are carrying — NAMI Burn-E 2 Max leads at 28 Wh per pound.

Cell quality matters and is rarely stated. Where a maker names LG, Samsung or the 21700 cell format, that is a real signal and this catalog records it in the feature list. Where nothing is named, assume unbranded pouches and expect the capacity to fade faster.

Nominal output is what a motor can sustain; peak is what it can deliver in a burst. Marketing quotes peak, because it is roughly double. Both numbers appear on every page here, labelled. A “2,000 W” scooter with an 850 W nominal rating and a 2,000 W peak is not the same machine as one with 2,000 W nominal.

A second motor buys acceleration and hill pace, and costs weight, efficiency and usually water resistance. In this catalog 20 of 55 scooters are dual motor. Top speeds run from 15.5 mph up to Kaabo King GTR at 65 mph, which is well past the point where most US state codes stop classifying the thing as a scooter at all.

On a scooter with 8 to 10 inch wheels, the tire is doing as much suspension work as the spring. Pneumatic tires are the most comfortable and grip best in the wet, and they puncture. Tubeless pneumatic tires are easier to repair and hold air better. Self-healing or self-sealing tires carry a gel or liner that closes small punctures without you knowing — the best default for a commuter. Solid tires cannot puncture and transmit everything.

6 scooters here run solid tires, and almost all of them pair that with suspension at both ends to compensate. Diameter matters more than most buyers expect: the difference between a 8-inch and an 11-inch wheel at 25 mph is the difference between a pothole being an event and being a bump.

“Dual suspension” covers a very wide range. A rubber damper is a block of elastomer that takes the edge off a kerb. A spring is a real suspension element with travel. A hydraulic fork controls that travel with damping, which is what stops a scooter pogoing after a bump. All three get called suspension on a spec sheet.

35 scooters here have suspension at both ends and 13 have none at all — including several fast, expensive ones where the tires are the entire system. If your route is smooth that is a reasonable saving. If it is not, no other spec compensates.

Regenerative braking is electrical: the motor runs as a generator and slows the wheel. It is smooth, it recovers a little range, and its strength depends on the state of the battery, so it fades exactly when you are at the top of a hill with a full pack. A scooter whose rear wheel has regen and nothing else has one mechanical brake, however the marketing counts it.

15 scooters in this catalog are in that position. At the other end, 13 have hydraulic discs, which is what belongs on anything over about 30 mph. Between them sit drums — sealed, low-maintenance, modest, and poor at shedding heat on a long descent — and cable-operated mechanical discs.

The first digit after IP is dust and the second is water; an X means that dimension was not tested. IPX4 is splashing. IPX5 is a low-pressure jet. IPX6 is a 12.5 mm jet at pressure, and IP66 adds a full dust seal. Only the last two describe riding in heavy rain.

15 of 55 scooters here clear IPX6, and 8 publish no rating at all, which means untested rather than failed. What actually fails in the wet is rarely the motor — it is the display, the throttle, the charging port and the battery connector, the places where water sits after you park.

Manufacturers quote a maximum grade as a percentage or an angle, and they measure it with a light rider on dry tarmac at full charge. It is still the most useful hill number published, because it ranks scooters consistently. The steepest claim here belongs to Kaabo Warrior 11 Max at 100%.

Two things the number hides. Rider weight changes everything: a scooter rated 20% with a 150-pound rider is a scooter that struggles at 20% with a 230-pound one, which is also why max rider weight is a spec worth checking rather than skimming. And a scooter that climbs a hill has to descend it, which makes the braking spec the other half of any hill question.

Weight is the spec people under-weight when buying and complain about for years afterwards. We sort every scooter into three classes, on the thresholds where owner reports stop saying “carry” and start saying “wheel it”:

• Carry up stairs — Under 35 lb — a normal person gets this up a flight without planning it. (7 here)
• Curb lift — 35-55 lb — you can lift it into a boot or over a kerb, not carry it far. (24 here)
• Rolls only — 55 lb and up — this goes where it can be wheeled, and lives at ground level. (24 here)

The catalog runs from NIU KQi Air at 26.4 lb to Kaabo King GTR at 137 lb. Folded dimensions matter separately: a scooter that folds thin fits in a car boot or beside a train seat even if it is heavy, and one that folds tall does not, whatever it weighs.

A big battery takes a long time to fill. Charge times here run from Segway Ninebot Max G3 at 3.5 hours to Dualtron Thunder 3 at 28, and the slow end is not an outlier — several hyperscooters take most of a day on the charger they ship with. Many of those brands sell a second or faster charger, which halves it, and buying one with the scooter is usually the right call.

Two habits protect the pack. Charge to 80 or 90 per cent rather than 100 when you do not need the full range — some scooters let you set that ceiling in the app. And never charge a battery that is below freezing: bring it indoors and let it warm up first. The full version is here.

Almost every scooter has a headlight and a taillight; the useful question is whether the headlight lights the road or just marks your position. Turn signals are the feature worth paying for in traffic, and 27 of 55 scooters here have them from the factory.

There is no federal US scooter law. Most states define a low-speed device somewhere around 20 mph and a few hundred watts, permit it in bike lanes, and ban it from sidewalks; cities tighten that further. A scooter above the local definition is generally not a scooter in law but an unregistered motor vehicle, which is how riders end up paying to get one out of an impound lot. More on that here.

The type on every card is not a marketing label; it is how we group scooters that answer the same question, and it sets what the other specs need to be.

• Last-mile — Under about 32 lb and built to be carried. Short range is the trade, and the fold is the feature. (6 here)
• Commuter — Single motor, 15-20 mph, enough battery for a few miles each way. The volume half of the market. (12 here)
• Long-range commuter — 600 Wh and up, still one motor. Bought for the distance between charges rather than the speed. (16 here)
• Performance — Dual motors, high twenties and up. Enough power that brakes and tire size stop being footnotes. (9 here)
• Off-road / hyper — Big tires, long suspension travel, 40 mph and beyond. Garage vehicles with motorcycle-class consequences. (12 here)