An Electric Scooter Buying Guide

Electric scooters are giving people a way to travel 5 times quicker than walking while being environmentally friendly, fun, and extremely low in cost. Unlike riding a bicycle or kick scooter, you won’t be sweaty when you arrive at your destination! There are a lot of benefits to this type of travel.

Speed range, size, weight capacity range, battery life range, dependability, maintenance, warranty, and cost are simply a few of the aspects you need to take into consideration before you buy an e-scooter. In this guide, we have tried to help you understand what’s crucial to ensure that you choose the very best electric scooter for you.

Some more specific considerations you’ll want to think about are the brake reliability, the electric motor power, the likelihood of punctures to the tires (whether they are inflated or solid tires), the range of life of the electric battery if it includes quality lights, and the ride quality (which depends on wheel type, wheel size, suspension, and whether or not your scooter is noisy). Some of these factors come down to the model type and build quality of the scooter itself. Other factors can be adjusted depending on what accessories you choose to add to your electric scooter after purchasing it.

Which of these factors is always a priority? Which considerations will weigh more heavily depending on who the user is or what they plan to use the electric scooter for? We purchase the best e-scooters worldwide and rigorously evaluate them to discover what’s excellent and bad about each one. We then listen to our client’s feedback to ensure we continue only to sell the best e-scooters. With this buying guide, we can help you answer these questions of what considerations you’ll want to prioritize when searching for e-scooters.

Quality of Electric Scooter Flight

The flight quality is a top priority factor you will want to consider, and for some e-scooters, it is so bad that they can’t be ridden for more than a couple miles on anything less than a perfectly flat surface. These e-scooters look great on a website, but many individuals stop using them since they are ‘boneshakers’. Before you even think about the battery range, the weight capacity range, the speed range, the warranty, and maintenance, or the motor power of the scooter, you’ll want to look at it and see if it will be comfortable at all to ride. The best electric scooters in ride quality can be distinguished by looking at a couple of key factors, which we will guide you through here.

Will Your E-Scooter Rattle You?

Finding scooters that feel decent to ride depends on a few different features. There are 3 main factors that affect the ride quality of your electric scooter. They include the size of the scooter wheels, whether they are filled with air or solid, and whether or not the scooter has built-in suspension. It might surprise you, but the relationship between suspension and wheels can determine whether or not you’ll be able to stand to ride the electric model for miles and miles.

Scooter Wheel Size:

We strongly recommend you prevent wheels less than 8 inches in size. Smaller wheel systems offer a rougher flight and are more prone to getting stuck in potholes. Having a larger set of wheels on your electric scooter can also make you much less likely to have an accident (especially if your model has a high motor power or travels faster than 10 mph), and this lessened liability can be a major draw of e-scooters with large wheels.

Solid Tires or Air-Filled Tires:

Air-filled tires certainly provide you a much better flight than solid ones. We strongly advise that you utilize a leak protection fluid (see devices we recommend), as it’s challenging to repair leaks if you don’t have solid wheels. Electric scooter tires are a lot more difficult to put on and take off than bicycle tires, which does make maintenance and fixing punctures far harder. Solid tires offer an option to prevent leaks if you frequently ride where there is a great deal of glass, thorns, or nails.

Electric Scooter Suspension:

Suspension is an important concept to ensure a smooth ride for miles and miles. However, the suspension may not help you avoid jarring from the biggest bumps. A scooter with big, air-filled tires without suspension will offer a smoother flight than a scooter with suspension but with solid tires and small wheels.

As a rule, both for your comfort and your safety, you need big wheels with air in your tires OR you need suspension if your tires don’t have air. If you travel around over a range of terrain or frequent off-roading, you will require fat treaded tires.

Additional Scooter Performance Factors

In addition to the comfortability of the scooter ride, a few other factors need to be considered when determining the best quality of an electric scooter and its ability to perform well over the time you use it.

Having an electric scooter with a decent speed range, strong and effective brakes, a long-range battery that is in good condition and will last, and overall reliability and manufacturing will all play a role in how much you enjoy (and ultimately use) your scooter. When paying the cost of a premium electric scooter, you’ll want to ensure you have found something you can get your money’s worth out of.

Scooter Maximum Speed Capacity:

The electric motor power figures the speed (your scooter could range anywhere from a 250-watt to 500-watt motor), rider weight, how hard you pump up your tires, and the surface of the area you ride on. The price quote speeds are typically based on a 70 kg person using a flat, smooth surface area with properly inflated tires. Our estimate does not mean riding at top speed. A speed of about 15 miles per hour is perfect. Typical strolling speed is 4 mph, typical automobile speed in London is 7 mph, and the typical bicycle speed for commuters is 14 mph.

The speed that e-scooters can travel at varies widely based on whether they were designed strictly for use on streets or not. They could go anywhere from 10 mph to over 30 mph. Road gradient and rider weight will affect the top speed at which your scooter can travel, even with a 500-watt motor; on high hills, the heavier you are, the slower you will go. The power of the motor may also deteriorate over a long period of use at a speed range near the top speed it can go.

Reliable Electric Scooter Brakes:

Your safety should always come first, and brakes are important when choosing a good electrical scooter. Having brakes that don’t work well, that you don’t know how to use, or that you fail to maintain can put you in a dangerous and potentially life-threatening situation, especially at a top speed range. Don’t take your electric scooter out on the streets before you verify that the braking system works well and is not going to fail unexpectedly! There are 3 main kinds of brakes on electrical scooters: electric, disc brakes/drum brakes, and foot/mudguard. Keep in mind that with more weight, it can take a stronger break to slow down or stop.

Electric Brakes for your Scooter:

These scooter brakes are conveniently low maintenance. However, they tend to be less reliable at stopping you quickly, which can risk you as a rider. You will want to ensure you can handle the electric scooter speedwell with your own weight and stop effectively if you plan on using electric ones like these.

Disc Brakes and Drum Brakes:

This type of electric scooter brake is the finest of all, but it will get worn out in time. They will eventually need to be serviced after several miles of use, similar to an automobile. Make sure you keep an eye on your scooter brakes, and when it’s time to get them replaced, don’t neglect to get it done!

Electric Scooter Foot Brakes:

These scooter brakes require you to stand on the rear mudguard. Unless you are used to using a kid’s scooter, this requires time to get the hang of, and they may not be the best. Foot brakes can also tend to be less effective than others, especially as they wear out over time, and be less effective at stopping you, especially when you are moving at top speed.

Battery Life and Mile Range:

It is very important to keep in mind that the makers’ priced quote battery charge range for electric scooters is generally a best-case example. Most battery estimates are based upon a light individual (70 kg) riding on a smooth, flat, straight road, with a new battery at full charge. Understand that more affordable scooters have cheaper batteries, and the amount of charge one battery can hold diminishes over time and range with every charge.

Manufacturing Quality:

Most scooters are made in China. Chinese producers produce some extremely high-quality products (like the iPhone) but also some absolute rubbish. Some electrical scooters look inexpensive and ‘plasticky’ and have no power in their motor. While the electrical scooter market remains in its infancy, it is smart to adhere to the larger, more trusted companies.

Best Electric Scooter Reliability:

Electric scooters are still a reasonably new item classification. Our best suggestion to guide you is to adhere to one of the large makers. We have become aware of some electrical scooter produces that have actually had up to 30% defectives and are deficient in power (clearly we would not offer one of these items).

Finding a Trustworthy E-Scooter Company

How do you know you can trust a company that is selling electric scooters, especially one that is online? You can look into a website like this one, search for a point of contact or physical address, or look at customer reviews on their products to determine if a company is legitimate or not. When finding electric scooters, there are a lot of brand options out there, and many are the sort you will want to avoid. We recommend you learn how to do this as you begin your research, and eliminate the questionable options.

Electric Scooter Warranty:

Will the business be around in the future to honor it? Going with a good, recognized company should offer you peace of mind and can give you safety and a sense of the credibility of the one you have chosen to work with.

If you require to use your service warranty, where will you need to send your electric scooter? We have heard horror stories of individuals having a minor fault or a battery range problem and needing to send their scooters back to China to be repaired. This has taken months and costs a great deal of money. We recommend you only buy an American-made scooter, covered by a good American warranty.

Fakes and Cheap Scooter Imports:

There are plenty of inexpensive scooters being imported from China. These typically look the part, however, cut corners (cheap wheel bearings, battery issues, etc). This leads to the e-scooters stopping and failing to operate as they should. The Super Turbo Elite 36v is currently one of the world’s leading selling electric scooters. However, there are also high volumes of phony versions that look extremely, closely comparable. The fakes are tough to identify when purchasing online, but the quality received tends to be horrible. You should consider buying from relied-on American suppliers utilizing American materials.

Size of Your Electric Scooter

We advise people to consider whether the e-scooter is the best size for them while you ride, and if it is small enough to store conveniently when folded down. Most scooters fold down to make them small enough to store in your home, in the car, or under a desk, like the Swagtron Swagger model.

Some things to consider when determining the size of your electric scooter needs to be:

– Bar height and width

– Deck size

– Fold downsize

‘Cool’ element:

Some makers have actually cut costs by borrowing trusted and cheap elements from bikes, and it shows! This does not affect the performance, however, these electric scooters do sometimes look like homemade, Jerry-rigged devices. Although for some individuals, the appearance and design of the e-scooter may be unimportant, for others it is a concern worth noting and can make maintenance challenging.

Weight of the E-Scooter:

It is necessary to consider how far you may have to carry your scooter at the beginning or end of your journey. The majority of electrical scooters on the marketplace weigh around 15 kg, some a bit more, and some a bit less. If you are not very strong, we would recommend you choose one weighing 12.5 kg or less if you will have to carry it for a long range of distances.

Max Load or Weight:

Not all electric scooters are developed to bear the same max weight limit with a comfortable ride, and you ought to factor this into your decision-making. Scooters designed for Europe tend to have a max rider weight limit of 100 kg for your safety. Many people who weigh over 100 kg ride these scooters daily. However, you must be cautioned that exceeding the max weight limit can revoke your warranty and could be hazardous, interfering with your suspension and being difficult to slow if moving at top speeds.

Electric Scooter Lights:

Some of the best electric scooters have integrated lights (there are usually two types, one for both the front and back), some have reflectors. An easy upgrade is buying state-of-the-art bicycle lights and putting them on your scooter if you are going to do a lot of night riding.

Sound Your Scooter Makes:

Some e-scooters make a loud annoying whistling sound from the motor when being ridden (this can be difficult to identify in images!). We know individuals who have actually stopped utilizing one of their favorite electric scooters due to shame caused by the level of noise it makes.

Accessories we Recommend

In addition to having a great electric scooter buying guide, we figured we would include a few tips on e-scooter accessories. There are a few additional things you’ll want to purchase, and some options you might consider to make your experience safer or more fun. You will need a helmet and a lock, and having a phone holder, extra lights, or tire leak prevention can also be very convenient. Lights will even be essential if you have to ride your e-scooter after dark.

Helmet for Safe Riding:

Your e-scooter will go as quickly as a bicycle, so we highly recommend wearing a helmet at all times. It is unsafe to ride without protection for your head even if you are skilled with maneuvering (another person or a car can hit you even if you are doing nothing wrong!) and especially if you are inexperienced at riding. You don’t want what could be a minor accident to become life-threatening because your head was unprotected.

Electric Scooter Lock:

Your e-scooter is an important item, and having a little portable lock will ensure its safety. In many urban areas where people rely on bikes and scooters, theft is far more rampant than you would expect! Never leave your scooter unattended unless it is locked to prevent someone from walking off with it. That would be a costly loss!

Phone Holder:

It permits you to focus on riding and the roadways – so you’re not holding your phone. Also, very beneficial too if you need to use maps! It’s dangerous to try and hold your phone while riding around on the street (in any type of vehicle), and we strongly advise against it. Plus, there’s always a risk you could drop your phone and break it, or lose it altogether.

Puncture Defense Fluid:

If you have tires filled with air, they could benefit from using a leak defense fluid to decrease the danger of punctures. Fixing a flat tire on a bicycle is hard enough, and that can become quick for someone with a lot of experience. But repairing a punctured tire on electric scooters is not so simple, and if you are unable to fix your own (which is time-consuming in and of itself), you could find yourself with frequent, costly, and inconvenient tire repairs (or at the very least, having to refill your tires all the time). There is a way to lessen the likelihood of leaks and punctures, and it could make your life easier.

Using Extra Lights:

Extra lights can be attached to your e-scooter for much safer night riding and exposure. This is an important option you will want to consider if you plan on spending a lot of time riding electric scooters around in the dark. Having a light is necessary if you commute home from work after dark! In cases like these, you should have both front and rear lights.

Cost of Electric Scooters

In addition to the advertised retail price of your selected e-scooter, there are a number of expense elements to consider. Cost is a big consideration to think about when deciding on electric scooters, as the up-front cost of e-scooters can vary widely, and the long-term costs (and liabilities) of choosing electric scooters with or without warranties, from companies that may or may not be reliable, can cost you more down the road than you ever imagined!

Finance Readily Available:

Financing alternatives may make your e-scooter of choice more budget-friendly by spreading the payments across a time period. Many companies that sell electric scooters allow for the option of financing the price of the scooters rather than having to buy them all-out. Plus, buying a product that has the better build quality and will hold up better saves you money in the long run (since you won’t need so many repairs or a replacement right away). If you can’t afford a more expensive model all at once, financing the price of it makes this burden lighter.

Import Reliability:

A few businesses are presently quoting really low prices for electric scooters, however, they are not being transparent with the overall costs. There have actually been cases where the seemingly inexpensive e-scooter has actually gotten stuck in UK customs and the consumer has had to pay around 30% of the purchase price (in VAT and import Tax) prior to receiving their item.

Shipping Price:

Some trustworthy retailers use totally free delivery, but this is not always the case and postage can be really costly to get. A shipping price is not always noted on product pages, so you need to check carefully!

Ready to Find Your Electric Scooter?

After reviewing our guide on finding the perfect electric scooter and any additional accessories, you may have a good idea of what you are looking to get. If you are thinking about buying an electric scooter, check out what we offer on Scooter McGoo! You can find out details about the models offered and their weight capacity, suspension, motor power, battery charge, range of speed in mph, typical maintenance, and more. We offer some of the most affordable and best-quality electric scooters available, and we can direct you to the model that you’ll like and that will be ideal to meet your needs. We have tons of resources and tips on learning how to ride, using an electric scooter, and finding the perfect scooter for you. If you have any inquiries, don’t hesitate to reach out to us! We are here to help.