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This section is made for those of you who may be new to this world of electric scooters. In this section, I will try to make you smarter about all the parts an electric scooter consists of, so that you will hopefully be better off afterwards. You will get a review of everything from tires, brakes, battery, engine, suspension and everything in between! At the bottom of this section you will find an overview of the brands I have listed here by quality, but first we will start with a review of an electric scooter!
Tires are what give you traction to accelerate or brake. They give you range and greatly affect your driving quality.
Tires are available in two types:
Under these two categories above you can both get:
1. Hybrid tires: This is 50% alm. tires and 50% off road tires, good for mixed road and gravel driving
2. Off road tires: Good for off-road driving, gravel and the like. Can also be used on ordinary roads
3. Winter tires: Good for the Danish winter weather. You get small rivets on these tires that provide better grip during especially snowy weather
It will most often be 8 ″, 10 ″ or 11 ″ tires that will sit on your electric scooter, but you will also be able to find models here on the site with even larger tires. In general, airless tires will provide a harder ride - especially if the electric scooter already has very little to no suspension - in return you avoid punctures. You will also generally be able to experience that airless tires do not have as good contact with the ground as pneumatic tires.
Brakes on electric scooters can be divided into two upper categories:
Mechanical (these require a physical mechanism to brake your electric scooter):
Electronic (requires the use of the engine itself for braking):
Most often, mechanical braking systems will offer much stronger braking than electronic systems. However, the electronic systems do not require the same regular adjustments or maintenance. You will often see that many models (especially the larger ones you find here) have a combination of both electronic and mechanical braking systems (disc or hydraulic), which for safety reasons is also preferable if one of them should fail.
The purpose of the suspension is to make your driving experience more comfortable and at the same time allows you to safely accelerate, brake and clear turns. Virtually all electric scooters you find on my website have suspension.
There are three main types of suspension systems on electric scooters, listed in order of how much suspension / support they each provide:
The size of the battery determines how far you have range. The values are given in volts (v) and ampere-hours (ah). The vast majority of batteries in electric scooters will either come with 24v, 36v, 48v or 52v. Here on the website you will also find 60v, 72v, 80v and even 100v on some of the largest models in the range. In addition ah, there is a term for battery charging and is called as mentioned ampere-hours. They often range from 4ah and on some models up to 50ah. The higher the v and ah is, the longer range your electric scooter has. Most models range from 48v 18ah and up.
The engine that drives your electric scooter is the whole basic essence of your trip. It determines top speed, also uphill, acceleration, performance and power consumption. All electric scooters have at least one motor, but you can advantageously find one with two motors - this will give better acceleration with higher performance.
Engine power tells you how much energy the engine can handle continuously. This is different from peak power, which describes how much energy the engine can drive in a short period of time.
In short, the more powerful (ie the higher the watt) the electric scooter is equipped with, the higher speed it can reach, and the higher the slope (what I on my website call the gradient) it can handle.
Nominal power vs max power
A motor on an electric scooter produces a certain wattage. This watt is expressed in nominal power, which is the power your motor can produce over a longer period. Max power is the maximum watt power your motor can produce, but for a very short period of time. Certain brands (including MiniMotors) only indicate their watts on their electric scooters as maximum power. Therefore, pay attention to whether it is one or the other that is designated.
What types of engines are there?
Electric scooter motors are available with two types of motors:
Brushed DC motor
The brushed motor is an older type of motor. In this type of motor, mechanical brushes are moved along the inside of the motor to provide power to coil phases. Unfortunately, this will cause the brushes to wear over time due to friction and can cause the tension to be erratic, which will be dangerous during a drive. At present, most quality electric scooters no longer use this type of motor.
Brushless DC motor (I only have this type of engine on the website)
These are new types of motors, also called BLDC or EC motors, which are more efficient, more durable, quieter and less likely to overheat than brushed motors. In brushless motors, the mechanical components are replaced by digital clutch circuits that supply power to coil phases.
The size of motors you find here on the website starts at around 1x300w and ranges up to 2x4000w on the very large models.
The controller sends power to the engine based on how much you hold your “throttle” (throttle) down. It controls the current from the battery to the motor, and receives input from the accelerator and (electronic) brake controls and translates it into a current sent to the motor. Controllers are rated based on the voltage and current they are capable of regulating.
The platform where you stand on. It comes in many different sizes, but is often somewhere between 30-50cm long and 15-40cm wide. Often with a form of non-slip surface that has the purpose that you stand better - especially in rainy weather.
Here where all your buttons sit. Some handles can be folded, others can not. There are pros and cons to both. If it can be folded, it is more compact and it can be a good thing if you e.g. have a lot to do with a train, a car or something else. It can be a disadvantage on some models, it can be folded, if the quality of the handle is not very good, then it can creak and feel loose. You may therefore find that a handle you can not fold is more stable and robust to drive with - especially at higher speeds (+ 55km / h).
Good light is a must - especially in the darker times in Denmark. Almost all scooters come with 1 light at the front - often LED, and at least one light at the rear that is activated when you brake. Some models also have lights on the side of the foot panel in the form of multicolored LEDs. However, I would strongly recommend always investing in extra light so you are absolutely sure to be seen! Especially a pair of good headlights can be a really good buy.
The frame / handlebar is the foldable metal tube that connects the handlebar to the front wheels. Virtually all electric scooters have a folding mechanism, on which it can be transported more easily in e.g. car or train. One of the major disadvantages of electric scooters, which have this folding mechanism, is that it can seem "loose" and unstable, and as something you can move back and forth in, and it thereby gives a little. It is important, as with everything else on your electric scooter, that you continuously tighten screws and nuts around your handlebars.
I have established many agreements with most brands within electric scooters that you can find on the market. This can make it confusing to find your new electric scooter. In addition to the search function, where you can filter by several different parameters (find it here), then I also made this section. Below you will find an overview divided into categories according to quality from lowest to highest. Here I mean the materials used, which brake types are fitted, the quality of the handlebars, handles, rear fenders, etc. I have collected up to 4 brands in the same rating, as some are very close.
The list was made personally by me and is therefore not an official list you can find anywhere. All brands would of course rate themselves as the absolute best brand, which is why I have tried to come up with my take on it. It should be said that just because a brand is #1 or #2 on the list, it doesn't mean it's bad. This means that the quality from e.g. no. 1 vs. no. 4 will be found, and also a larger price difference. And then you also have to think about what your needs are.
There is no reason to buy a scooter for DKK 10,000 if you are perfectly happy with one for DKK 3,500, which can easily cover your needs. The list compares the individual brands as such overall. It does not take as its starting point every single model within every brand. If you take a top model from e.g. Kaabo (position #4) and compare it with one of the cheapest models from e.g. Nanrobot (position #5), Kaabo would always take first place over the best model to choose. You must take this into consideration when reading the above list. You cannot compare a model for DKK 4,500 from one brand against a model for DKK 6,500 from another brand.
You can also read my advice & maintenance straight away here.
