Optimal Low Weight (sub ~50lb) Hill Climbing Scooter

nycroads

Hi all at team ESG,

I was hoping to get some insights and recommendations before getting a scooter. I live in NYC and am most concerned not about speed and duration of single charge but with how well the scooter can handle hills at lower speeds and weight - I plan to use it for recreational use and family days trips in the city.

After bunch of reading (including reviews on your site) I was going to settle for a ~Appolo City type Scooter (EVOLV Tour 2.0, Inokim 3, splach turbo, vsett 8, etc..). However, after digging in further I was made aware that these single motor scooters really cant go up hill at slower speeds or without a “run-up”. Watching the splach turbo reviews on you tube ( 7:50 for hill climb test) and similar for vsett 8 leads me to believe that none of the other single motors can pull up at slow speed up a hill from near standstill.

This led me to dual motor scooters which all tend to be pretty heavy ~65-75+ lb) with the exception of the unagi and the Widewheel dual pro and finally Dualtron Spider as the optimal dual motor scooter at~ 44lb with a 3,000w combined motor.

Finally, I was about to purchase it and called Minimotors when the sales person there told me that they were no longer looking to store/sell the Spider in the US (they still sell it in Asia) since they didn’t get a lot of interest in it and that it didn’t have enough power to take the average American adult at ~ 6′ and 180lb up a standard street hill!!!

So now I am left confused about how to proceed and was hoping for insights here.

Thanks a bunch!

Bojan from NYC

justin

nycroads

Hi nycroads

Regarding hill climbing on smaller scooters, I recommend that a you check out our performance tests if you want to get a sense of relative hill climb performance for some of those scooters you’ve mentioned.

We test all under same conditions (200 ft climb, 10% grade, 165 lb rider), so it’s a more fair comparison than different YT video on different hills. Tests are also started from a standstill.

10% grade is fairly steep and you’ll note that the lighter scooters e.g. Apollo Light, Horizon, Ninebot Max, Zero 8, Splach Turbo etc are still averaging 10 mph or so, which isn’t bad.

The most powerful scooters we’ve tested are only averaging 18 mph up this hill (though accelerating the entire time).

If I were you I’d begin my search on this performance table and take a look at the hill climb times (shorter is better) and average hills speeds.

nycroads

Hi Justin,

thanks for the prompt follow up.

I did go over your performance tests which is why I thought Dualtron Spider was the right choice; however, the response from Micromotors threw me off.

DrScootLittle

nycroads
Sorry to hear about the Spider.
We are expecting to get a big shipment of Minimotors scooters in the next month or so. We should have a lot more Minimotors content coming out in the next month or two.

Here’s a chart of average speed during our hill climb vs weight of the scooter. You’re right, the Unagi is a standout here. The EMOVE Touring (a single motor scooter) also does really well. Basically, everything that’s above the trend line is better than typical for hill climb ability vs weight.

nycroads

Hi - I decided to go with the EMOVE Cruiser given max output of 1,600w and ability to install twist throttle (or finger).

Would have preferred something lighter but I think its a good power/weight/features ratio.

thanks for the input - and the discount code @ voro !!!

DrScootLittle

Great scooter! We’re looking forward to checking out the updated version of the Cruiser!