Choosing the right Electric Scooter in 2021

Choosing the right Electric Scooter in 2021

Electric scooters are a great environmentally friendly way to travel and many times quicker than walking whilst being fun, green and very low cost to run. Once you arrive at your destination you can quickly fold up your e scooter and store neatly away.

With more and more people considering buying an electric scooter in 2021 than in any previous year, it’s very important to think about what you need from your electric scooter before buying.
Here at Edinburgh Scooters, we can help you choose the right E-scooter for you. We have written this basic guide to help you in the decision-making process. It’s worth thinking what you need before popping into our electric scooter shop to discuss further. Here are the 5 most important questions to consider before you even start looking for an escooter.

1. What do I need an electric scooter for?
2. Where am I going to use my scooter?
3. How far do I need to travel?
4. What’s terrain would I be using it on?
5. How much am I willing to spend?
Here are 2 potential electric scooter buyer scenario’s

Rachel is looking to commute across town from here city centre flat to work in her city centre coffee shop, she will store her electric scooter under her desk. She works 4.5 miles from home so it takes well over an hour to walk to work, parking is expensive so she’s considering a e-scooter as an option.

As getting to work on time every day is Rachel’s priority, we would suggest a premium brand e-scooter like the XIAOMI PRO 2 or NINEBOT G30 as these are super reliable and the parts are readily available for fixing them quickly. Most major cities now have electric scooter repair shops like here at Edinburgh Scooter Repair Shop. As she will mainly be travelling in cycle lanes which are quite smooth and won’t be going off road she wouldn’t need suspension which would keep the scooter weight to a minimum as she has to carry the scooter up a few flights of stairs to her flat. As Edinburgh is quite a hilly city these models have 300W motors and larger batteries so will be sure to have enough power and battery life to get her to work and back no problem.

Dave is a student and looking to use his scooter to get to uni and visit his new girlfriend a couple of times a week she lives just 2 miles away and uni isn’t much further, he’s also on a tight budget.

In this case as it’s just a short distance and Dave is on a tight budget we would suggest the Xiaomi 1S or the Ninebot 22E. Both these models have a battery half the size with a smaller 250W motor and can travel about 12-15 miles on a single charge. They are also considerably cheaper without compromising on quality or reliability as they are manufactured by the world’s top electric scooter brands Xiaomi and Ninebot.

Regardless if you fit into either of these scenarios, a very, if not the most important factor is, can I get parts or does the shop have spare parts to repair my electric scooter. As a electric scooter repair shop in Edinburgh we often deal with customers who have unbranded cheap Chinese models. Time and time again when trying to repair these e-scooters we struggle to get any scooter spare parts, the companies that sell them never respond and if they do they never carry the spares parts. In our professional opinion as an e-scooter repair shop the single most important factor to consider when buying a scooter is can I get parts to fix this scooter when it breaks. In order to mitigate this eventuality, it is first off best to thoroughly check the brand behind the scooter first. How long have they been about? do larger high street retailers sell them? can I find any parts online? As we move into 2022 dozens of new sub-standard brands will be popping up, we have already seen the start of this in 2021. As the market grows, unfortunately the quality drops and many Chinese company’s turn their factories into scooter factories and start pumping out goods not fit for purpose.
Don’t be that guy with the cheap Chinese scooter that is broken more than it works, don’t be that girl who spends more time on the phone trying to find someone to repair her scooter or find a part to get it going.

Pop into our electric scooter shop or visit the website @ www.edinburghscooters.co.uk and speak with the experts before you part with your hard-earned cash.
If you are concerned about the legality of owning a electric scooter have a look at our recent article here.