Vespa Elettrica

Wow, my first post of 2017 and sadly no posts during 2016. Well I have been very busy last year and I think it is about time I rejuvenate this little blog of ours again. I have been following with interest the evolution of the electric scooter for some time now and even wrote the article BMW C Evolution 2016 way back in 2015. Sadly as far as I know it has not reach the sunny shores of South Africa yet.

At the Eicma motocycle show in Milan in November 2016, Piaggio unveiled their electric scooter project, the Vespa Elettrica. Not much is known about this e-Vespa, but it is expected to be available in Europe about the middle of 2017.

So watch this space, as I bring you more on scooters in Africa and don’t hold your breath for an electric scooter here any time soon.

BMW C Evolution 2016

The big question will the BMW C Evolution electric scooter ever join its stable mates the BMW C600 Sport and the C650 GT here on the South African showroom floor in 2016?

When we think about BMW scooters, the first thing that comes to mind to the BMW C1, yes the one with the roof, which was introduced to the market in 2000 but didn’t sell very well. With so much safety features going for the C1, why did it fail? I personally know a Vespa rider who used to have a BMW C1 and sold it for the Vespa. He stated that it was underpowered, overweight, top heavy, and it was like a big sail in the wind which he had to constantly fight. A big plus is that they held their re-sale values well.

Ten years later BMW brought us the awesome BMW C600 Sport and the BMW C650 GT scooters but at a premium price over R100,000; too much of deterrent to everyday scooterists. So where would this electric scooter fit in? Certainly it will cheaper to run but will it be affordable to buy and maintain?

About the same time as the bigger BMW scooters were launched, BMW showed the world it C1 electrification concept, the BMW C1-E which later paved the way for the BMW C Evolution which is based on the C600 chassis.

With only a top speed of 120km/h and a range of 100 kilometres, the quiet BMW C Evolution is made for the urban commute but not the open road. With better battery technology, in the near future, hopefully the range will increase to allow it to be taken on the open roads. On the plus side, it takes only 3 hours to get the batteries fully charged up.

Electric scooters are the way forward with organic fuel costs sky rocketing, that even scooter riders are starting to feel the pinch.