The Yamaha EC-06 electric scooter boasts 100 miles of range
Yamaha launches a new electric scooter for the Indian market, and its claimed range is surprisingly good.
Electric scooters may not have yet been wholeheartedly accepted by many motorcyclists in the UK and Europe, but that isn’t the case elsewhere.
Take India, for example. I was in Bengaluru earlier this year with TVS and Norton, and as I commuted around the city, I saw more electric scooters and powered two-wheelers in a few days than I’ve seen in the UK in a decade. In some regions, particularly Asia, they work, and people are flocking to them in their droves.
You may also like to read our best electric scooters for commuters feature.
Yamaha is looking to cash in on that demand, as its Indian subsidiary has announced a brace of new scooters, and one of them looks particularly interesting. The bike in question is called the EC-06, and on the face of it, it’s a fairly standard-looking step-through with modern styling. What is interesting about it, though, is the claimed range. Yamaha is touting 160km (around 100 miles) from the new bike. And for a city scooter aimed at urban environments, that’s pretty damn good.
While 100 miles of range, to most of us, doesn’t sound great, comparing it to the other urban EVs on the market paints a different picture. Maeving’s lovely little RM1 and RM1S top out at a claimed 80miles, and we are fairly sure the EC-06 will undercut the price of the Maeving, which starts at £5,990 for the 80-mile dual battery model.
Powering the Yamaha is a 4.5 kW electric motor delivering 6.7 kW (around 9 bhp) of peak power. That power comes thanks to a 4 kWh fixed battery pack which, for now at least, can only be charged from a domestic plug socket. That means the recharge time is a slightly tardy nine hours from flat to full, although the automotive-grade plug seen in some images of the bike could point to faster options further down the line.
As it stands, the EC-06 is only heading into the Asian market, meaning it remains unclear whether it will make it to the UK or Europe.
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Simon (AKA Toad) has been working within the motorcycle industry for more than twelve years, and a member of the motorcyclist family since birth. Growing up around British-built single and twins, it was inevitable that a life on two wheels was on the cards, from a very early age!
