EVT REVIEWS
By Noel Adams
On November 16, 2003 I attended EVS 20 in Long Beach, California where I got the opportunity to test ride the EVT ION.
This
full sized electric scooter is the same base scooter as the EVT 4000e but has
been upgraded with such enhancements as a kill switch to make it DOT compliant.
It has a more modern look and the fit and finish on this vehicle was
excellent. There is seating for two
but Ryan pointed out that taller people could shift back further on the seat for
a more comfortable ride.
After donning a crash helmet I sat on the scooter and found the seating position very comfortable. I am quite short so I sometimes have difficulty holding up a scooter. With the ION I could place both feet on the ground easily and felt no danger of tipping the scooter over.
Ryan from EVT World walked me through the controls. Power is controlled by a twist grip in your right hand. The kill switch is to the left of the twist grip. Front and rear brakes are operated by hand controls. A gauge mounted just below the speedometer showed the state of charge on the batteries. First turn the key to the on position then move the kill switch to the ready position and you are set to go.
I pushed the scooter forward to drop it off its stand then gave a slight twist on the throttle. Acceleration was smooth with no hint of the jerkiness that you sometimes get with electric vehicles. After carefully weaving my way around the representatives from GEM who were giving test rides on the same track, I opened up the throttle and was quickly up to twenty five miles per hour.
The track was in the form of an oval and all I had to do was back off the throttle to slow down a few miles an hour then lean into the curve and open up the throttle again to go around the bend under power. The scooter was an absolute joy going around the bend. Even at speed cornering was effortless. The scooter maintained its line around the bend as well as any motorcycle I have ridden.
Back on the straight the scooter topped out around 28 miles per hour. It felt very balanced and the ride was smooth. Coming around the top curve I pulled back into the EVT world area and braked to a stop. The brakes were adequate for the weight and size of this scooter and while I didn’t have to do an emergency stop I feel comfortable the brakes would handle it without a hitch.
Ryan came up as I pulled in and suggested I try another couple of laps before testing the Equinox. This really put an EV grin on my face and I zoomed away again. The ION behaved beautifully throughout the ride and I could have stayed on the scooter all day long.
What I liked about the ION
Comfortable seating position
Handling
Acceleration
What I didn’t like about the ION
There was nothing I didn’t like about this scooter.
Conclusion
I have often thought that the EVT scooters were some of the best that you could buy. Now that I have had a chance to try them out for myself that conviction has only been strengthened.
By Noel Adams
On November 16, 2003 I attended EVS 20 in Long Beach, California where I got the opportunity to test ride the EVT Equinox.
This
full sized electric scooter is the same base scooter as the EVT 168 but has been
upgraded with such enhancements as a kill switch to make it DOT compliant.
It has a retro look like a Vespa and the fit and finish on this vehicle
was excellent. There is seating for
only one person on this scooter.
I sat on the scooter and found the seating position very comfortable. I am quite short so I sometimes have difficulty holding up a scooter and I found that this scooter was no exception. I was able to touch the floor with both feet but it just didn’t seem as comfortable as the ION.
Controls on the Equinox is similar to that on the ION and since I had just finished test riding one of those I didn’t need to be coached on the Equinox’s controls. Power is controlled by a twist grip in your right hand. The kill switch is to the left of the twist grip. Front and rear brakes are controlled by the usual brake levers. There are two gauges mounted side by side in the middle of the handlebars. One gauge is the speedometer and the other is for battery state of charge. The gauges are round dials to fit with the retro look of the scooter.
First turn the key to the on position then move the kill switch to the ready position and you are set to go.
I pushed the scooter forward to drop it off its stand then gave a slight twist on the throttle. Acceleration was smooth with no hint of the jerkiness that you sometimes get with electric vehicles. After once again weaving my way around the representatives from GEM who were giving test rides on the same track, I opened up the throttle found the acceleration exhilarating.
The track was in the form of an oval and all I had to do was back off the throttle to slow down a few miles an hour then lean into the curve and open up the throttle again to go around the bend under power. The scooter felt a little heavy and I found a tendency to swing out a little bit as I came out of the curve. Out on the road I would have compensated for this by taking the corner slower but I was having too much fun to worry about this on the test track.
Back on the straight the scooter topped out around 28 miles per hour. It felt very balanced and the ride was smooth. I went to do a second lap and hit a spot where there was a small pothole and loose chippings. The scooter ride felt somewhat bumpy but there was not even a hint of loss of traction on the loose surface.
Coming around the top curve for the last time I pulled back into the EVT world area and braked to a stop. The brakes were adequate for the weight and size of this scooter and while I didn’t have to do an emergency stop I feel comfortable the brakes would handle it without a hitch.
I went to put the scooter on its stand and found the stand was easy to locate and push down with your foot but it immediately sprang back up again as I eased the scooter over. The equinox is quite heavy and I almost lost control and laid it down but managed to get it back upright again. With some prompting from Ryan I held the stand down as I leaned the Equinox over and this time it landed on the stand with no problem.
What I liked about the Equinox
Acceleration
Ride comfort
Retro look
What I didn’t like about the Equinox
I found the kickstand difficult to operate.
No room for a passenger.
Conclusion
Overall I preferred the ride and handling of the ION to the Equinox although I think I prefer the Equinox’s looks. These Scooters are excellent however and I can highly recommend both.
My EVT 4000e's first 100 miles
by Jennifer Corliss
Well, they're not it's first hundred miles, it already had 1000 miles on it when I got it as a shop demo bike. But they're my first hundred miles riding a scooter of any type! For background, let me state that I have been driving an electric car for several months, and I bicycle a few thousand miles every year, so I'm familiar with electric transportation as well as two-wheeled transportation.
The EVT 4000e is a dream to ride, and tons of fun. David Herron's description of being on a magic carpet is better than anything I could have come up with, so I'll just second his opinion of the ride quality! At first it took me a while to get used to the handling of having smaller wheels and 300 lbs under me. This is definitely not a bicycle. But with each ride, I am getting used to the handling, and pushing it a little further.
This scooter has good pick-up. In Power mode, I can easily stay with or pass cars off the line at a stop-light. In Economy mode, I stay will them, but not quite as long, since it's speed tops out at 25 mph (vs. 32+ mph for Power mode). 32 mph is a little underpowered for riding in traffic along 35 mph roads with no bike lane or real shoulder, I've found. I now understand why David put the "turbo" switch on his EVT. Fortunately, that only comprises about 20% of my riding. The rest I do in bike lanes, which is a total dream. I leave the scooter in Economy mode while in the bike lanes, 25 mph is really plenty fast, usually. When I need to mix it up with traffic, say to turn left, or get through a tricky freeway on/off ramp section, I bump it up to Power mode and the scooter accelerates quickly and smoothly. I can flip the switch without removing my hand from the throttle, which is nice. As for bike lane etiquette, I usually pull out into traffic to pass a cyclist (or slow down behind him/her until traffic is clear enough to pull out). They are always caught by surprise, because they cannot hear me! But so far they have all given very positive responses to the scoot, asking lots of questions at the stoplights.
Drivers' reactions are a bit different than I am used to. I just can't get as skinny on the scoot as I can on a bike, so sometimes I have to merge in with traffic if the shoulder disappears, when on a bike I could squeeze through on the right. When the shoulder widens again and I pull over, drivers are loathe to pass me. It's probably the motorcycle helmet I wear that makes them think I'm more of a full-fledged vehicle than a bicycle. Also the fact that I can *almost* keep up with them. I am getting into the habit of waving them on to pass me, when I can move over onto the shoulder. That helps. But in that vein of treating me more like a full-fledged vehicle, they are not so friendly about letting me change lanes so I can get into a left-turn lane. Also, I am probably less aggressive about it on the scoot than on the bicycle, because I'm still not completely used to the handling of the scooter, and I have less field of vision with that big helmet on. I'll have to work on my technique.
So far the batteries have performed excellently. Just yesterday I took it 40 miles in total, 20 miles of it all in one trip from a full charge. I did not even go into the yellow! Even though I was solidly into the "half-full" green (I call it the second green) LED, the performance of the bike did not change. Economy mode still kept me constant at 25 mph on the flats, and Power mode still boosted me up to 32 mph. I haven't done any extended hills, but on freeway over-pass types of hills, Economy mode keeps me at 21 mph, and Power mode at about 26-27 mph. (One of the highlights of my long ride yesterday was crossing paths with my fiancé, driving our rented Th!nk City - we beeped our tinny horns at each other, a little sign of EV solidarity, ha ha!)
Probably the only negative about the bike is that the rear shocks are probably set up too strong for my wimpy 120 lbs. Bumps can be a little jarring. As I understand it, the rear shocks are not adjustable. I've already reported about the speedometer being 20% off - the odometer is, as well. I don't even look at those anymore, just use the bicycle computer I mounted on the dash.
The underseat storage is just big enough for the charger and my purse. The front open storage bin actually holds a lot, though. I have a trunk on order. I just found out there is a windshield available, I'm sure I'll be picking one of those up as well.
All in all, it's been a great 100 miles, and I can't wait to double it!
Jenn
Yellow EVT 4000e
Santa Clara, CA