Electric vehicles are almost always received with a lot of skepticism, aren’t they? Will there be enough range? Will it support fast charging? Will the brand set up a charging infrastructure? Will it be reliable? And lastly, will it be affordable? Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India took care of (almost) everything with its new pair of electric scooters — the Activa e: and the QC1, yet if you are looking to buy one, you’ll rip your hair off before finally making a decision.
At ₹ 90,000 (ex-showroom Bengaluru), the QC1 is the affordable one, and a quick look at the spec sheet will tell you why. Don’t get me wrong; Honda hasn’t cut corners in the quality of the e-scooter, but the battery and motor specifications aren’t impressive.
The 50-kph top speed is fine for this scooter’s intended audience, which happens to be young, first-time riders and old ones who need a runabout in the city. But even then, the lack of decent initial acceleration in Econ mode means you’ll have to stick to the slowest lane, and the top speed of 30 kph in this mode will also ensure you do that. In Standard mode, the initial acceleration is slightly better but even then it is borderline hazardous for you and the vehicles around if you make the brave decision of veering into the faster lanes.
And the constant ‘high-speed’ riding will consume a lot of battery, and then with the 330-watt charger, you’ll end up spending close to seven hours for a full charge. Oh, and that claimed 80-km range? I managed to get close to 64 km on the QC1 while riding it in rush-hour traffic using both modes as and when needed.
Though the performance and range are a letdown, the underpinnings and ride quality is like a true Honda. The suspension worked brilliantly through undulations and small potholes, and the brakes, too, did their job just fine. Actually, the QC1’s brakes, especially the rear, are just too sharp considering Honda’s target crowd for this scooter. And it’s more to do with the calibration of the combined braking system on this e-scooter. In fact, the QC1’s brakes are sharper than the ones on the Activa e:.
But for those who don’t want to waste precious hours charging, or be (sort of) limited by the range, Honda has the Activa e: which demands ₹ 27,000 more than the QC1 for the Standard model and ₹ 61,600 more for the RoadSync Duo version. Save for some connectivity features and alloy wheel design, there aren’t any differences between the two versions of the Activa e:.
Now, irrespective of the variant you choose, Honda will give you two subscription plans to use its battery-swapping stations — 35 kW per month for ₹ 1999 + GST which roughly equates to 40 km per day or opt for the Advance plan that gives 87 kW per month for ₹ 3599 + GST that gives you 100 km per day. If you exceed the monthly capacity, you can still get fresh batteries on a pay-per-swap basis.
So, with the basic plan, you end up paying over ₹ 24,000 in a year and ₹ 1.20 lakh in five years just for battery swaps. With the Advance plan, the cost goes all the way up to ₹ 2.15 lakh in five years — and that’s excluding the taxes. Now, don’t these numbers seem like the running cost of an ICE scooter?
The idea behind the swap stations is fabulous. It takes under 40 seconds to swap the drained batteries for a pair of fully-charged ones. And Bengaluru has over 200 swap stations now. Furthermore, with the RoadSync app, finding the closest one is easy, too.
Honda has made the Activa e: an absolute hoot to ride. It is well balanced, is easy to filter through traffic with and has great ergonomics, too. And the suspension? Well, though the rear is on a slightly stiffer side, the ride is still enjoyable. Sure, the Econ mode could have done with a better off-the-line acceleration, but it can be safely used in the traffic. Standard and Sport modes are just too fun, and with heavy usage of the latter, the range I could get was around 70 km. But with many swap stations around, I couldn’t care less.
What I couldn’t wrap my head around was the ability of both of these scooters to take on a slope. These have a maximum payload capacity of 150 kg, and if you and your pillion weigh even a little over that, chances are one of you will have to get off the scooter for it to reach the top. While this doesn’t happen on bridges, steep slopes in mall parking or multi-level parking lots will prove challenging if you don’t have enough momentum. Though the Activa can make it in Sport mode through a slope that has a gradient of over seven degrees, the Econ and Standard mode don’t do much on both these scooters in such situations.
So, who are these e-scooters for, then? For someone who needs a grocery runner? Well, the QC1 is good for that and nothing more. And the Activa? With no underseat storage, it may not be the best candidate for this job.
How about someone who is looking to commute to work everyday? The electric Activa is apt, right? No hassle of long charging times or no need to plan the day based on the charge left. But then, should you really pay all that hard-earned money for an EV whose running cost is as good as an ICE vehicle? So, while Honda has checked most boxes with these e-scooters, the biggest question remains — are they truly the future, or just a costly compromise?
