Electric scooters: the €4,100 scooter that can't climb hills
A forum user criticizes a €4,100 electric scooter with a 1.5 kWh battery weighing 12 kg. The thread compares its usefulness to motorcycles, bikes and walking.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
The €4,100 electric scooter that can't climb hills
An electric scooter can cost €4,100. For that money, according to a calculation circulating in the debate, you could buy a 125cc motorcycle with a 500-kilometre range and still have enough left over to pay for fuel for years to come. The paradox is not an anecdote: it defines a market that, according to participants, has grown on the back of subsidies, bike lanes and a promise of practicality that falls apart the moment the first hill appears. The handlebar scooter — the kind you ride standing up without needing balance — has become the default urban vehicle without ever winning the technical comparison against the bicycle, the moped or, simply, walking.
How much an electric scooter costs and what you could buy instead
The case that opens the discussion is a scooter costing **€4,100** with a 1.5 kWh battery that, on its own, weighs **12 kilos**. Its power is equivalent to that of a basic 125cc motorcycle, but the law limits it to 25 km/h. Some argue that, with that power, it should be allowed to reach 45 km/h; against that stands the argument that a vehicle with no licence, no mandatory insurance and no roadworthiness test travelling at that estimulante ilegal in a bike lane is a ticking time bomb.
The most repeated calculation is the opportunity cost: for €3,000 or €4,000 less there are petrol motorcycles with a 500-kilometre range, and the price difference covers "about 200,000 km" of fuel. The comparison ignores maintenance, insurance and parking, but it leaves an uncomfortable headline: the high-end scooter doesn't compete with the motorcycle, it competes with indulgence.
Why the handlebar scooter is an invention with dubious balance
The thesis of the original post is that the handlebar democratizes the vehicle at the cost of turning it into a toy: anyone can hop on without learning, just like the training wheels some people never took off their bicycle. By contrast, the electric skateboard — a deck with trucks replaced by motors and a battery bolted to the board — demanded balance and skill, which is why it never went mainstream. Four or five years ago, according to the same account, you could convert an old deck into an electric one for about **$100**, and buy a new electric skateboard for under **$300**. Then came Bluetooth remotes and prices went up.
The counterargument is common sense: a skateboard's small wheels get caught in any kerb or pothole. Wheel size is what provides versatility, and there the scooter beats the skateboard. The debate, then, is not skateboard versus scooter, but scooter versus everything else.
The electric scooter versus the bicycle: weight, range and parking
A bicycle weighs half as much as an electric scooter precisely because it carries no battery, it's faster and it never runs out of charge. Those who defend the scooter respond with three facts of real life: a bike doesn't fit in a micro-apartment, leaving a bike locked up on the street is giving it away, and in many places you can bring in a folded scooter but not a bicycle. The range, according to the cases exchanged, is around **20 kilometres** for typical urban use, enough to combine it with public transport and charge it at work.
The point of friction is coexistence. Some complain that scooters have invaded bike lanes, making them more dangerous, while others reply that in their city neither cyclists nor scooter riders use the bike lane: everyone rides on the road. The anecdote of the kid swerving around a pothole with exposed rebar sums up the problem better than any statistic.
Who actually uses the electric scooter
The profile that emerges from the discussion is a mixed bag that disproves the stereotype of the young, sporty user. There's a fifty-something woman who swapped the moped stolen from her garage for a **€300 or €400** scooter and is delighted: no petrol, no maintenance, no garage, no expensive insurance. There's a father whose son rides down to secondary school on a paved path without the hassles of a motorcycle. And there's a user who, after suffering plantar fasciitis, found the scooter to be the only way to get around pain-free until he healed.
The flip side is the scooter modified to run like a motorcycle with no insurance, no licence and no registration plate. There the debate turns toxic, and the suspicion creeps in that the next regulation — mandatory insurance, periodic roadworthiness tests, a moped licence — will arrive sooner than many think. The State, the argument goes, never forgives its cut.
The question is not whether the scooter is practical. It's for whom, in which city and at what price. With €4,100 on the table, the answer stops being technical and becomes a statement of intent.
An electric scooter can cost €4,100. For that money, according to a calculation circulating in the debate, you could buy a 125cc motorcycle with a 500-kilometre range and still have enough left over to pay for fuel for years to come. The paradox is not an anecdote: it defines a market that, according to participants, has grown on the back of subsidies, bike lanes and a promise of practicality that falls apart the moment the first hill appears. The handlebar scooter — the kind you ride standing up without needing balance — has become the default urban vehicle without ever winning the technical comparison against the bicycle, the moped or, simply, walking.
How much an electric scooter costs and what you could buy instead
The case that opens the discussion is a scooter costing **€4,100** with a 1.5 kWh battery that, on its own, weighs **12 kilos**. Its power is equivalent to that of a basic 125cc motorcycle, but the law limits it to 25 km/h. Some argue that, with that power, it should be allowed to reach 45 km/h; against that stands the argument that a vehicle with no licence, no mandatory insurance and no roadworthiness test travelling at that estimulante ilegal in a bike lane is a ticking time bomb.
The most repeated calculation is the opportunity cost: for €3,000 or €4,000 less there are petrol motorcycles with a 500-kilometre range, and the price difference covers "about 200,000 km" of fuel. The comparison ignores maintenance, insurance and parking, but it leaves an uncomfortable headline: the high-end scooter doesn't compete with the motorcycle, it competes with indulgence.
Why the handlebar scooter is an invention with dubious balance
The thesis of the original post is that the handlebar democratizes the vehicle at the cost of turning it into a toy: anyone can hop on without learning, just like the training wheels some people never took off their bicycle. By contrast, the electric skateboard — a deck with trucks replaced by motors and a battery bolted to the board — demanded balance and skill, which is why it never went mainstream. Four or five years ago, according to the same account, you could convert an old deck into an electric one for about **$100**, and buy a new electric skateboard for under **$300**. Then came Bluetooth remotes and prices went up.
The counterargument is common sense: a skateboard's small wheels get caught in any kerb or pothole. Wheel size is what provides versatility, and there the scooter beats the skateboard. The debate, then, is not skateboard versus scooter, but scooter versus everything else.
The electric scooter versus the bicycle: weight, range and parking
A bicycle weighs half as much as an electric scooter precisely because it carries no battery, it's faster and it never runs out of charge. Those who defend the scooter respond with three facts of real life: a bike doesn't fit in a micro-apartment, leaving a bike locked up on the street is giving it away, and in many places you can bring in a folded scooter but not a bicycle. The range, according to the cases exchanged, is around **20 kilometres** for typical urban use, enough to combine it with public transport and charge it at work.
The point of friction is coexistence. Some complain that scooters have invaded bike lanes, making them more dangerous, while others reply that in their city neither cyclists nor scooter riders use the bike lane: everyone rides on the road. The anecdote of the kid swerving around a pothole with exposed rebar sums up the problem better than any statistic.
Who actually uses the electric scooter
The profile that emerges from the discussion is a mixed bag that disproves the stereotype of the young, sporty user. There's a fifty-something woman who swapped the moped stolen from her garage for a **€300 or €400** scooter and is delighted: no petrol, no maintenance, no garage, no expensive insurance. There's a father whose son rides down to secondary school on a paved path without the hassles of a motorcycle. And there's a user who, after suffering plantar fasciitis, found the scooter to be the only way to get around pain-free until he healed.
The flip side is the scooter modified to run like a motorcycle with no insurance, no licence and no registration plate. There the debate turns toxic, and the suspicion creeps in that the next regulation — mandatory insurance, periodic roadworthiness tests, a moped licence — will arrive sooner than many think. The State, the argument goes, never forgives its cut.
The question is not whether the scooter is practical. It's for whom, in which city and at what price. With €4,100 on the table, the answer stops being technical and becomes a statement of intent.
Also available in: Deutsch
Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (99 replies).
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