Interesting e-scooter or not? (wangye e-romantic)

Sunnymoon

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Hello,

I am a single mum, living in Belgium (please excuse any language mistakes).
As my car broke down and I don't want to repare it, the idea of a scooter came along. Almost immediately I discovered the electric scooters and am really interested.

There is only the possibility to buy a used scooter at the moment. There are some to find here in Belgium.
I now found one interesting and had already a real life look at it. It is a lot bigger than expected, so my interest went up, as it gives the impression to be strong.
But I now understand that not al brands are as good and the price may be to high.
I really hope that some people here can help me out.

It is a very clean scooter, very well handled. The owner now has an e-car and the scooter takes up place.
Brand: Wangye e-romantic (on the scooter you can see the word: smile-e)
50 km/h
li Ion batteries, range is 80km (in papers mentioned 100 km)
3800 km drive in 4 years (he bought it end 2014)
A tarpaulin (?) to cover the whole scooter and one to cover the legs when raining included.
A trunk is on the back and besides the batteries there still is a lot of storage.
Bought in Belgium at a store for electric bikes and scooters at the price of 3600€
The owner wants at least 1300€ for it and says this is already very low.
The scooters looks a lot like vespa I suppose.

I find the price quiet high, as there are other electric ( chinese )scooters that are around 500-750 €. Although their range is half of this one and probably other kind of battery ( Although often recently changed).
Also I still play with the thought of an 125cc gasoline (or electric if for max 1200€) for more speed.

Is there someone along you that knows something about a Wangye scooter and can tell me if it is a good buy at this price? Or as I wanted to bid: 1150€? Or can tell me other info that would be important of knowing?

Thanks in advance!
Greets from Belgium/Antwerp
Sonja
 
I can't seem to find any decent information about the scooter you mentioned. And the Wangye Motors website only lists petrol scooters now. So it might be a generic Chinese electric scooter they sold a while. Do you have a link to the advert of the guy selling it? In general an electric scooter is very hard to sell if it is an relatively unknown brand. So he might struggle to get that much for it being 4 years old and nearly 4000km. Most people are afraid the battery will die on them and a replacement is very expensive. Is there a dealer of this scooter nearby for you and are spare parts easily available? Probably not.

Although I love my electric scooter I would recommend the 125cc gas scooter you're thinking about. Being a single mum and needing it as sole transport replacing your car it would be a better solution I think. And try to find a mayor brand one like a Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Piaggio, Peugeot, etc. So you can have it serviced and repaired close by and spare parts won't be a problem.
 
There's a little bit of info at a sales listing webpage below, cut & pasted here so no one has to go there. I'd rather have the gas scooter for all the reasons SlowCo wrote.

www .tradekey.com/product-free/Electric-Scooter-5908078.html
electric-scooter.jpg

Taizhou Wangye Electric Bicycle Co., Ltd
NO 25 HUIMIN ROAD, BEICHENG INDUSTRIAL ZONE, HUANGYAN DISTRICT TAIZHOU CITY, ZHEJIANG PROVINCE,CHINA
Model No: WYS-Romantic
Battery: lithium
Battery capacity:48V/30Ah 48V/28Ah
Max range: 60KM 50KM
Charge cycles,max: 1000 1000
Watts: 2000 2000
Max.km/h: 50 50
Hill climbing performance:15% 15%
Max playload: 150kg 150kg
Tyre size front/rear: 3.5-10 3.5-10
Brakes,front: Hydraulic Hydraulic
disc brake disc brake
Brakes,rear: Drum brake drum brake
Charger: 250w 1000w
 
I'd go with the advices above, in your situation.

Electric is nice, and there's not a lot to go wrong, and most of it is easy to fix if you know how--but if you depend on it and you don't know how, most other people won't either, and neither will most scooter service places or regular mechanics. But they would probably know how to fix a gas one.


If you're set on the electric:

The most likely thing that could be wrong (or go wrong) with it is the batteries.

They can cost as much as the used scooter to replace, depending on what kind you need to support the kind of riding you do and how far you need to go.

So before you buy, you should ask for a test drive of the full range of the scooter before you buy it, if the shop owner will do that. Make sure it'll actually do what you want first.
 
For ease of use, reliability and parts/repair support, my wife prefers her gas Honda Forsa scooter (300cc) much better than my electric scooter she got to ride for a year. 125cc is good for puttering around town, 150cc will give you highway speeds but will struggle to do it, 300cc and up will give you the performance and stance of a midsize motorcycle without shifting gears. Like it was mentioned above, stick to a known brand that has a dealer near you. Safe riding.
 
Thank you for your thoughts. I am thinking in the same direction.

Here is the link anyway: https://www.2dehands.be/brommers-scooters/scooters/overige-merken/elektrische-scooter-klasse-b-400104124.html
The spots on the trunk are removable (I tried it) and are no damages.

But as you say, the risks are to high and there is a lot better to find :)
 
It looks indeed like a generic Chinese electric scooter. It will output approx. 2hp where a modern 125cc scooter will have around 10hp. So the performance and speed you can achieve will be a lot better as will the amount of payload you can carry.
 
Thank you so much for helping me making a good decision!
I'm looking for something else now :)
 
I know we're an Electric vehicle site, But the best scooter for your needs is going to be a gas scooter.

That electric scooter might be the most reliable scooter ever, but it also might not. Batteries don't last for ever, and I would consider a 4 year old battery worthless, as it can't be counted on. Since it's not a well known brand, spare parts might be hard to find, and not something you can pick up at your local shop.

A Honda would be the most reliable, followed by any other Japanese brand. Firstly, the build quality is great on the Japanese scooters. Secondly, the replacement parts are plentiful and easy to get through most dealerships or parts suppliers. You can also get them serviced by techs who are familiar with them.

I would avoid all of the Chinese scooters if they are sold there, as they are less than reliable and parts can be nearly impossible to find. Some of them are great, but that doesn't help when it breaks down and you have to wait 6 weeks for a spare part
 
Absolutely, thanks.
The idea of electric is great, but not enough 'developed' or riped yet to look on the used scooter market.
Maybe a new one in a year or two :)
 
For the budget you're considering maybe it would even be better to buy an old low mileage reliable Japanese car. A Suzuki Alto or Nissan Micra perhaps. The convenience is much greater.
 
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