Review on:

RMartin EVD Electric Scooter

Value

Style and Comfort

Performance

Fuel Efficiency

tybreaker’s Rating

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Community Rating:

(14 reviews)

I just test rode various models of the EVD scooter this afternoon at Rmartin and it seems to be a solid ride. I only rode it about 20 minutes and just around the residential area near Rmartin. My experience with electric scooters is confined to an EGo and an Oxygen Lepton and the EVD/eFun D is in a totally different class. It feels more like a motorcycle i.e. heavier and more stable. The residential streets I rode on during my first test drive were flat and the EVD accelerated smartly to 30mph and cruised very smoothly - once I got going. The only complaint I have with this scooter in this initial ride is that the throttle is very sensitive; it took me a good dozen stops and starts to finally not feel like I was going to get thrown off the back of the bike.

On relatively level roads and smaller hills, the EVD is a great scooter. The acceleration is pretty amazing on city streets - I easily kept up with cars from traffic light to traffic light. Cruising between 35 and 40mph seemed effortless for the EVD. It felt firm and stable. The rear shocks worked well to smooth out the occasional irregularities in the road.

The real test for me was going up and down serious hills. Early on in the road test is a hill that I would estimate at approximately 30-35 degrees with a fairly hard right turn leading to it so I couldn't really get a running start to begin the climb. Glancing down at the speedometer, I saw I was entering the hill at about 25 mph and by the time I was up about 3/4 of the hill, my speed was down to about 15 mph and held steady at that speed to the top. Climbing smaller hills in the range of 20-30 degrees, the EVD seemed to find a sweet spot of about 20mph. Going down the hills was fun and the EVD's disk brakes worked very well.

One small but thoughtful feature I really liked about the EVD is the turn signal beep when it's turned on. It reminded me turn off the signal after each turn. I can't count the number of times I've forgotten to turn the signal off on my current scooter. The seat is also very comfortable. The build quality is very good as far as I can tell.

My most important criteria in selecting a scooter is its hill climbing ability. I would buy the EVD in a heartbeat if I didn't live in the hilly part of town. But I would feel much better (safer) if the scooter can give me about 5 more mph in ascending the hills in my neighborhood. Randy Martin, who has really been very helpful and accommodating in my testing has agreed to let me test the EVD+, which has a motor that has even more torque. If that does give me the extra push I'm looking for, I will be a happy camper.

I did test the EVD+, the higher torque version also. I rode it on the exact same route with very similar weather conditions. Unfortunately, I did not see any noticeable increase in performance on the hills. I'll have to wait until something else comes along.

After my test rides of the EVD and EVD+ and to satisfy my own curiosity, I did test ride the lithium battery version of this scooter.

This version was a significant improvement over the SLA battery equipped scooter. Again on the same test route, I was able to get to about 20 mph going up the steepest hill. This lithium EVD was able to climb the other, less steep hills with no problems hitting between 25-30 mph consistently over the top. On flat city streets, I was able to keep up with traffic easily managing a smooth 45 mph for one stretch between traffic lights. I felt the scooter truly had more speed to give if I had needed it.

This scooter will fit the needs of anyone looking for an urban commuter.

Disclaimer: I'm a rank amateur in the electric scooter field so everything in this review should be taken with that in mind. I've tried my best to be as accurate as I can in my estimate of speed (using only the EVD's speedometer) and steepness of hills. Other opinions I've expressed are strictly personal.