Confused Between Electric Bike & Electric Scooter?

[Mandy Rudd]

Hey folks, I am planning to buy a mobility transport. The budget is around $800 to $1000 max. Confused between e-bike and e-scooter. I mainly needed it for commuting to the office, which is 3 miles from my home. Can anyone help me to explain which one I should go for and their benefits? Thanks in advance.

 

[Jim1348]

You may want to take a test ride on both at local dealers. Another factor in my experience would be what the 3 miles commute is like from your home to your office. Is it both e-bike friendly and e-scooter friendly? Are there paved bike paths nearby that permit e-bikes, but not e-scooters? How big of a factor is weather in your area? When the weather is bad, having something that goes faster might be preferable. Would one be safer than the other in your area?

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Hey folks, I am planning to buy a mobility transport. The budget is around $800 to $1000 max. Confused between e-bike and e-scooter. I mainly needed it for commuting to the office, which is 3 miles from my home. Can anyone help me to explain which one I should go for and their benefits? Thanks in advance.

What kind of scooter do you have in mind?

 

[Slaphappygamer]

If you have hills, I highly recommend a dual motor scooter. If you have crap roads, then you will want dual suspension, but that will increase the cost. Solid tires will be ok if the entire commute is newly paved path. Even those little lines in the sidewalk can be felt with solid tires.
To be honest, 3 miles commute while standing will get tiring.

If you choose a bike, then most 750w bikes would work. With a bike, it is very important to choose a bike that fits your body type.

Now is a good time to by with all the sales. Are you a handy person? You can save money going with a direct 2 consumer ebike. Ride1up has good bikes at a good price. Just know that with a direct 2 consumer ebike, you will eventually need repair or maintenance. Not many bike shops will work on a bike they don’t sell.

 

[teskow]

Three miles one way isn't very much so the scooter may be handier and quicker to just jump on and go. Depending on where you can keep it at work the scooter may be easier to store.
I have been to China and the streets are crowded with millions of electric scooters. Yes I Googled it and there are millions of them. It is probably because they don't take up as much space at home and work.

 

[nutdriver]

You may want to take a test ride on both at local dealers. Another factor in my experience would be what the 3 miles commute is like from your home to your office. Is it both e-bike friendly and e-scooter friendly? Are there paved bike paths nearby that permit e-bikes, but not e-scooters? How big of a factor is weather in your area? When the weather is bad, having something that goes faster might be preferable. Would one be safer than the other in your area?

I would definitely recommend a test ride if able

If this is what you mean by an "electric scooter" I would personally prefer an electric bike. I think it would be more versatile in the end.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

If it is 3 miles each way, the pavement is good, there are no extreme hills, and the weather is not really bad, the upright e-scooter is the way to go.

I used to ride e-scooters on many of my business trips to several major European cities such as London, Berlin, Frankfurt/M, Helsinki and several other. As you can see, it was safe enough to wear white trousers!

 

[il Munduato]

I'm thinking scooter.
Much easier to to handle/store and no wrinklling of clothes or getting your olives basted.

 

[sc00ter]

I ended up with a JackRabbit OG recently. Your 3 mile commute could be done on either a ebike or escooter. I'll point out a few observations.

Escooters force you to wear a pack pack. Very few have rack options. The flip side is they are super compact. Most you cannot remove the batteries for charging.

Ebikes, such as a Lexcric XP Lite or a Ride1Up Portola, can have racks added. Also, you can remove the battery for off bike charging. Take up a tad more space.

I've owned both and hated the escooter (Apollo Ghost) because it was hurting my feet to stand on and was twitchy. I also owned many ebikes, favorite being a RadRunner. The JackRabbit is a cross between both. Not perfect (bit twitchy) but will do its job bumping around in a 5 mile radius. I added a basket, aftermarket lights, mirror and a bell. Grocery run ready!

 

[sc00ter]

My "short" runabout.

 

[Mandy Rudd]

What kind of scooter do you have in mi commuting

I am looking for commuting

What kind of scooter do you have in mind?

I am looking for a durable commuting scooter or e-bike with a decent range.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

I am looking for commuting

I am looking for a durable commuting scooter or e-bike with a decent range.

Yes, got that part. How about a standing vs. sitting scooter? (The more you give us to go on, the better we can help.)

 

[PCeBiker]

I am looking for commuting

I am looking for a durable commuting scooter or e-bike with a decent range.

In Canada, if it doesn't have working pedals, it counts as a motorcycle legally and you need to be licensed and insured.

A lot of two wheeled electric "scooters" don't have pedals,..

Sometimes they come with pedals that are completely useless and are only there so it counts as a bicycle legally.

 

[February]

Hey folks, I am planning to buy a mobility transport. The budget is around $800 to $1000 max. Confused between e-bike and e-scooter. I mainly needed it for commuting to the office, which is 3 miles from my home. Can anyone help me to explain which one I should go for and their benefits? Thanks in advance.

My cheap(at least until the orange one comes to power) Vivi has about a 5 to 6 mile range on just throttle/no pedaling. I only ever did that once though because I had to to drop off paperwork at my township and my body was wrecked from riding the day before. Downside to my bike, she's a fair weather girl, can't ride her in the rain. $500 including shipping:

The other downside, as a rear hub with speed limiter, the ride gets a little choppy when you reach maximum speed of 22 mph because the bub motor and the speed limiter start fighting each other. This is probably not so bad with mid drive. Those are currently out of my price range and I love the bike I have anyway. If you can find one, you might want to go with a 750wt or higher hub drive. Those are more practical if you are just looking for a scooter for short commute, but again, make sure you get something you can ride in the rain.

 

[February]

Try googling electric dirt bike or adult electric motorcycle. If you don't want to pedal.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Try googling electric dirt bike or adult electric motorcycle. If you don't want to pedal.

For 3 miles each way?

 

[February]

The range is probably a bit further on my bike in just throttle. While I bought my bike for exercise, some are buying them because they can't afford mopeds or motorcycles. My suggestion was based on OP's price range and what he's looking for. I'm pretty sure that's what he's looking for. Just trying to be helpful.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

The range is probably a bit further on my bike in just throttle. While I bought my bike for exercise, some are buying them because they can't afford mopeds or motorcycles. My suggestion was based on OP's price range and what he's looking for. I'm pretty sure that's what he's looking for. Just trying to be helpful.

I think is is either a rental or a purchase of an e-scooter. E-bike is simply too complicated and heavy for short commutes... in my opinion.
One of my friends who is an avid cyclist rides an e-scooter for his commutes of a similar distance.