Review from: http://www.electric-scooter-world.com
Beauty is in the eye of
the Beholder!
The heart and brains of any
electric vehicle is the motor and motor
controller . This is where the E-MAX excels.
Other makers of full size electric scooters tend
to use existing Taiwan or Mainland China
components. The E-MAX motor and controller are
designed to meet the German specifications and
requirements of the parent firm. The motors and
controllers are made in China, but under German
QA and production control.
The controller - and the three-phase brushless
hub motor seen on the left may look like other
combinations, but they are in fact the most
efficient and robust of any I have encountered or
even heard about to date.
The E-MAX scooters use a front
disc brake and a rear drum brake (a real drum
brake, not a 'band brake'). The combination
allows for instant panic stopping and works as
well as the systems on Hondas, Vespas, Yamahas,
etc.
Visibility can be a life-or-death
thing for two wheel riders. The E-MAX scooters
have bright and very visible lights and
turn-signals. The main front light is always on
when riding like Honda scooters and a few others.
This feature may be over-ridden in future models,
but such was the case with my test unit.
I initially opted for the feature to be
over-ridden, but after seeing how little it
effected range, I would be happy with the main
light being on with no ability to over-ride if
that proves to be the case.
The twin mirrors actually allow one to see
behind. Most of the other scooters I have tested
have mirrors that don't see around my large frame
very well.
The E-MAX scooters have a very
simple but elegant dash, with analog instruments
that report on: speed, distance travel
(speedometer, odometer), the state of the battery
pack, power, turn-signals, and high beam head
light activation.
All instruments can easily be
read while riding with a brief glance. All the
instruments appear to be extremely accurate, but
I will know more when I do complete certification
testing in August 2005.
There were no long steep hills in
Austin that were of easy reach, or didn't require
travel on fast moving roads, so I had to satisfy
myself climbing the little 'monster' to the left.
It is about 15% average grade with a spot or two
around 17% .
I went up the hill three times on the E-MAX
Sport, two of the times were part of a full
throttle, jack rabbit starts, riding marathon
that I will describe in the 'comments' below:
Comments:
The E-MAX Sport is the finest electric
vehicle I have ridden to date. It is designed and
constructed extremely well, and it performs
better than the Oxygen (Lepton), and EVT
scooters.
During the early days of electric scooters one
had to map ones routes a head of time to be sure
that it wasn't too far, or that the route didn't
have to tough a hill to climb, etc. Even with
planning, one still had to regulate ones riding
such that the limited battery resources were not
depleted from aggressive riding (full throttle
all the time, climbing hills at highest speed,
jack-rabbit starts, etc).
The Charly scooter took expectations up several
notches, and the EGO scooter ushered in a new
era. As long as one's route was 15 miles or less,
you could ride the eGO(2) anyway you wanted,
tackle hills, and be fairly sure you would arrive
at your destination under scooter power (and not
your own!). The eGO2 was followed by the Numo and
Forsen, two more 15 miles and under worry free
scooters.
When I tested the EVT 168 scooter, for the first
time and didn't think about range at all as I
rode around the city. The next hurdle was,
however, being able to ride in main traffic. The
EVT-168 could hang at 29-20 mph in main traffic,
on crowded streets or sparsely traveled
neighborhood streets only.
The E-MAX Sport has opened up another new era for
electric scooters. I rode around Austin, Texas on
the E-MAX Sport on streets with speed limits from
25 mph to 40 mph. Here's what I found:
The 'sane' car driver typically ride 5 - 10 mph
above the speed limit no matter what street they
are on. The E-MAX Sport has a top speed of 35+
mph, so I would lead the pack on streets with 25
mph speeds limits.
On 30 mph streets I would be passed by a few
cars, but generally most cars were content to
ride behind at 35 mph.
On 35 mph streets many cars would pass, but not
all. If there were long stretches between lights
or stops signs then many cars would pass. If
there were frequent lights/stop signs then fewer
would pass as they wouldn't get an opportunity to
go 40 - 45+ mph and pass.
On 40 mph streets, it needed to be two lanes each
way. I would stay in the right lane at 35 mph and
everyone would pass at 50+ mph. I don't recommend
riding on 40 mph streets for long periods, but at
35 mph one is at least going fast enough that
cars have a chance to judge your speed and pass
as oppose to riding up on you (and over you) as
might be the case if one is going 30 mph or less.
The E-MAX sport has a normal mode and a 'turbo'
mode which is activated by a button press. The
'turbo mode' only last for about 1.5 minutes
after pressing the button. This power boost takes
you to 35+ mph quickly when on the road or helps
you accelerate briskly at lights/stop signs when
in heavy traffic. It is also used to climbed
steep hills. People who hate helmet laws, seat
belt laws, and other laws which attempt to
protect people from themselves, will hate the
'turbo button' feature. They will want a simple
'on/off' switch (the extreme will want turbo mode
only). I had no problem adjusting to the use of
the 'turbo button' but less experienced riders
might. The reason E-MAX created the 'limited
period' turbo button is because people don't need
to use 'turbo mode' most of the time, and its
constant use effects range on a significant
level. E-MAX knows its success in the USA is
riding on the fact that it has 35 mph speed, but
also it success is riding on range.
The E-MAx Sport ridden in normal mode is about as
powerful as the EVT, and slightly less than the
Oxygen MB-50. The unit I tested would do about 31
mph without the turbo boost and 35+ mph with the
turbo boost with this 225 lb rider. I believe the
production units will do 35 mph without the turbo
boost. This will all be verified when I get a
production unit in early August.
I could not climb the 15-17% hill in normal mode.
I had to use the turbo mode to climb the hill . I
also found that the normal acceleration of the
E-MAX Sport was less than the Oxygen MB-50, about
equal to EVT(?) ( ? that is from memory and not
side-by-side testing). I don't feel that normal
acceleration is adequate for crowded city
traffic. I found that I needed to use the turbo
boost to get a little lead on the cars and to get
to 35 mph quickly.
I have built a reputation for pooh-poohing range
claims from various e-scooter makers. I started
ESW just to give people 'real world' data on
e-scooter range and speed realities. Followers of
ESW also know that I fall in love with various
new models and praise their attributes to the
world. (Charly, HCF-707, eGO(2), Vego 600, Numo,
Forsen, ESR-750 are cases in point)
Please note then that although I have praised and
continue to praise various models, I call the
speed and range results as I see them. With all
that in mind the E-MAX Sport that I
tested in Austin, Texas has 35 miles range at 35
mph speed as a minimum!
Here is how the range test developed. The E-MAX
Sport got a full charge over night in my hotel
room! The next morning Bill Moore of EVWorld.com
wanted to try it so he (weighs about 200 lbs?)
rode it on some 30-35 mph streets as Larry
(e-maxusa.com) took us on a tour of a very lovely
and famous natural swimming hole. The trip there
and back was about 5 miles. Bill then took the
Oxygen and I was back on the E-MAX Sport again. I
told Larry, Thomas (E-MAX), and Bill that I would
see them in a while and I went off to 'pooh -
pooh' the range claims about the E-MAX (40 miles)
and its so-called silicon battery.
I rode only on crowded streets where I had to run
full throttle turbo mode as much as possible. I
did full throttle starts with turbo boost at
every light and stop sign I came upon. I took
long stretches of road where I was able to get
the E-MAX up to 40 mph on steep declines, and
then I would hold it at full throttle and hit the
turbo button when climbing long accents. I went
on any street that I could find that had a long
hill. I went to the 15% hill twice and climb it,
but only 'after' the batteries had over 15 miles
of heavy use. I rode and rode and rode until I
was tired, and the battery status indicator was
only just approaching the 'start' of the red
portion. I was convinced and needed to do no
additional rding. I return back to
texaserider.com and Larry asked did I do 40
miles. I said the bike had 25 miles on it of
extremely hard riding and that was good enough
for me. Larry said 'No it has to do 40 miles'. I
said my riding was equivalent to 40 miles of
normal riding on the flat, but Larry wouldn't
hear it. Now I know where Lance Armstrong (from
Austin) gets it! Larry (weighs 170-180 lbs) gets
on the E-MAX Sport and does 2 mile loops (I
followed on a Oxygen Cargo) until the battery
pack is truly down. Total miles ridden by Bill,
Myself, and Larry was 37 miles!!
Please note that the temperatures during my
testing was between 95 and 100 degrees. The
controller never got above luke warm! The motor
got hot, but E-MAX claims the motor is not even
sweating until it reaches 115 degrees C or around
240 degrees F. (water boils at 212 degrees f)
I don't know whether the extraordinary range of
the E-MAX Sport is a result of the super
efficient design of the motor and controllers or
it is a result of the silicon batteries, or all
of the above. I do know the unit I tested has
more than enough range for almost all city based
transportation requirements.
I will be getting a production model E-MAX Sport
to test on my native and well known Philadelphia
streets and hills. I plan on riding it from one
end of the city to the other. I might even go out
to the airport and back! I have no fear of being
stranded. I will also try it on our 'wall' (17+%)
grade hill. I hope to also get samples of the
'silicon battery' by September that can be tried
in other scooters. This will go along way to
determining whether it is the batteries or super
German engineering that has given the E-MAX the
longest range of any electric scooter in its
price class. The Oxygen MB-80 (64ah Evercels) is
the only range competitor at any price (until the
Vectrix) and it cost almost double the E-MAX
Sport price.
A word about the 'standard' E-MAX. It has a 1500
watt motor and probably performs about equal to
the EVT in terms of speed and hill climbing. It
promises to, however, have more range if the
E-MAX Sport is is indicative. It list for $1995,
while the E-MAX Sport lists from $2750.
Watch for the E-MAX Sport 'certification' report
in August 2005. I will be verifying actual
maximum speed, and full throttle range on the
flat, as well as hill climbing ability, etc.
Stay tuned!
J.B.
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