I’ve made the point before that a scooter can be the most premium transport of all, allowing you and your passenger to breeze past gridlocked cars and then ease your way into a parking spot right out the front of the theatre or restaurant.The BMW CE 04 electric scooter more than holds its own in traffic, going from 0-50 km/h in 2.6 seconds.
The idea has been in the works at BMW for some time, with “concepts” shown and a small production run of a model called C-Evolution to test the system . Now we have the CE 04, looking like a prop from a sci-fi movie, and with enough get-up-and-go to make it great fun, as well as quiet and clean-running.As for the name, C is for the segment, E is for electricity and 4 suggests equivalency with a 400 cc model.
The range between charges is only about 110-120 kilometres in the real world, but for urban commuting, at least, that’s enough. For us, it was just a matter of charging it on a conventional power point for a few hours every so often. Traction control and antilock braking are standard, and are lean sensitive in dynamic mode. One bugbear is that the CE 04 – the one that we had at least – can make a fairly unappealing whine during regenerative braking.There are lots of practical features, as you’d expect from this maker. There’s keyless start, a parking brake that goes on when you flick out the side-stand, and a big clear screen displaying all the necessary information, including navigation.
No petrol. But you have to pay for the charging, which is getting more and more expensive.
But how long do the batteries last and how much do they cost to replace?
Will it need lithium ?
😂🤮