Scooter available only in Europe for now.
Preorders of the Vespa electric can be made now in Europe before the scooter’s ship date later this year. Customers in the U.S. and China will not be able to buy the vehicle until next year.
The new electric scooter will cost nearly twice as much as the cheapest gas-powered scooter.
Details about the new electric scooter
The Elettrica, as the new Vespa scooter is called, has a range of about 62 miles per charge, and it takes about four hours to charge it from a standard wall plug. The battery pack should be good for about 10 years of driving. It offers peak power of 4kW, which is about the same as a 50cc gas-powered scooter. However, it has only about one third the range of its gas-powered cousin. There is a color display between the handlebars.
The Elettrica X
There is also to be an Elettrica X, a hybrid version of the scooter pushed at the Milan Motorcycle show last year. The X is to be very much like the electric version but will have a small gas generator that can extend the range up to about 124 miles. The Milan Motorcycle show will be in about a month so perhaps there will be more information then.
Since Vespa announcement many competitors have electric scooters already
When the Elettrica announcement took place two years ago now, it seemed like a rare addition to the market. But now Vespa is facing competition from a number of electric scooters that are already for sale. Chinese startup Niu has a full lineup of electric scooters within China. Taiwan’s maker of two-wheelers, Kymco has also come up with a scooter that uses swappable batteries.
Yamaha and Honda have partnered on the development of an electric scooter as well. Gogoro has also spread its scooters, which can be both bought and shared, to a number of countries both in Asia and Europe.
Vespa
The Vespa line developed from a single model motor scooter manufactured way back in 1946 by Piaggio and Co. However, now there is a full line of scooters and Vespa is just one of seven companies owned by Piaggio.
Vespa scooters have long been known for their painted, pressed steel unibody. There is a complete cowling for the engine, a flat floorboard providing foot protection, and a prominent front faring providing wind protection all unified into a structural unit.
The main factory is in Pisa Italy. The Vespa is sold in many countries including the U.S. It is popular in the U.K., is also sold in Asian countries and has sometimes been made in other countries under licence.
