Avan Motors Xero Trend E Last mile fun!

In an electric vehicle, it’s similar, except that there is no engine or transmission. Here we have something called the lithium ion batteries, the electric motor and the controller. 

Now to understand the power of an electric two-wheeler I shall be comparing it with the fancy electric Revolt RV 400 motorcycle. The RV400 is touted as a very good high performance electric motorcycle.

In simple terms the RV400 is powered by a 3.24 KWh Lithium Ion battery that generates 72V of power and has an electric motor of 3 KW power. The 3.24 kilo watt hour capacity is basically 45 Amp Hour.

The Avan Xero Trend E has a 24 Ah battery with a Voltage of 48 V. The electric motor power is 800 watt. An amp hour (Ah) is used to define capacity. It’s used to estimate the amount of energy a battery can hold. In simple terms, it’s used to define the amount of current a battery can supply in an hour until it runs out of current.

So a 24Ah battery can draw 24 amp for one hour before it runs out, or 48 amps for half an hour, or 12 amp for two hours.

Voltage of a battery indicates how much potential is in a battery, but that potential is not a measure of energy. Energy comes from the battery capacity. If you were to compare the Xero to the Revolt motorcycle, the former is a very tamed machine.

Now what is equally important like the batteries, is the electric motor of the vehicle. While the RV400 has a 3 KW motor (which translates to 3000 watt), the Xero TrendE has a 800 watt motor.

The watts of a motor watt tell you how much mechanical power the electric scooter motor is capable of producing.  A higher motor watt rating, in general, means the motor will accelerate more quickly, carry more rider weight, and climb steeper hills. 

The watts also indicate how much power the motor is capable of consuming.  A motor with high watt rating will be able to consume a lot of energy in a short amount of time.  The more energy a motor consumes the more mechanical power it will produce. 

The controller is the brain of your electric scooter.  It receives inputs from your controls and translates that into a current that is sent to the motor.  The controller is interfaced with the throttle switch and the brake switch (if you have regenerative or electronic brakes).  The Xero Trend-E does not have regenerative braking.

Exteriors

The Xero Trend-e electric scooter is a good looking two-wheeler. It has a DRL, smartly designed headlamp, colourful lights on both sides in front, a smart nose and an impressive rear, with LED tail lamp. The Trend E comes equipped with a hydraulic telescopic front suspension and a coil spring rear suspension. Additionally, the scooter comes with alloy wheels, besides disc and drums brakes on the front and rear wheels, respectively.

There are a few storage spaces in the scooter with a hook in front, a couple of cavities in the front to keep your mobile or some knick knacks. There is bit of storage under the seat too. The switches are very handy and the vehicle comes with a digital instrument panel where you get to see the speed, the different gears (1 to 3), the battery range and the total distance.

The floor board, I found was a bit tacky with cheap metal strips. They should replace the floor design with a simple strong, anti slip mat.

PERFORMANCE

The Xero Trend-E is powered by a lithium-ion battery and boasts a top speed of 45 Kmph. The electric scooter covers a distance of 60 Kms with single battery and 110 Km with double battery, and the charge time for the scooter’s lithium-ion battery is 4 hours. The max load each scooter can take is around 150 kgs.

This electric scooter comes with two batteries. These batteries work separately, which means that you can switch from one battery to another through two separate circuit breakers, switches for which are under the seat. Once you realise that one battery is losing its power, you can stop the scooter, pull the seat up with the help of the ignition switch (you have to move the switch back gently) and then switch on the circuit breaker. You can never switch on both the MCBs (miniature circuit breakers). You have to switch off one and switch on the other, which signifies that the battery has to be used one at a time. The same procedure for the switches works when you have to charge the batteries directly to a charging point.

You can also take the two batteries out from under the seat and carry it to your home or office and charge them one by one with the help of a charger which comes with the scooter. Each battery weighs a little less than 10kgs.

When you a riding the scooter, you can can toggle between gears one to three with the help of a switch on the right side. When you are in gear one, you cannot go beyond 35kmph or so. The maximum speed you can achieve is at gear 3, where you can go up to 45kmph. I managed to get 46kmph.

The sad part of this two-wheeler is that it cannot carry bulky people. A total weight of 150kg is the maximum it can carry. Anything heavier and the scooter may find it hard to haul and the batteries will be depleted very fast.

This electric two-wheeler is not strong enough for our normal roads. It looks and feels too fragile. But in gated areas like offices, institutions and colleges with large acres of space, this two-wheeler is ideal. It will keep the environment safe with zero pollution and with its limited speed, will prove to be a boon for safe riding. The Avan Xero Trend-E electric scooter is an ideal vehicle for last mile journey.