BMW C Evolution Electric Scooter (ENG) - Test Drive and Review

[@missedapproachmark]

I bought the C-Evolution second hand. I’ve been riding it a year and covered around 7.500 km’s. A very good buy. I love motorbikes and this is my first scooter and first EV. I use it to get from home to work and back through the city. This thing does zip through traffic very easily! It’s fast and the torque is amazing and that is very useful in the city. I charge at work for free, maintenance is just tires and brakes. BMW offers very good support, I had an expensive charging problem and BMW fixed it for very little money. It’s a great used buy and it has got me hooked on EV’s.

[@GaelLazerYT]

Amazing but you dont need a drivers license for it right ?

[@robortkristensen3818]

I have a charging problem. How was yours solved?

[@kevindarkstar]

Unfortunately these are known to have an issue with the on board charges, especially on early versions

[@missedapproachmark]

@@robortkristensen3818 My dealer sent it back to the HQ, as they were not allowed to work on the high voltage bits. So I had to mis it a couple of weeks. I have well over 50.000 km’s on it now. I has proven to be reliable, but maintenance has been a bit higher with new bearings in the stearinghead and the rear wheel, as the cover for the final drive started to weep just a little. Battery capacity is now notably down a bit since I got it, I have to measure it properly but I’d say I lost around 20% of it. Still enough range to do most of my trips and I added an OEM topcase and that makes it even more practical. Don’t buy one to save money, they too need upkeep and per kilometer in the long they are not more economical than a conventional scooter. And with these km’s I guess it is a very hard sale in the used market, so depreciation is real. Still enjoy it almost everyday!

[@robortkristensen3818]

@@missedapproachmark Thanks for your reply. BMW tells me the same story. Instead I have removed the charger and sent it to a friend who hopefully can fix it. In parallel, I am searching for a secondhand replacement unit

[@MrSunnyBhoy]

Cool bike and great review as always Marek, your info is always useful and practical even if I don't agree with all your observations on reviews.

[@MarekDrives]

Fair enough! Opinions are different interpretations of facts :)

[@robortkristensen3818]

I use this as my daily driver and for delivery of goods. Perfect to filter traffic and free passage on toll roads. Unfortunatly it no longer charges and I need to find out why.

[@ashleyparker2779]

Electric scooters and motorbikes offer great potential, particularly for people travelling in urban areas where traffic congestion is a problem and public transport is limited. I am thinking of many SE Asian countries such as China, India, Indonesia and Thailand. However, this early example from BMW is too expensive and offers too little range to be practical. And that storage area for such a big scooter is woeful.

[@mrinmoydey4462]

ashley parker a Indian startup named ather energy already launched a better product than this BMW, has very similar range and features, really good looking and priced only 2000£.

[@jhayc7285]

Not this time, this rascal is a beast in 2020 🛵

In Hungary, you can only ride 50cm³, 5hp scooters with car driving licence (B class). There is a B125 class license, you have to take an extra exam and pay extra ca$h (i didn't wanted to write euro becouse here it's irrelevant) and you can ride 125cm³, 15hp bikes.

[@aaronharris5275]

I asked the London Police recently as they ride these. He said he rides it for about 7hrs around London before needing a recharge. Sounds quite good at although heavy(the bike not the cops😂) they look fairly agile. Coming down in price a bit now.

[@chrisfifield8583]

Hows the battery holding up ?

[@AndrejGobec]

I'd love this thing, just not for the asking price ...

[@MarekDrives]

Yes, if it cost what other maxi scooters cost, I'd turn a blind eye to the range issue. But this is touring bike territory.

[@fermitupoupon1754]

@@MarekDrives I guess that depends on where you live. Here in NL a comparable Tmax 560 Tech Max starts at 14999, a Burgman 650ZA starts at 12999, an Aprilia SRV850 starts at 15999. So in that context the 15400 starting price of the C-Evolution really isn't that bad. Especially considering that a Burgman 650ZA and Aprilia SRV850 require you to get an A license, rather than A2, which is more expensive, and if you want it specifically for a scooter, more difficult to find a driving school for.

[@graycrow]

In Czechia, you can drive a motorcycle with up to 11 kW engine and automatic transmission with category B license.

[@k.o.t.o.n.]

Hy Marek. Both the base and the extended versions are 275kg? What's the range and accelaration difference betweenthe 2? Have you tried out the new super soco cpx? You should compare it to the base version of the c evolution. Much cheaper same size, a1 license compatible. Much lighter too. Just not that fast.

[@MarekDrives]

It's been ages since I reviewed this scooter, and I don't have the spec sheet for it in my archive. No idea, no idea, no.

[@reginaldpotts2037]

And here I am 6 years on with about 5K Euro to spend the evolution is just getting into my price range. Problem is, everything for sale at that price has 30K+ KM on the dash so I wonder about the battery? A normal range replacement I am told is around 7K Euro but is there an advanced menu within the software to see how the battery has been charged/ discharged over it's life or is this data for the factory engineers only?

[@siraff4461]

So for the price it's this or an S1000RR? Tough choice there...

[@k.o.t.o.n.]

@Marek Drives Hi! In my country you can pull a trailer behind your motorcycle, that's max weight can't exceed half of the weight of the weight of the motorcycle. So in this case 270kg:2=135, I coul pull 135kg of weight with the trailer's weight included. What do you think. Would the longe range or the base version be strong enough to pull this load. Because the government allow it, but because this is electric, and electric vehicle generally has pure towing capacity, i don't know wheter this scooter would be capable, especially hesitant about the short range 11kw 15hp version. What do you think about that? Oh, and the motorcycle would be fully loaed as welll with 55kg driver 70kg passanger and as much weight of grocery shopping luggage as the bike can hold. This would be our main shopping vehicle. :D

[@jpdrsn33]

I don't know of any buildings in urban areas where there are power outlets for each parking lot. EV seem too impracticable to keep charged.

[@robertcurtis3807]

They claim up to 99 miles a charge, however I heard by owners realistically it is more like up to 60 miles to a full charge.

[@MarekDrivesENG]

That's about right.

[@rolandasjarmalavicius180]

15000 € !!! 🤤

[@finophile]

nice review, although that constant tapping in voice over is super annoying. I have a T-Max (now my second) and an electric kick scooter (1000W) for last mile stuff. Indeed I use my electric scooter to commute to my work (which is happily less than 10km each way). In Australia everything like that requires a bike licence. Thanks

[@MarekDrives]

Tapping? You mean the soundtrack?

[@TEVAssociation]

Shared on our fb page ..not imported into Canada but arriving soon in USA ?

[@chesshooligan1282]

275-kg scooter? I think I'll pass. Thanks for the review, though.

[@smahsan773]

How can I get in Bangladesh ?

[@HappyCod43]

Umm, where are your gloves?

[@MarekDrives]

Not very useful, when I have to operate cameras and microphone. This is an empty service, speeds up to 40 km/h. I'll take the risk.

[@fiestavision14]

In belgium car liscence if you are born before a certain year.

[@rogersmith5371]

These are not available in Australia but you would need a motorcycle licence to ride one. Range is not much good - I accept it will improve as battery technology improves but adding more batteries makes the bike heavier that reduces range and of course makes the bike heavy (at 270kg it is already heavy). The price is a bit high in comparison with other similar sized bikes (with ICE). The screen is useless - it is way too low to be of any use at high speed on the open road. The reverse is needed because the bike is heavy - it is a good feature and makes it easier to nose in parking or rear in parking.

[@MarekDrives]

Yes, I wish they at least doubled the range. With batteries getting denser it's not going to add much weight. But for now it's an early adopter masochist toy :)

[@NIOC630]

Dude, these scooters have 48hp, not 15...

[@MarekDrives]

At the time of filming there was a 15 hp version so you can ride it with a car license, and a 26 hp version for a bike license. I see there are two numbers now (26 and 48). Perhaps it's real hp vs .combustion engine equivalent?

[@NIOC630]

@@MarekDrives Mh, i just looked it up again and you are right. Though i really dont understand their ratings. I worked at the company that designed the motor and inverter and i can only say that these components will deliver 48hp. Maybe the battery will overheat or it is limited otherwise...

[@MarekDrives]

@@NIOC630 After the weekend I'll ask BMW WTF. I bet it's some legal requirement.

[@NIOC630]

Propably yes, my g650gs was rated down from 50 to 48 hp after regulation chnges to fit into some category. It might be the same thing.@@MarekDrives

[@fermitupoupon1754]

@@MarekDrives it has to do with the whole A1, A2, A license thing. The 11kW version or 15hp as you call it, is the A1 license version. It's electronically limited to 11kW. The regular version puts out 35kW which is the maximum for an A2 license. The two different numbers come from the fact that the 35kW number is a peak power output number, the 19kW is continuous output. The 11kW version still exists, but if you buy one new, you have to explicitly tell BMW to restrict it for A1. And if you buy second hand and you want the full power, you can take an 11kW model to a BMW dealer and they can unlock it and update the vehicle registration for you. It's just a software setting in the scooter itself.

[@simonwhite2890]

I think this will probably be bought by rich Germans as a toy.

[@ILIJA26101993]

That range is quite bad IMO.

[@TCphotographer]

This could only be a toy of millionares ridiculous price 14.000 euro only could be leased!

[@zarza05]

too expensive and impractical

[@missedapproachmark]

Raúl ever ridden one?

[@felixmontana5310]

👎👎👎