We have a conclusion that electric scooters are very easy to ride and control on its speed. In terms of speed control, electric scooters fall into two categories: those with only accelerator control, and those with accelerator control & more!
Electric scooters all have a max speed at which they will go, and it is severely restricted by the transportation laws in some countries like in Germany, France, United Kingdom and United States. If the maximum speed is not restricted, it will be considered as not safe to ride the scooter, and the riding will be forbidden.
Before we are going on with the detailed information for types of speed control, we may need to know: Certain factors, including a rider's weight, roughness of terrain, and weather conditions can affect your e-scooter's ability to reach maximum speed. And you'll be able to cruise the fastest on smooth, flat surfaces.
Electric scooters with only accelerator control
Most electric scooters have an accelerator that you can use it to reach and maintain your desired speed. Think of that throttle in the same way you do a car's gas pedal: The more you engage it, the faster you'll go. When you want to lower the speed or stop, just ease back on the accelerator, and/or engage the brake.
There are three types of accelerators, including two types of throttles: thumb and twist, and one booster button. According to the researches, acceleration throttles are always on the right side of the handlebar on scooters.
Thumb throttle
To accelerate using a thumb throttle, apply downward pressure with your right hand thumb. When you want to slow down, release the pressure and engage the brake at the same time.
Twist throttle
To accelerate using a twist throttle, use your right hand to rotate the throttle towards you. It is with the same principle with your motorcycles.
By the way, electric scooters with thumb throttle and twist throttle are all using the throttle and brake combination as the only means of speed control.
Booster button
The type of speed control with booster button are mainly used on some kid's e-scooters, which have large buttons in the middle of the deck. When you want to accelerate, push down on the button with your foot and it will speed up. And when you want to slow down, remove your foot, and/or use the brake, it will slow down and then stop frequently. The children may love this operation.
Electric scooter speed modes
Apart from the basic speed functionality for the electric scooter that we talked about above- By using the throttle. The more you engage the throttle, the faster you'll go. We also have additional speed control features -speed modes, and some even have cruise control functionality.
First, let's talk about speed modes: These e-scooters are pre-programmed with multiple speed modes, each of which allows you to reach a specific and different maximum speed when your scooter is set to it. How to change from one speed mode to another? Different electric scooter has different method. Most of them have a speed mode button near the display on the scooter and you can switch it easily through the button. And one more important thing, don't forget to stop the scooter first before you doing the operation.
There are 3 speed modes on most of the electric scooters: Energy-saving mode (ECO), Standard mode (D), and Sport mode (S). By the way, in some other places, we also name the 3 speed modes as Lower speed mode (L), Middle speed mode (M) and Higher speed mode (H). The ECO mode will has a lowest max speed of 6km/h or 10km/h, which is suitable for new riders or known as pedestrian mode. The standard mode usually has a max speed of 15km/h or 20km/h, while the sport mode has a max speed of up to 25km/h, which is good for experienced riders.
Which speed mode is more suitable for you? You need to consider of these:
- If you're new to e-scooter riding, keeping your e-scooter in a lower speed mode will help keep you at a comfortable pace for building riding confidence.
- While riding in an area that has lots of obstacles or pedestrians, setting your scooter in a slower speed mode will make for a safer scootering experience.
- When you are riding on flat and smooth places, and not many people on the road, you can switch it to the sport mode and enjoy the fun of speed.
- Where speed limits are in effect, switching to a slower mode will help keep you under that threshold.
Besides, many of the electric scooters also allow you to activate cruise control, whereby you can pick a pace, and your scooter will do the acceleration and deceleration work to keep it. To disengage cruise control and go back to controlling the speed on your own, all you have to do is gently engage the throttle or brake.
For some electric scooters, they also supports to release the max speed limitation after the customer receiving the scooter. And it depends on the need of you whether to release the max speed limitation or not. For some off-road electric scooter or electric scooters with more powerful motor, the max speed can be set to 35km/h, 45km/h or higher, though it is only 25km/h after the factory setting. Take the OBARTER electric scooters (X1, X3, X5) on our website for example, these electric scooters have a factory setting of 25km/h max speed. But the user can release the speed limitation by following the simple but helpful tutorial video that offered by the seller. And they also suggest that, before you release the speed limit, do not climb the hill and cross the dirt road, which will cause damage to the controller or motor.
Above all, the types of speed control on electric scooters are mainly on the different accelerate throttle. There are thumb throttle, twist throttle and booster button to speed up or slow down the scooter. And many of the scooters are designed to have different speed mode to make you have a control of the maximum speed as well as cruise control function. And some of the other electric scooters' max speed limitation can be also released, so it can reach to a higher speed as expected.