So about a year ago I bought a cheap eScooter after selling my stupid car, and I’ve had a pretty good time! I live within 2 miles of my doctor, my dentist, a bunch of grocery stores, and even my mom AND my grandma!
The only problem is despite it advertising 12 mile range, it only goes about 4 before dying. I kind of expected it because it’s under $300.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07K9MB6X1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I weigh 130 pounds so I don’t think that’s impacting it.
While I just uber whenever I need to go further 1-2 times a month, would be nice to have closer to 10 miles if I want to run multiple errands in a row. Any eScooters that actually have good range and are under $500?
Honestly, I’d recommend getting a decent used bicycle. 2 miles is nothing, especially once you get acclimated to riding. Last weekend I rode down to my local bike shop (about a mile and a half away) to buy new pedals for my MTB (Black Ops Squatch btw, they were $12 and I picked them up after someone here recommended them as good budget pedals), decided to go on a little test ride, and kind of ended up riding 20 miles on accident.
Great exercise and you can haul stuff with them too!
I know that isn’t necessarily what you were after but at that price range, I think you might struggle to get anything reliable. That said, if you really want a scooter, keep an eye on slickdeals.net under the sport section, escooter deals pop up regularly on there.
Gotrax is definitely not reliable as a company and I regularly see people complaining about them fwiw. That said, you could probably just find a higher capacity battery for your existing scooter if it’s otherwise functional.
Alas, I am a 130 pound adult male because of health reasons.
Some days I could use a bike, other days I can’t. I have been debating getting a cheap bike when I can afford it so on days I feel up to I can, but then I might get left in a lurch where I leave feeling up to biking, then get stuck because I can’t get back.
Part of why I like scooter instead of ebike. I can fold up little scooters and throw them in the back of an uber super easily if I suddenly find myself unable to keep going.
Save the ewaste and buy a new battery?
Could it be the quality of the cells thay made it cheap and not the efficiency of the motor?
I didn’t see any way to easily replace the battery, wish I had bought one that had replaceable batteries. If there is a resource for it I would love to know, no luck far.
If you want to try replacing the battery yourself it looks like they sell new batteries for that scooter.
https://gotrax.com/products/36v-5-4ah-escooter-battery
Here’s an iFixit guide on replacing it.
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Gotrax+GXL+Scooter+Battery+Pack+Replacement/124154
Also GoTrax claims it has a 2-year warranty. It might be worth it to see if they’ll send you a new battery for it.
These services aren’t cheap afaik, but there are cell repackers that can rebuild proprietary batteries using the original casing. I chatted with them when looking at ebikes. Even the support team is shockingly hardware-literate. Like, they REALLY know their stuff.
Switching to a pedal assist bike could help with the range of you are open to expending some of your own energy.
Slightly off-topic, but if your current scooter has inflatable tyres, I suggest you check their pressure. The drag gets considerably higher with underinflated tyres, making your battery discharge at a faster rate.
i dont know where you live but these can go below $500 and have 50km range. these things are huge in south east asia so if you can reasonably import them then i highly suggest research them and consider them. these e bikes also have in bike configuration called cyrusher in western i think but its way more pricier. if you can, try getting them from asian vendors because its way way more cheaper
