India’s most affordable EV : The Bounce Infinity E1
Launched in May 2018, Bounce is the brainchild of Vivekananda Hallekere, Anil G and Varun Agni. In its ride-sharing avatar, Bounce came as a solution for the need for affordable and safe travel options for various daily commuters.Bounce dockless scooters were first launched in Bengaluru and quickly became the desired mode of transport in the city, as well as in parts of Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. In its first year, Bounce facilitated 1,00,000 rides a day with a 30,000 strong scooter fleet on road. Bounce remains one of India’s fastest-growing start-ups with the proud badge of having scaled to 100K transactions in a day. Bounce’s valuation stood at a staggering 500 million USD in just 11 months from its conception. Here we are test riding the Bounce Infinity E1 Scooter which might just go on to become the most affordable EV option yet. Lets check it out
Bounce infinity E1 comes with a modern classic design language which has been the theme in the Indian markets lately. Though design is subjective, I feel the
scooter could have looked much better. The front apron is flat, not much design elements into it.
Once on the rider seat, one might feel hes back to the Chetak era, with a bicycle handlebar, a round cluster in between and a flat elongated apron. Its just to plain, dosent come up as a scooter of 2022, rather more of 2000 era. But that’s just how it looks. The front apron has LED indicators in it, along with a blank space, which actually houses nothing, just adds to the design part.
The footboard has cool electronic wavy designs on it, but its just there. The element could have added to the E1s looks, but sadly it was missing, overall
looked incomplete. Talking about EV, the most important part is the battery and if it’s removable & swappable, it’s a cherry on cake situation. Infinity E1 comes with a removable & swappable battery option. All you need to do is remove the battery when completely drained and charge it with the optional
battery charger (if purchased) or swap it with a new one depending on the purchase option you’ve opted for. It takes 10 seconds to swap the battery and can be done on a swapping station which a pod-like automated unit that houses six batteries and keeps them charged and ready for use. The pods can either be attached to a store, or can be independently located, and are open 24X7 for any and every rider.
The scooter comes with 3 different ride modes; Eco, power & drag. Among which, Eco is the economy mode where you’ll get the maximum mileage or say distance to zero limit. The scooter travels 65kms in one full charge in economy mode though the website states 80kms. In power mode, the scooter can travel upto 50kms. However, the drag mode is slight different. Keeping in mind the condition of Indian roads with regards to tyres, a flat tyre is always an ironical situation where you can’t ride the vehicle further. That’s when the drag mode comes into picture. Just switch it to the drag mode and propel the vehicle. The maximum speed it reaches is not beyond 3kms; easy to take you to the nearest tyre repair shop without having to push your scooter hard.
The brand is offering the scooter in 2 different purchase options; scooter with battery & charger and scooter with a rented battery. Depending on the price and your usage, you can opt as per your choice. The uniqueness lies in the final price at which you purchase the vehicle. Definitely on a lower side than its competitors.
What did We Like?
1- swappable and removable battery option
2- Apart from the 5 colours; Sparkle Black, Comet Grey, Sporty Red, Pearl White and Desat
Silver, the scooter also comes with customisable skin options to choose from.
3- the simple digital instrument cluster which displays information as Ignition Status, Side
Stand Status, Indicators, High Beam indicator, Battery SOC Status, Speed, Odometer,
Vehicle Status and Bluetooth Status.
4- – the scooter doesn’t feel like you’re riding an EV, ride experience is pleasent
What could have been better?
Overall fit finish could’ve been better though we were riding the pre-production model.
How’s the Ride experience?
Ride was very stable however, we did experience some discomfort on the larger potholes but for a city commute, it pretty well does the job. Suspensions can be tuned better. Throttle response is decent. Not too harsh for the rear wheel to loose traction in case of sudden acceleration. However, not much of a difference is felt in Eco and Power mode when you twist the throttle hard. Braking performance is excellent, with the 230mm disk up front, and the 203mm disk brake on the rear, it also gets CBS feature for better braking performance, which is well thought of by the Bounce engineers. The E1 gets a 90/90-12 tyre upfront, while on the rear sits a 120/70- 12 tyre giving the E1 good balance and composed behavior even on its top speed of 65kmph.
Mileage??
Well, the company website claims a range of 85kms, but in the real world tests, the E1 can deliver a mileage of 65kms on eco mode, and around 50-55kms on power mode, which actually is decent for the price they are offering the E1 at. Even if you take the battery subscription plan, you’d end up paying 35rs for 1 full charged battery, translating into an actual running cost of 1.85Rs per kms, which is very less if you compare it with a IC engine scooter.
Would we buy 1?
Definitely yes considering the price & features it offers. Loved the battery swap technology and the infrastructure they plan to build for it. Though, we would suggest you to wait for few days more as the charging pods would require time to be set up across the country. That’s when your purchase would be really cheap and justified. Just to let you know, Bounce plans to have a charging pod at every 1km in tier 1 cities right now to facilitate the E1’s sales growth. In Bangalore, they already have 1 charging pod for every 2.6kms radius, which is pretty decent.
