Bounce Infinity E1 First Ride Review

The Bounce Infinity E1 is India's first electric scooter offered with swappable batteries, and battery-as-a-service option. So, the Infinity E1 electric scooter can be purchased with the battery, and charger, or with battery-as-a-service option, where the customer has the option of swapping out used batteries at the company's network of swapping stations. Do swappable batteries make the Infinity E1 a practical scooter for the intra-city commute, and does it offer a good alternative to internal combustion engine scooters? We spend a few hours with the new Bounce Infinity E1 to get a sense of what it offers, and if it performs as well as it looks at first glance.

Also Read: Bounce Infinity E1 Electric Scooter Launched; Prices Begin At Rs. 45,099

The Bounce Infinity E1 does look appealing at first glance, especially in its bright colours. The overall design is trendy and it should appeal to a diverse range of customers.

Design & Features

The Bounce Infinity E1 does look appealing at first glance, especially in its bright colours. Its offered in a choice of five colours - Sporty Red, Pearl White, Comet Gray, Desat Silver and Sparkle Black. The design is trendy, and should appeal to a wide range of prospective customers. Bounce even offers customisable skins for the Infinity E1, where customers can choose the base colour of their choice and then layer it on with different kinds of stickers, designs and motifs, with the help of artists chosen by Bounce.

Also Read: Bounce Infinity Achieves Over 10 Lakh Battery Swaps

The Infinity E1 has a plastic body and runs on 12-inch wheels at both ends, with disc brakes on both wheels. At the front is telescopic suspension, and twin shocks at the rear.

The Infinity E1 has a plastic body and runs on 12-inch wheels at both ends, with disc brakes on both wheels. At the front is telescopic suspension, and twin shocks at the rear. The instrument console is LCD, and has minimum features, but will give you all the necessary read-outs like speed, range, odometer, as well as selected ride mode, which includes Eco and Power.

The right handlebar has the mode selector button. Drag mode can be used for pushing the scooter in case of a puncture, and reverse can be used for parking in tight spots.

There's also an additional Drag mode, for use if the scooter has a puncture and needs to be pushed to the nearest tyre repair shop. Also added is a Reverse function which is useful for parking at tight spots.

The instrument console is LCD, and has minimum features, but will give you all the necessary read-outs like speed, range, odometer, as well as selected ride mode, which includes Eco and Power.

The design is quite pleasing to look at from a distance, but a closer look reveals build quality which could definitely have been better. According to Bounce, the test bikes are not production-ready, and inconsistent panel gaps will be addressed in the production model. The side stand is also likely to be changed, and a centre stand will be introduced in the production model.

Overall, the Infinity E1 is not a very big scooter, and it's quite light with its 94 kg kerb weight.

Overall, the Infinity E1 is not a very big scooter, and that's because it's not positioned against the current crop of premium electric scooters like the Ather 450X, Chetak, or the TVS iQube, but more against the likes of market leader Hero Electric's products.

Also Read: Bounce Expands Battery-Swapping Infrastructure With New Partnerships

The Bounce Infinity E1 has perky performance from a standstill, and it does achieve a speed-indicated top speed of around 66 kmph.

Performance & Range

The BLDC motor has 2.2 kW peak power, with 85 Nm of maximum torque, and initial acceleration feels perky, and urgent. And with its relatively light weight, of just 94 kg, it's easy to handle, and will reach 40-45 kmph quite effortlessly. In fact, as claimed, it can reach a speedometer-indicated top speed of 65 kmph as well, but that's the maximum speed it's capable of achieving. And if you have to climb a flyover, or if you reach a slight elevation on the road, it does feel slightly lacking in performance.

Also Read: Bounce Plans $100 Million Investment For E-Scooter Manufacturing, Battery Swapping Infrastructure

Performance is good enough for intra-city commutes, but when you reach a slight elevation, or have to climb a flyover, some more performance from the motor is missed.

And when you do encounter some rough roads, broken patches and road undulations, the Infinity E1 leaves you wanting for a more comfortable suspension. The ride quality is bouncy, and the body panels start rattling when you go over a broken patch or a couple of potholes. In terms of performance, the maximum speed of 65 kmph can only be achieved on Power mode, but that will also end up decreasing range to around 50 km.

Maximum speed of 65 kmph can be achieved only in Power mode, but using that mode, range will drop to around 50 km.

During our brief test ride, we used mostly Power mode, and even after riding the scooter for around 27 km, remaining range was still showing at over 40 km, so that should be something which will attract consumers.

The Bounce Infinity E1 can be purchased in three different ways, with minimum ex-showroom prices starting at Rs. 45,099.

Pricing Options

The Infinity E1's USP is that it's India's first electric scooter to introduce swappable batteries, and it's also attractively priced. The Infinity E1 can be purchased in three different ways. A customer can opt for the scooter with a charger and battery, and it's priced at Rs. 68,999 (Ex-showroom, Delhi).

It can also be purchased for an upfront payment of Rs. 56,999 (Ex-showroom), with battery-as-a-service option, where the customer will have to pay a monthly subscription of Rs. 849. The Infinity E1 can also be purchased for an upfront price of Rs. 45,099 (Ex-showroom, Delhi), with a monthly subscription of Rs. 1,249 for battery swapping service.

With battery-as-a-service option, the customer can continue to use the scooter, and as soon as it runs low on charge, the battery can be swapped for a fully-charged unit at a Bounce swapping station.

So, with battery-as-a-service option, the customer can continue to use the scooter, and as soon as it runs low on charge, the battery can be swapped for a fully-charged unit at a Bounce swapping station. According to Bounce, the effective price per swap on the subscription model turns out to approximately Rs. 35.

The batteries are IOT- and GPS-enabled, so a person opting for the subscription plan will not be able to charge the battery at home, even after acquiring an aftermarket charger. And for customers who purchase the scooter with battery and charger, they won't be able to utilise the swapping stations.

The batteries are IOT- and GPS-enabled, so a person opting for the subscription plan will not be able to charge the battery at home, even after acquiring an aftermarket charger. And for customers who purchase the scooter with battery and charger, they won't be able to utilise the swapping stations. The Infinity E1 comes with a standard warranty of 3 years of 40,000 km, whichever comes earlier. And even the battery comes with a warranty of 3 years, or 45,000 km.

The Bounce Infinity E1's biggest strength is its price, and its battery as a service option.

Verdict

The Infinity E1 that we tested is a pre-production model, and according to Bounce, some of the shortcomings will be ironed out once deliveries begin in April 2022. On our test unit, the panel gaps are inconsistent, and Bounce says the side-stand design will be changed, and a centre stand will also be incorporated.

The seat offers a comfortable and wide perch, both for the ride and the pillion.

The Bounce Infinity E1's biggest strength is its price, and its battery as a service option. Bounce already has a strong battery swapping network, and the company has completed over 10 lakh battery swaps across India.

The panel gaps are inconsistent in the pre-production model of our test scooter, and over broken roads, there's quite a bit of rattling from the body panels.

The company already has a strong swapping network in Bengaluru, with swapping stations every 2 km. In bigger cities like Delhi, Bounce intends to offer swapping stations at similar intervals which can be used by its customers and address range anxiety. With battery-as-a-service option, the price of just Rs. 45,099 (Ex-showroom, Delhi) makes the Infinity E1 an attractive option in the electric scooter segment.

(Photography: Prashant Chaudhary)