Bounce Infinity E1 First Ride

The E1 lacks character. It’s as boring and mainstream as the many petrol scooters that came before it. That’s fine though. This EV wants to put everyone on its seat, regardless of age or demography. You won’t look dorky on this nor will you impress anyone if you pull up on the E1. It’s a safe design language and it works for what the Bounce is trying to aim at with its first-ever EV. And that is to break the entry barrier and make this the everyday urban commuter.

That said, the headlamps seem to be a bit edgier and slightly different from the overall aesthetic. Probably a telltale sign of ‘hey, this is an EV’. Whatever it is, the build quality is good. Might be better for the money you’re paying upfront.

We say upfront because the cash you put down for the E1 and ride one away from the dealership is vastly different from any other vehicle ownership. 

There are two ways to own the Bounce Infinity E1. You either pay a full amount of ₹69,999 (Maharashtra ex-showroom) and take home the bike with a removable battery and its charger. 

The other way is you pay a reduced amount and only take home the bike. Although you cannot start the EV without a battery right? Smart observation dear reader. Here’s where the battery-as-a-service subscription model jumps into your monthly billing cycle. 

There are two battery subscription models. If you opt to pay ₹57,999 (Maharashtra ex-showroom) for the bike then the subscription price is ₹849 per month. Option 2 is ₹46,099 (Maharashtra ex-showroom) for the bike and you pay ₹1,249 per month for the battery subscription.

Both subscription models will give you access to Bounce’s swappable battery stations located around the major cities. Every battery swap will dent a ₹35 to your pocket. The value per battery swap can drop below ₹35 depending on the area, city and state but Bounce says it won’t go above ₹35 for now. Hold on to that calculator for now because the battery swap stations are not yet deployed in most cities and we didn’t even get access to the app which gives you useful features like geofencing, real-time tracking and battery swap station locations.

Swap stations might be a distant dream but you can still buy the E1 at full cost with a personal battery and have a nice EV scooter experience without the swap stations threatening your wallet.

The power delivery is almost instantaneous because it's an EV. There are two riding modes — Eco and Power. In eco mode, the top speed is locked at 45kmph which is fine for short distances but in places where you need that spike in speed to overtake, the power mode is more reliable. It lets you go up to 65kmph but during our testing, we never really got to that figure easily within city roads. On long stretches of roads and highways that cut across cities, getting to that 65kmph speed from 45kmph is a bit underwhelming and slow.

Either way, the E1 is for the city roads and your daily struggles with the bhaji wala. The claimed range is also 85km on eco mode. We didn’t get enough time with the E1 to test the real-world range on a full charge. The battery also takes 4hours to charge fully at home. Bear in mind that the battery provided with the scooter doesn’t charge the same way as the battery from the swap stations. So you cannot really cheat the system and you will never be able to put your personal battery into the battery swap network. The swap station batteries are also leased to you for a given time. If you exceed the time limit with the swap station battery, you will be charged extra until you return it. Fear not, there’s an option to break out of the subscription model if you go on a vacation or simply don’t want to use your scooter for that time. This means you don’t have to keep paying for simply having the battery in your scooter. 

The ride quality is nice and the suspension is plush. It’s nothing to write home about but it doesn’t underwhelm in any way either. Especially for the cost. Although the regenerative brakes are a little wonky. The dual disc brakes can bring the bike to a standstill very quickly and that might throw some riders off balance. It’s a bit too aggressive for the city and its own power. Feathering the brakes is almost absent here but that said, Bounce said they might tweak the thing before the final launch.

Even the seat is a bit too narrow towards the front for our liking. The contouring on the seat cushioning drops dramatically in the front which leaves little room for thigh support. There was a bit of discomfort as well to my majestic rear.

Once you lift the seat, the removable battery sits in the front half of the compartment. Waiting to either be swapped or taken home for a charge. The 2KWhr battery (48V, IP67) is waterproof and masala-proof. If you spill your butter chicken around it, a good rinse should get the job done. Although, anything other than a half helmet is hard to fit inside the under-seat storage. A full helmet will definitely not fit and half the space is taken by the battery.

You can fit an extra battery in the scooter’s under-seat storage in case you wish to opt for the swap station battery but must get to the swap station on your personal battery. The battery is heavy as well. Weighing around 12kgs, the thing can require the might of Thor for frail folks like myself and some old folks too.

There’s a USB charging port inside for your smartphone inside the under-seat storage as well.  We didn’t get to try the app but the E1 doesn’t promise any fancy smart features. In fact, the scooter itself never really over promises nor underdelivers. What you see is what you get. There’s cruise control which works well and a Drag mode which locks the speed at 3kmph. You can stand and drag the scooter when there’s a flat tyre or sit and ride it to the closest repair shop.

The Bounce Infinity E1 is affordable and comes with multiple options to charge and even purchase the thing. In our calculations, buying the scooter outright with the battery pack is the safest option. Even if you choose the swap station subscription model, the monthly asking fee is a bit too steep in our opinion and the swap stations need to be deployed in your area to make sense of it all.

The subscription fee has its pros and cons. Through the subscription fee model, the battery health and charge is taken care of by the Bounce swap stations. So if you’re someone who lives on the scooter, it might be a tempting choice. In a country where the subscription fee for everything else is lower than the price of a McDonald’s Happy Meal, ₹849 might pinch the average consumer in the long run. You can head over to the Bounce website and look at all the pricing options for different states. 

If you are serious about owning an EV, the Bounce Infinity E1 has a lower cost barrier with multiple charging options. The state of the swap station deployment and its effectiveness is something only time can tell.