How expensive is an electric scooter? These costs are often forgotten

Are you considering buying an e-step? Then it is natural that you wonder how expensive an electric scooter actually is. After all, you can only spend your money once. And what should you actually look at to get the real cost of an e-step to decide?

An electric scooter is no small purchase.

And so you will make sure you make a good choice. Because there will soon be one nice price tag to such a step. And not only that: if all goes well, you will cover a lot of kilometers on your scooter.

In addition, an electric scooter can easily become a lot more expensive than the purchase alone.

What’s up with that? You can read that in this article, in which we discuss how expensive an electric scooter is, but also what you should pay attention to when buying one good value for money found in your purchase.

How expensive is an electric scooter? Overview

To give you a quick idea of what electric scooters cost, you can see an overview of a number of popular models here. Do you want to know what to take into account for a good price-quality ratio? Or what additional costs you may incur? Then read on below the table!

	Best Overall Choice (legal!) A newcomer to the Dutch e-step market. This scooter only offers electrical support and can therefore be used now.
	Best choice for commuters (legally!) Also an electric scooter with support and therefore legal. This is slightly lighter and more portable, making it ideal for public transport.
	Best high quality (legal!) Top brand with excellent performance. Excels in battery life
	NB! This e-step is not officially approved for public roads

What does an electric scooter cost?

The cost of a electric scooter vary from a few tens to hundreds or even thousands of euros. When you are looking for a cheap option for hours, the choice seems to be made quickly. It’s a matter of sorting the offer on Bol by the latest price and going for the cheapest option, right?

Well no. It price tag is not the only thing what to look at. It is not for nothing that they often say: cheap is expensive. This may be even more true for electric scooters than for other products.

Below we discuss a few important factors that affect the cost of an electric scooter.

And how expensive is an electric scooter really?

There are a number of things to consider when purchasing your electric scooter, which are at least as important as the price. For example, think of:

• The handlebar height of the scooter
• Hard wheels or pneumatic tires
• How many suspension do you want in your scooter

Those are all things that affect it driving comfort of your electric scooter. And that is at least as important as the cost price. For something you will be using every day, it’s better to spend a few bucks more if that means the quality is top notch, right?

You can read more about this in our article about finding a good scooter for adults.

In addition, there are several hidden costs with electric scooterswhich you should also take into account.

The battery life

The most important part of an e-scooter is probably the battery. And there is quite a lot difference in quality between one or the other battery. A poor quality battery has two major drawbacks:

• The range of the electric scooter is limited, because you can drive fewer kilometers with a single charge than with a better battery
• In addition, the lifespan of a cheap battery are considerably less than of more expensive electric scooters. That is, the battery drains faster and gives less and less power

Compare it to the battery of your mobile phone, which often starts to deteriorate considerably after one or two years. Your phone suddenly has to recharge much more often. You will also have to deal with this more quickly with an electric scooter with a battery of lesser quality.

The Kostka from the table above stands known for its excellent battery, which lasts much longer than other models. This is reflected in the price, because the Kostka is a pretty expensive electric scooter. On the other hand, you will also have to replace it a lot less quickly.

Is this a bit too expensive for you, but do you want some certainty for your battery? Then choose a reputable brand like Xiaomi.

Of course, with electronics you never know how long the battery will last, but by choosing a recognized brand you at least increase the chance of a long life. There are many prize fighters on the market, but you never know what quality you are buying.

An important aspect to take into account is whether your electric scooter is allowed on the road.

Because did you know that electric scooters are completely in most cases cannot be used legally? This has to do with the fact that they are regarded as special mopeds by the law. That is why every model of e-step must be approved by the RDW and that has usually not happened.

There is in practice little maintained, but it does happen. You risk one fine of €380,- and seizure of your step. This makes a cheap electric scooter suddenly a lot more expensive!

In addition, you can protect yourself and your e-scooter not insure when it is not approved for use on public roads. That means you you are responsible for damage that you cause. Moreover, driving around without insurance is also an offence.

Choose you security? Then go for one of the electric scooters that are slightly more expensive, but can be used completely legally:

	Top brand with excellent performance. Excels in battery life
	Competitive price for an e-step, completely legal and super portable
	The comfort of a saddle, ease of support and portability

The difference with other electric scooters is that these ones pedal assist only to give. As a result, they fall under the regulations for electric bicycles. And that legislation is a lot more flexible.

How much does it cost to insure your electric scooter?

Speaking of insuring your electric scooter: that also entails costs, of course. Below you see one indication per year. These data are based on a Veeley V5 from the end of 2019 with a retail value of €1599.

As you can see, that adds quite a bit of cost to your electric scooter. Now you can of course opt for an electric scooter that you cannot insure because it is not approved, or simply cannot be insured at all.

But, not insuring can become a lot more expensive. When you cause an accident, you pay for the costs yourself. Suppose someone ends up in the hospital because of you: you really don’t want to be presented with the bill.

That’s another reason to opt for a legal e-step.

Conclusion: a (slightly) more expensive electric scooter is often cheaper in the end

The question how expensive an electric scooter is, as you could read, depends on more things than the price tag attached to it. For example, it is important to ask yourself how long the battery of your electric scooter will last before it needs maintenance or needs to be replaced.

Often you might as well buy a new e-step. A battery life of so a few years more already makes a big difference on the total costs.

Insurance is also an important aspect to consider. It is an extra cost item, but the misery of an uninsured scooter can be great when you cause damage.

Do you go for one as cheap as possible, legal e-step? Then we can recommend Micro Colibri to you.

Would you rather opt for a slightly more expensive electric scooter now, but with an excellent battery for the coming years? Then go for this Kostka.

Hopefully after reading this article you have a better idea of ​​what the costs of an electric scooter consist of and you can make an informed decision!