NIU, maker of popular, affordable electric mopeds, showed off its first-ever electric kick scooter. The new two-wheeler will be available starting this summer in China, Europe, and North America.
The NIU Kick Scooter will come in two variants, Pro and Sport. In the US, the Pro scooter will have a top speed of 19.8mph, while the Sport version will have a top speed of 17.4 mph. In Europe, both versions will have a regulated top speed of 25 km/h (15.5 mph). The Pro will have a range 31 miles (50 km) on a single 7.5-hour charge, while the Sport will have a range of 25 miles (40 km) on a single 5.5-hour charge.
For the drivetrain, NIU is offering a 350W motor and 486Wh lithium-ion battery pack for the Pro kick scooter, while the Sport will be powered by a 300W motor and 365Wh battery pack. Both scooters are water resistant, foldable, and come with app connectivity via Bluetooth and regenerative braking. The cheapest version of the scooter will start at $599, though NIU has yet release any more details about pricing.
NIU is mostly known in North America for its popular $2,000 electric mopeds, which have been used by shared mobility companies like Revel and Lime. The mopeds are available for purchase in a handful of US cities, including San Francisco, San Diego, Austin, Chicago, Washington, DC, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Honolulu.
A pre-sale for the kick scooter starts in June 2021, with delivery scheduled in the US and Europe in July 2021. Global retail sales will begin in August 2021, with the scooter able to be purchased online or in any of NIU’s dealerships and stores in Europe and North America.
Electric scooters are plentiful in the US, with models from Segway-Ninebot, Inokim, Acton, Unagi, and others widely available from a number of different retailers. Battery-powered mopeds, however, are a bit harder to come by in North America. Major manufacturers, like Gogoro, tend to focus sales on higher volume markets like China, while the US is left to languish thanks to its car-centric infrastructure.
