Being comfortable, people are using scooties without any difference. In order to provide more comfort, Bangalore-based company River has brought a new scooter named ‘Indy’. This scooter looks like nothing else on our roads, partly thanks to its 14-inch wheels wrapped in chunky 120-section tyres, first time in India making riding easier. The storage under the scooter seat has been designed with a capacity of 43 liters. A box with a capacity of 12 liters is inserted in the front.
Then there’s the unique front apron that is dominated by a large twin-LED headlamp cluster, which makes the Indie look larger than most current day scooters. The side panels and large seat (River says it’s the longest and widest in the class) further accentuate this. The riding position is also spacious enough for tall riders,
Electric Scooter : There are a couple of unique features like the extendable foot pegs for the rider, the built-in crash bars at the sides of the front apron and the removable pannier mounts on the side panels. Both the front and rear lamps look quite striking, and the Indie also gets motorcycle style clip-on handlebars. Switchgear quality looks very good, and the company has kept things simple by using a segmented colour LCD display instead of a TFT touchscreen. There will be a mobile app that will provide the usual Bluetooth and ride telemetry based features and the company say it has no plans to start subscription-based services anytime soon.
There’s a 4kWh NMC aluminium cased battery pack that resides in the floor,
and the company claims that its standard charger can take it from 0-80 percent in five hours. The Indie is powered by a mid-mounted electric motor that sends power to the rear wheel via belt drive. The motor is rated for a peak output of 6.7kW/26Nm and
the company claims a top speed of 90kph along with a real world range of around 120km.
Electric Vehicle : The Indie is priced at Rs 1.25 lakh, ex-showroom Bengaluru, which includes the Fame 2 subsidy and a home charger. That is a very appealing price, which positions it closer to the TVS iQube S and much lower than the likes of the Ather 450X or the Ola S1 Pro. The company also plans to offer a 5 year/50,000km battery warranty. River says it intends to start off slow with three cities in 2023 so that it can streamline its supply
and manufacturing processes while also seeing how the scooters perform on the road.
The Indie scooters we got to see were pre-production models with most elements
like the frame, suspension, brakes and lights already being fully tooled up. Quality and finish levels overall are quite good (although these are not the final production-spec body panels) and small details like the 3D river logos and the bright colour schemes make the Indie stand out in a good way. The Indie is powered by a mid-mounted electric motor that sends power to the rear wheel via belt drive.
These types of scooters are available in red, yellow, blue, etc. colors. Priced at Rs 1.25 lakh, the bike can be pre-ordered through the rider.com website. A lot of good can be done for the environment.