Okinawa Scooters launched the Okinawa Praise electric scooter to critical acclaim especially with its specifications. Look at these numbers!
- 3 units of electricity to go 175 km
- 75 kmph top speed
- 22 degrees gradient climbing ability
- Tubeless tyres
- Li-Ion battery pack option
Okinawa Praise will give you a feel of real time 2 wheeler vehicle with very good top speed of 70-75 kmph, attractive and a strong body chassis and build quality.
You can easily do 50-75Km per day, which is enough for daily city commute. Although the company claims 175-200 km per charge.
Power
With 2.5KW max power (3.3HP) you will get pretty good pickup acceleration (almost equal to petrol based scooty) and
top speed of 70-75 kmph. On city roads more than 50-60 kmph speed is generally required to overtake an auto rickshaw or a city bus.
So basically you will not feel helpless with this electric scooter.
Normal high power (1KW/1.5KW) electric two wheeler has max 50-60 kmph speed and cannot overtake a speedy auto rickshaw/bus.
Handling
Wheels on the Okinawa Praise are 12 inch and will be better for road with potholes. Generally electric two wheeler wheel size is 10 inch.
Basically you will not feel much difference in terms of handling and get a better balancing/handling because of low centre of gravity due to battery position on the low side.
Battery
Praise with 72V 45Ah VRLA battery will be heavy, although kerb weight is not mentioned on its website, but weight of six 12V 45A VRLA battery would be around 90 Kg, so expected weight would be around 150Kg, like a Royal Enfield Bullet.
Okinawa Praise with Li-Ion battery would be less heavy with respect to IC engine based two wheeler. I feel that the expected weight for a Li Ion battery based Praise would be 80-95 Kg.
But cost of the 72V 45Ah Li-Ion battery pack price is around 1 Lac in India.
I think Li Ion version will be 72V 20Ah battery based, with overall price 80 thousands to 1.1 Lac without subsidy. You can figure out the expected on-road price after subtracting the subsidy amount and adding the taxes, registration charge etc.
If we compare the Okinawa Praise with currently available electric two-wheeler. Overall this product can give an actual competition to present IC engine based two wheelers.
Range
For an electric vehicle, range is one of the important parameter. Range on a single charge is dependent upon the different factors like temperature, discharge rate etc. Almost each vehicle has a most economical speed (basically it’s a discharge rate of battery) for best range. At high speed (higher discharge rate of battery) means more drag effect and power losses in electrical system (from battery to motor). So overall range on single charge gets reduced at higher average speed.
You can easily do 50-75Km per day, which is enough for daily city commute. Although the company claims 175-200 km per charge.
Power
With 2.5KW max power (3.3HP) you will get pretty good pickup acceleration (almost equal to petrol based scooty) and
top speed of 70-75 kmph. On city roads more than 50-60 kmph speed is generally required to overtake an auto rickshaw or a city bus.
So basically you will not feel helpless with this electric scooter.
Normal high power (1KW/1.5KW) electric two wheeler has max 50-60 kmph speed and cannot overtake a speedy auto rickshaw/bus.
Handling
Wheels on the Okinawa Praise are 12 inch and will be better for road with potholes. Generally electric two wheeler wheel size is 10 inch.
Basically you will not feel much difference in terms of handling and get a better balancing/handling because of low centre of gravity due to battery position on the low side.
Battery
Praise with 72V 45Ah VRLA battery will be heavy, although kerb weight is not mentioned on its website, but weight of six 12V 45A VRLA battery would be around 90 Kg, so expected weight would be around 150Kg, like a Royal Enfield Bullet.
Okinawa Praise with Li-Ion battery would be less heavy with respect to IC engine based two wheeler. I feel that the expected weight for a Li Ion battery based Praise would be 80-95 Kg.
But cost of the 72V 45Ah Li-Ion battery pack price is around 1 Lac in India.
I think Li Ion version will be 72V 20Ah battery based, with overall price 80 thousands to 1.1 Lac without subsidy. You can figure out the expected on-road price after subtracting the subsidy amount and adding the taxes, registration charge etc.
If we compare the Okinawa Praise with currently available electric two-wheeler. Overall this product can give an actual competition to present IC engine based two wheelers.
Range
For an electric vehicle, range is one of the important parameter. Range on a single charge is dependent upon the different factors like temperature, discharge rate etc. Almost each vehicle has a most economical speed (basically it’s a discharge rate of battery) for best range. At high speed (higher discharge rate of battery) means more drag effect and power losses in electrical system (from battery to motor). So overall range on single charge gets reduced at higher average speed.
Above analysis is not based on actual ride (data). There may be variation in parameters. I have tried to do a close analysis, but some specifications like curb weigh, battery weight are not mentioned on its website. So we took these specifications from other similar products, which should be close to the actual product.
Note
- 72V 45 Ah lead acid based battery system. Battery type is VRLA 12V 45Ah, total six 12V batteries in series for a 72V system. Single 12V battery weight is considered 14.8 Kg, so total batteries weight would be around 90 Kg.
- Vehicle (battery) should be fully charge and then discharge upto 64.8V volt during the above range test. Almost fully discharge, 72V VRLA battery, which has 36 cells in series, average voltage of a single cell would be 1.8V.
- Kerb weight should be 145-160Kg.
Following parameters are not available:
- Weight of the vehicle (Kerb weight ?)
- Peak power. Although max power is mentioned 2500W
- Battery Charger specifications (Output power??)
- Regenerative braking??
Other Observations
- Wheel: 12 inch. That’s good for roads with potholes, basically much better than 10 inch wheel.
- Brakes: Front dual disk on a single side and rear wheel single disk brake
- Chassis body: Looks impressive, should be better than available Electric two wheeler and equivalent to petrol based scooty in strength and handling
- Motor: Max power is 2500W. Although motor is mentioned 1000W. Generally BLDC motor can be overpowered for a short duration. I think, motor can deliver a high power to overtake a BUS or other vehicles. I have an electric scooty and 2-2.4KW power from battery to motor controller is required to maintain a constant speed of 75Kmph with gross weight (vehicle + rider) around 170Kg. So, motor power of Okinawa Praise for 70-75Kmph should be 2.5KW.
- Battery: lead acid batteries, 6 units of 12V 45AH Amptek VRLA battery, expected total weight of VRLA batteries around 90Kg. Specification of Li-Ion battery is not available. Somewhere its weight 9 kg is mentioned but not on its website. I think with 9Kg weight, Li Ion battery for a 72V system would be a 72V 20AH battery pack.
- Range: with Lead acid (VRLA) battery is already mentioned in details. As of now Li-Ion Battery specifications are not available for Okinawa Praise, so there no point to do range vs speed analysis.