Electric Runabout

The Honda QC1 aims to be just the right scooter for moving about in congested cities, but is that enough? We find out

- Joshua Varghese

BENGALURU'S TRAFFIC was as appalling as ever and we were not even in the main part of the city. Despite being on an electric scooter, there was no room to manoeuvre. If this were a commute to office, we would have left early to avoid the congestion but, technically speaking, we were already at work because we were testing the Honda QC1.

It may be recalled that towards the end of 2024, Honda entered the electric scooter space in India by launching the QC1 and the Activa e. The former is the model that uses a fixed battery. This one is solely aimed at people who live in densely populated cities, where the average speed is 30 km/h during rush hours. That's why we were stuck in Bengaluru traffic. Well done, Honda.

Honda made it clear that the QC1 is targeted at customers who appreciate practicality and simplicity. Such people are usually meticulous and have their day planned in advance before they leave home. When we set off, we had 100 per cent state of charge and, within seconds, we were among the many crawling along in the slow-moving urban mess which seemed like a perfect scenario to put the Eco mode to test. The QC1 uses a modest 1.8-kW (2.45-hp) hub motor which is restricted to a top speed of 30 km/h in Eco. In that situation, that was all we needed. However, the pace quickened once the congestion eased off and we had to switch to Standard mode because we needed its higher top speed of 53-km/h (indicated).