LATE TO THE PARTY?

Can Honda's electric duo shake up the e-scooter market, or is it simply a case of too little, too late?

- WORDS AAKASH S PAUL

For over a decade, the Honda Activa has been the go-to choice for buyers and the benchmark in its segment. Now, the Japanese automaker is entering the Indian electric scooter market with not one but two offerings - the Activa e and QC1. So naturally, expectations are high, and since Honda is arriving a little late to the party, the competition is fierce. So, do these new contenders have what it takes to surge ahead and lead the pack?

ACTIVA E

Both the Activa e and the QC1 look rather similar, but the Activa e features a DRL above the apron and a wider taillamp. Furthermore, while the Activa e gets diamond-cut alloys, the QC1 features plain black ones. Both offerings sport a minimalistic yet modern design - something that I find quite appealing — and have a premium overall build. The Activa e is the more tech-laden of the two and comes with a smart key and a vibrant, lag-free 7-inch TFT instrument cluster. The map integration is quite good, and the presence of a joystick makes navigating through the menus intuitively quick. The QC1, on the other hand, features a basic but functional 5-inch LCD unit.

The Activa e offers three riding modes — Eco, Standard, and Sport. Interestingly, you can get very close to the claimed top speed figure of 80km/h even in Eco mode. However, the acceleration is painfully slow in this mode, so my suggestion would be to keep it in Standard mode. The scooter has two 1.5kWh swappable batteries and I found the whole swapping process to be impressively quick and efficient. Having two batteries means that you split the weight, making them easier to take out and carry. Even the swapping process was very seamless and took less than a minute.