[singhal.kul]

Today I took a test drive of NDS Alfa by NDS Eco Motorshttp://ndsecomotors.com at Chinchwad Pune. It is a Bengaluru based company. I found out about them after watching a preview by PluginIndia on youtube.

They have 3 models available. Alfa, Lio and Lio+. All of them are similar as far as looks are concerned. Alfa comes with 6 72V/20Ah VRLA gel batteries. Lio has one 72V/21Ah Li-Ion battery and Lio+ has 2 Li-Ion batteries. The range is 60-80 kms for Alfa, 80-120 kms for Lio and 160-225 kms for the Lio+.
Apart from that based on the customer feedback, they’ve changed the tyres sizes from 14 inch on the Alfa to 12 inch on Lio and Lio+.

All 3 models are powered by the same 1600W BLDC hub motor.

On road cost in Pune for the 3 models:

Alfa: 74K
Lio: 87.5K
Lio+: 1.18L

They only had the Alfa model for display and test ride. The Lio and Lio+ were available only on order as of now.


Initial impressions from the test drive of Alfa:

Likes:

- The vehicle looks sturdy and stylish(depends on your taste).
- Good acceleration. I took the ride with a pillion and the vehicle responded well to the throttle.
- The seating is comfortable and feels like sitting on a bike.
- The suspension is very good for a scooter and the vehicle felt well planted on uneven roads and speed breakers.
- Braking is good. The front brakes are disc type and rear ones are drum. It has e-ABS.
- There are 2 horn buttons. One on each side.
- There are 3 riding modes all of them are controlled by a switch on the right side.
- The vehicle did not feel very heavy and the weight mentioned is 122 kgs including the 6 batteries.
- The vehicle charging point is below the seat. The seat can be closed with the wire taken out for charging. They say it is to prevent theft of the charger.
- There’s a master switch below the seat to prevent the battery from draining when standing unused for longer duration. The vehicle won’t start if the switch is off.
- There’s regenerative braking that should help a bit with the range of the vehicle.
- The tail lights are LED, but the headlights are not. Not sure about the indicators.
- Charging time is 6 hours and has an auto cut-off to prevent battery damage.
- Power consumption is 3.61 units for 100 kms as per ARAI.
- 2 years warranty including the battery.
- The gel battery replacement cost is around Rs. 13000/-
- 3 free services. 6 months/9K kms, 12 months/18K kms, 18 months/24K kms. The service will include inspecting the status of the batteries and the motor and will cost around 400 bucks after free services are done.

Dislikes:

- As with most of the electric scooters, after sales service remains a big concern for NDS Motors as well. They have just the one showroom/service centre in Pune and I did not see any service person there to attend to any vehicles that might come in for servicing.
- The battery replacement cost for Li-Ion model is very high. Around Rs. 35000/-
- Headlights should have been LED for an electric scooter. That would lead to battery savings.
- The entire instrument panel including speedometer, odometer and battery remaining are analog. The battery remaining meter is similar to a fuel gauge which I found is a miss and it would have been good if the entire panel was digital. Somehow it makes the vehicle feels as non-electric.
- Lio and Lio+ should be offered in 14 inch wheel versions. In my opinion that leads to a better and safe riding experience.
- Rear brakes should have been disc ones instead of drum.
- The make of the motor is unknown. The salesman said that it is manufactured by NDS itself. I doubt that it might be Chinese make as it looked very similar to Okinawa Praise’s motor.
- The charging time is too high. Should add support for fast charging.
- The speedometer on the test vehicle was not working, so could not test the top speed. The salesperson said that this was to not increase the running of the test vehicle. I feel this is cheating the customer.
- No mobile charging slot.
- The charger is 2 pin instead of 3 pin. Might cause some earthing issues.
- Switching modes while riding for additional speed is something counter-intuitive. I think should be integrated with the throttle. I had this issue with the Praise as well.
- With the charger kept in the boot, keeping an helmet will not be possible.
- No marketing at all from the company. If it wasn’t for the youtube video, I would not have found out about them. It would be good if they promoted it a bit by showcasing at auto expos and some youtube videos maybe.
- The cost of fixing/replacing the motor is unknown. This is a red flag for me since the motor is the most important component of any vehicle.

I enquired with the salesman if it is possible to upgrade the Lio/Lio+ to 14 inch wheels or install the Li-Ion batteries in the Alfa. The salesman will call me when he gets confirmation on this. I’ll update the thread if I get any update.



Link to the preview by PluginIndia.[url="

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the 2-wheels Section. Thanks for sharing!

[srishiva]

Thanks for the information. I wonder how well the motors would fare on our roads when it rains. It will be very regularly flooded on those puny wheels. Is it better to have a chain/belt drive with the motor mounted little higher ?

[singhal.kul]

Originally Posted by srishiva

Thanks for the information. I wonder how well the motors would fare on our roads when it rains. It will be very regularly flooded on those puny wheels. Is it better to have a chain/belt drive with the motor mounted little higher ?

Even I have the same concern. But all of them claim that the motor is waterproof. But only time will tell how waterproof the motor is. Ather guys have thought of this problem and the S340 is supposed to have a chain drive with the motor secured below the seat.

[aim120]

I wouldn't be surprised if its another chinese product assembled in India, just like the other 90% of the E-Scooters companies in India.

I agree, we need bigger diameter tires in scooters in India. Many SE asian countries have much larger diameter tires there, then in India.
Even Tvs Dazz which export only scooter have bigger tires.

[singhal.kul]

Originally Posted by aim120

I wouldn't be surprised if its another chinese product assembled in India, just like the other 90% of the E-Scooters companies in India.

I did a preliminary search given that it is a unknown company, but could not find any vehicle that looked remotely similar to this one. Maybe need to search with some other terms and a bit deeper.

[aim120]

Just like i said before, I knew I had seen it before in some chinese website.

http://www.mopedelectricscooter.com/...l-display.html
https://opaisales.en.made-in-china.c...l-Display.html

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

The website seems to point to a free domain -

[farhadtarapore]

Sorry, but 152Nm torque at 100rpm?? What does that mean in context of electric scoot?

[payeng]

That's design is a blatant copy of the Yamaha BWS 125 Scooter

[am1m]

Wow, I thought the S340 and 450 were overpriced, but if a company can charge 74k-1.18L for this Chinese rip-off, then the much better looking, better designed offering from Ather Energy with a seemingly well-planned strategy with a charging grid and all that suddenly looks like a better value proposition.

[aim120]

Originally Posted by farhadtarapore

Sorry, but 152Nm torque at 100rpm?? What does that mean in context of electric scoot?

The torque quoted is the torque of the hub motor, any motor which is a outrunner meaning the rotor is present on the outside produces much much more torque vs say a inrunner motor where the rotor is present on the inside.

eg of outrunner motor your ceiling fan, Fans in PC, wheel hub motor, drone/ multirotor motors etc.
eg of inrunner motor your motor pump, starter motor, motors in tesla car, Ather Scooters, inside a power tool motor like drill etc .

Hub motors have huge torque because they don't use any reduction gear, that amount of torque is required if it has to rotate tire with the weight of the rider and vehicle. Hub motors also have very low rpm. If you connect a inrunner motor directly to the wheel, the motor will not have the torque to turn it, will most likely burn up, which is why you see ather using a reduction gear.