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The Reva started the electric vehicle phenomenon in India and now, they are here in hordes, especially the two-wheeled kind. We thought, for the heck of it, that it would be a great idea to take a spin on one such electric vehicle - the Roamer+ sold in India by BSA. After all, it's healthy to welcome change, isn't it?
We did, for a mere 7 km before the thing died. The er, 'fuel' gauge showed that the battery was fully charged and the red pinky light was on, meaning the power switch was feeding in the juice to the motor. But the BSA just wouldn't go. Although it might be a small thing to fix, or not, I don't know these things inside out and fiddling around could result in a hair raising experience that I could do without. So, I meekly pushed it back into the garage. Sigh.
What I can do, though, is try and evaluate the Roamer on the basis of the mere seven kilometres that I could ride it for. And I shall start from the build quality. For what it is worth, the Roamer boasts of some really good looking plastics on it. Although it could appear too gaudy to some folks, the plastic is far from flimsy. The meters are simple to look at as well as to read. There isn't anything about the build quality that would make you think that this is a sub-standard product. Switchgear isn't the best around but they work well and Bob's my uncle.
BSA claims that the Roamer is capable of a top whack of 45 kph. I didn't get to strapping on a Vbox to confirm this, but on one run, the needle on the speedo did hover around the 45 kph mark. Acceleration from the 800W motor is far from brisk. It picks up speed in short bursts like a rocking horse, accompanied by a sound that resembles a local train, albeit reduced to a scale of 1/100th. One probable reason why the Roamer is such a poor sprinter could be due to the weight of the battery. Conventional battery technology is very limited as of now and even today, wet batteries are still heavy enough to break your foot when dropped from a short height.
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