Who will love it:
Adrenaline junkies and larger riders will love the power and speed of the Turbowheel Lightning which is the best bang for your buck in the high performance electric scooter sphere. I challenge you to find another electric scooter that has more power, torque, and speed than the Turbowheel Lightning at this price point.
Top Speed: 40+ mph
Range: 40 miles
Weight: 77 lbs
Max load: 330 lbs
For this review, I tested the Turbowheel Lightning dual 1000W motors which currently sells on Ewheels for $1690 and comes with off-road tires.
What I think:
When my buddy Andrew texted me to check out his electric scooter, I’ll be honest, I wasn’t super excited to try it. I had just finished testing the Etwow GT and Turbowheel Swift and I was ready for a break from scooters.
I’ve been on a bunch of electric scooters and, while scooters are very functional for last mile transportation, the electric scooters never really excited me. Well, that quickly changed with the Turbowheel Lightning.
An electric scooter that goes 40 miles per hour?! But why would anyone need a scooter that goes that fast? Here’s an example: my Tesla Model 3 has a top speed of 160 mph but I have never come close to reaching that top speed. Instead, I enjoy the power, acceleration and torque when driving to make the drive more fun and to keep me out of dangerous situations.
Just because my Tesla can go 160 mph doesn’t mean that I need to drive it that fast. It’s the same concept with this scooter. Enjoy the power and torque and use it if you need to keep you safe and out of harms way while riding in city streets.
In addition, off-road scootering is great on the Turbowheel Lightning.
I didn’t even know off-roading scootering was a thing but after riding the Turbowheel Lightning, let me tell you: off-road scootering is a thing and it is awesome!
Appearance:
This is a good looking scooter. The black and red colors are well done, the new ergonomic hand grips are stylish, and the suspension and shiny disc brakes all scream, “I AM NOT A CHEAP RENTAL SCOOTER!”
Acceleration:
The acceleration, torque, power, and top speed would satisfy any adrenaline junky. The real question is, why would anyone need something with so much power? There are a few scenarios I see where a scooter of this caliber would be useful:
- If you ride in a hilly environment.
- If you frequently ride in traffic. Having the available power to get you out of sticky situations is handy.
- If you are a larger and heavier rider looking for a more powerful horse to carry you around.
- If you are an adrenaline junkie that loves crushing trails.
Ride Feel:
The torque is impressive on this beast. From a stand still be sure you do not floor the throttle unless you are experienced and know what to expect.
The acceleration is smooth and controlled once you are going. The shocks and pneumatic tires do a splendid job of smoothing out all the bumps and and cracks in the road and it made off-road riding a joy.
When accelerating quickly, the strong g-forces causes you to pull back on the handlebars as you hang on for dear life. The stem felt like it was flexing during extreme acceleration. I never got a chance to see if that was the case because I was moving so fast, but the flex I felt could have been a figment of my imagination or the shocks allowing me to pull back slightly on the stem.
Braking:
The front and rear disc brakes are strong and that’s what you need in an electric scooter that can cruise up to 40 miles per hour. The brakes worked well and felt smooth.
The big problem with the brakes on the model we tested was that the brakes were reversed. In the US, the right hand brake should control the rear wheel braking system and the left hand brake should control the front.
On our scooter, the brakes were reversed from the US system and seemingly designed for how they do it in Italy and Great Britain. It will take a while to retrain old habits if you are an avid motorcyclist or bicyclist.
Over time, I did find having the rear brake on the left very convenient as my main braking system. Having the left hand dedicated to braking and the right hand dedicated to the throttle was perfect in tight off road conditions where switching my right hand from throttle to brake could be a little tedious.
Portability:
In order to pack in all that power into an affordable scooter, sacrifices had to be made. In the world of tech, the venn diagram consists of power, portability, and price. Ideally you would have all three in your next laptop or cell phone or personal electric vehicle. But the fact is, you only get two.
With the Turbowheel Lightning, you get power for a great price. Unfortunately, this 77 lb beast is not the most portable scooter.
Safety:
I see myself riding comfortably on a scooter in the 20 mph range. This is comfortable to me and I found the Lightning to feel very stable and safe at this speed.
The few times that I sent it and went fast, I never felt any wobbles but I never felt that safe going extremely fast because it’s unnatural for a scooter to go at such high speeds.
The scooter did feel balanced and the brakes worked well however I did have to get use to the rear brake control on the left which is opposite from every bicycle I’ve every ridden.
The flaws:
Ewheels calls the Turbowheel Lightning an Economy High Performance Dual Motor Electric Scooter. To me, the power, speed, and braking never felt “economy.”
I did feel that there was something missing when folding and trying to transport the scooter. It was bulky and difficult to carry without an obvious way to lock down the stem when folded.
When in the upright position, the locking mechanism for the stem was cumbersome and after a day of trail riding, the locking mechanism seemed a little loose. This is a good reminder to all to check to make sure everything is in working order before setting speed records on this scooter.
The stem of the scooter is also not height adjustable. It was perfect for my 5’ 10” frame, but folks much shorter or taller than me may find it uncomfortable on long rides.
The control module on the right handlebar is standard on Turbowheels and is easy to use. The confusion starts when switching between ECO and TURBO modes as well as SINGLE and DUAL motor modes using the buttons on the left handlebar. It is not readily clear which mode you are in when the buttons are engaged.
Conclusion:
I don’t think there is a PEV out there that has this much power packed into such an affordable price. But just because the Turbowheel Lightning can go 40 mph doesn’t mean that you have to.
The Turbowheel Lightning is amazing fun, but it is also a great way to get around.
If you are interested in purchasing a Turbowheel Lightning, consider using my affiliate link which supports my YouTube Channel and website.
Special thanks to Andrew for sharing his Turbowheel Lightning with me. Check out what Andrew has going on at his website eRideLife.com.