Okinawa Scooters will launch its second e-scooter in New Delhi, India, by the second week of December 2017. The Praise will be a premium e-scooter with sporty aspirations, and will come with the styling and equipment to match. Following the Ridge, which was launched in January this year, the Praise aims to be ‘the most complete e-scooter ever built’, in the words of its manufacturer.
From the teaser, it’s evident that the Praise features a sporty front end that houses a wide headlight unit – underlined by a sweeping LED DRL – fitted into the apron. The apron extends to its sides and incorporates horizontal slats as an additional styling element atop which rests a slim LED light insert.
The handlebar cowl features turn indicators and the handlebar is equipped with bar-end weights. Not only does the Praise get a telescopic fork like the Ridge, but it also gets a disc brake, which is a first for Okinawa. The teaser also suggests a larger-sized front wheel than the Ridge (shod with 10-inch wheels) but this will be confirmed at the time of launch. Okinawa claims the Praise will be India’s fastest e-scooter and this suggests its top speed will be in excess of 60kph, at least (the Ridge has a claimed top speed of 55kph). Okinawa also claims its range to be the highest of any e-scooter in India, which means it will exceed the 100km per charge claimed range of the Hero Electric Wave DX.
The Praise is equipped with side-stand sensors, an anti-theft sensor in the main stand and also Combi brakes, which is a popular feature on conventional scooters where application of the rear brake also engages the front brake to an assistive degree.
Pre-bookings for the Okinawa Praise begin tomorrow and we expect it to be priced at about Rs 52,000, a premium you are expected to pay for the performance, efficiency and equipment compared to the Okinawa Ridge, which is priced at Rs 43,702 (ex-showroom, Delhi).
Azaman Chothia
Vishal Venugopal
