$6500 Red Bull E-scooter Only Does 20 MPH, Should Do 60 MPH

Electric transportation is the way of the future, so we’re told, and it’s not just limited to road-going EVs. E-scooters, or zipdingos, as the Australians call them, are becoming increasingly popular, too. It’s a crowded market, and everybody’s getting in on the action, from budget Chinese manufacturers to fancy European design houses. The engineering heads at Red Bull Racing have also thrown their hat in the ring, building a fancy carbon scooter that looks a million bucks, and sadly comes with an appropriate price tag, too.

It’s a slick e-scooter that looks far cleaner than a lot of the cheaper budget models on the market. Extraneous wires and cables have been eliminated from the design, with everything neatly tucked inside the carbon fiber body. The wheels are fat, wide things with purposeful tires and integrated hub motors, and they’re on single-sided mounts for a more futuristic look. They’re well-sized for good ground clearance, and with pneumatic tires, they’ll do a great job at soaking up the lumps and bumps of urban environments. Meanwhile, from the footplate to the dog-leg headstem, it’s all raw carbon fiber under a rich gloss finish, subtly adorned with a few Red Bull Racing logos.

So far, so good, right? The vital statistics leave a little something to be desired, though. That light carbon fiber can’t do much to make up for the weight of the batteries, and the scooter weighs in at a total of 50.7 pounds. It’s not exactly something you’d casually carry around all day. In fairness, the payoff is range, which comes in at a healthy 40 miles thanks to the 760 Wh battery.  Power is rated at 750 W from the dual motors, which is healthy enough, but don’t expect to go particularly fast. While some outlets initially quoted the scooter’s top speed as high as 28 mph, it’s currently reported as topping out at 20 mph. For all that, it’ll cost you a healthy $6,500 of your United States dollars.

I’m an engineer, so I’ll do the maths for you. That’s costing you $325 per mph. As a guide, you could get this 2004 Buick LeSabre for just $6000 and that’ll hit 108 mph, no problem, which is a comparative bargain at just $55 per mph. Even my own DIY experiments with modifying scooters netted me a Razor E300 capable of 25 mph for just $600 or so, which comes out to a super-cheap $24 per mph.

There’s reason behind this, of course. Since the e-scooter revolution took hold in the last 5 years, cities, states, and countries have brought in strict regulations on these personal mobility vehicles. Oftentimes, there are restrictions on power outputs and top speed, particularly in built up areas.

There is some neat engineering in it, of course. The four-piston hydraulic disc brakes are sure to be a treat. There are plenty of fun animations of the scooter’s design going through Finite Element Analysis to determine its ability to handle shock loads from jumps or being dropped, too. It’s been through hundreds of hours of testing according to the sales page, and can handle up to 2 tons of weight and 3 G loads. That’s all well and good, but some of the marketing speak gets a bit much. The “semi-slick tires” apparently provide “incredible grip in fast corners,” but at a glance, they don’t look to be any more special than the garden-variety tires you’d find on any other e-scooter. Indeed, they’ve got the same size stamping as most Chinese-produced rubber, and semi-slick? Please, that thing has enough tread to be a full wet.

Indeed, for this writer, a couple of minor details raised an eyebrow. The fact that it’s being sold on “rbr-escooter.com,” the cheap-looking headlight tacked on to the headstem, and the throttle control that looks like parts I’ve sourced for my own builds on eBay. If it wasn’t for a mention on Red Bull Racing’s official Twitter account, I’d be seriously questioning whether this thing might be vaporware or some kind of scam.

Full carbon fibre chassis ✅#F1 inspired design ✍️
World Championship winning performance ????

The RBS#01 eScooter is out now ????

— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) October 21, 2022

Fundamentally, it just seems like such a shame. Here you have this amazing carbon-fiber scooter that looks the business. And yet, for all the high-buck engineering that went into it, it will maybe best your grandpa’s swift little mobility scooter by a few miles an hour.

This thing should be a corner-carving, tire-shredding beast; something that can give you some real thrills at a semi-terrifying speed. $6,500 should get you at least 60 mph, bare minimum. That price is just an incredibly steep figure for an electric scooter that lets you pop along the sidewalk at a friendly, non-intimidating clip.

It’s worth noting that there are other “premium” scooters out there that could present better value, too. Bugatti’s line of e-scooters offer slightly higher speeds of up to 22 mph, with comparable power and range. And they don’t come with such a fancy price tag, either; you can have one for well under $2000 if you so desire.

Not to worry, though, because these things aren’t even out yet. Despite the scooter being announced just about a year ago, it’s not going to be ready to ship until January 2024. Whether it’s coming down the street or coming through the post, the Red Bull Racing e-scooter isn’t coming quickly.

Image credits: Red Bull Racing, eBay, Bugatti