Words: Abhishek Pandey
Photography: Saidatta Naik
The Indian electric scooter market has grown tremendously over the past half decade. The two-wheeler sphere has seen many new startups and legacy manufacturers come up with new electric scooters and motorcycles, across price brackets. Ampere, owned by Greaves Electric Mobility, has been quite active on the front too, and has launched a range of scooters over the past couple of years particularly. Its Magnus has just received an update in the form of the Magnus Neo, which replaces the erstwhile Magnus EX and promises to offer longer range and more features at a relatively affordable price. We spent some time with the new scooter to assess these claims.
Family scooters are a fairly simple setup usually, with their focus being more towards utility than anything else. And with that said, the Magnus Neo carries a conventional scooter look. It gets an LED headlamp integrated into the handlebar cowl, while the dual-tone front apron houses the turn indicators. The Magnus Neo uses a halogen tail lamp at the rear, coupled with LED indicators, making for a simple-looking rear end.
The Magnus Neo may be a compact scooter, but doesn’t feel cramped. I am 5 feet, 9 inches tall and found the seating position quite comfortable. Even taller riders should not have an issue. The scooter’s build quality is pretty decent, though the plastics could have been better. The floorboard is set slightly high, but is roomy enough to accommodate a small bag along with your feet without feeling cluttered. Underseat storage measures a modest 22 litres, and is LED-lit for convenience. While it won’t accommodate a full-face helmet, it’ll manage a half-face lid or a few small essentials, enough for quick grocery runs or short rides on your everyday commutes in city.
Equipment levels are pretty basic, the instrument cluster is the same as the previous model and displays basic information. However, reading the display is a bit confusing as the battery reading is displayed in the form of a counter with six blocks displaying high to low, while the battery percentage is displayed in a small manner and takes time to locate. There are telltale lights which include the side stand indicator, ready, overheat and high beam. The ride modes are displayed in numbers such as 1 (low) and 2 (high) instead of names or symbols, which gets a bit confusing.
The Magnus Neo is powered by a 2.3kWh lithium iron phosphate battery. The claimed IDC range is 118km and we managed a rather impressive 85km on a single charge, switching between low and high power modes. The motor offers 3.6PS of peak power and has a claimed top speed of 65kmph. During our test runs we were only able to attain 55kmph, which is not too bad for a scooter meant for short commuters though the scooter could certainly do with offering a more torquier feel.
What stands out though is the scooter’s plush ride quality. The suspension is set up for comfort, and it shows in the way the Magnus Neo handles broken roads. The front telescopic forks and single rear shock absorber do a good job of taking care of bad roads and ironing out rough patches, which makes city commutes and long-ish rides an easy affair. The downside however is that the soft suspension is a bit of an issue, especially when riding over undulations at higher speeds, causing the scooter tends to wallow slightly. That said, it is quite obvious, the target audience for the scooter are family scooter buyers, and while most of them won’t quite notice this, overall dynamics could be better. Ampere is offering the Magnus Neo with a 3-year or 30,000km warranty (whichever is earlier), while the battery comes with a five year or 75,000kms warranty.
Effectively, the Magnus Neo makes sense if your daily rides are short, such as grocery runs or quick commutes to the office or college, also because the scooter does offer as friendly feel. It is a no-nonsense machine that does basics well without unnecessarily overcomplicating things. Priced at ₹79,999 ex-showroom, it offers fair value for what it brings to the table. That being said, there’s definitely room for improvement, especially in terms of features, quality and overall finish. If simplicity and budget are one’s priorities though, the Magnus Neo fits the bill without much fuss.
