Words: Mrinmoy Choudhury | Images: Saidatta Naik
Electric scooters are rapidly becoming the default choice for urban transportation, but only a handful of manufacturers are ready to rethink and experiment, going out of their way — the TVS Orbiter is exactly that. With its futuristic design and neat proportions, it shows how TVS has interpreted the ‘city scooter’ for the masses. My first tryst with the Orbiter was at TVS’ Hosur facility, where I had a number of laps around their test track and simulated courses, which depicted everyday scenarios in cities and towns. But to be honest, unless you ride a two-wheeler in the real world, it is very hard to tell what it is going to be like on a regular basis. So when the opportunity came to check it out in our home base of Pune, I was excited at the prospect of assessing its real-world capabilities.
The Orbiter is designed to encourage people to ride two-wheelers with approachable dimensions, or attract daily commuters who need an easy and efficient way to get around town without breaking a sweat or their bank. The design is certainly quirky, as it attracts a lot of attention when you stop at a traffic light. But its electric nature is not known by all, and that’s where people come and ask me which scooter it is, and whether it is petrol or electric. TVS’s choice of colours ensures that buyers get what they want for themselves – subtle or eye-catching; the neon sunburst colour in this case screams for attention. The rest of the package is, as I mentioned before, is made to be approachable for all. In fact, I have picked the keys of the Orbiter just so I could happily commute to work and otherwise forget about filling up the tank and worry about getting stuck in traffic.
The Orbiter comes with two riding modes – Eco and City. As the name suggests, the ‘Eco’ mode aims to extract the max range per charge by softening the throttle input with a restricted top of 45kmph; it is good enough to get you to your workplace and those short-distance grocery runs. But the ‘City’ mode opens up the restricted top speed to 68kmph and changes the way the twisting force is delivered to the rear wheel. And all this happens with just the touch of a dedicated ‘Mode’ button, and you feel the difference, like literally. As it was in my case, I chose to keep it in the City mode and took advantage of the brisk acceleration to keep my office commutes engaging, while the top speed was okay for most scenarios.
Handling is genuinely a major plus for the Orbiter, especially with the unconventional 14/12-inch wheel combination, and the kerb weight of 112 kg makes it easy to steer it into the desired direction. Then comes the comfort, thanks to the supple suspension and the cushy flat seat ensure you and the pillion are not moving around much on the seat. Bumps, potholes and undulations are an easy affair for this electric scooter. TVS has given the Orbiter drum brakes with combined braking, and they do a decent job of bringing the Orbiter to a halt. The LED headlamp is bright, and the simple cruise control function allows you to roll effortlessly when you have less traffic; no rocket science, just plain and simple. Last but not the least is the impressive charging time of slightly over four hours with its supplied 650W charger when plugged to a regular 15 amp socket, making sure you are ready to go. While TVS claims a range of 158 km, I have been able to extract 115 km in Eco mode and 99 km in City mode.
Should you buy the Orbiter? Why not? With an ex-showroom price of ₹99,900, which is approximately ₹5,000 higher than the base variant of TVS’s iQube electric scooter. However, the Orbiter brings a quirky design and approachable ergonomics, which should be able to attract those who want something different for their daily usage.
