BMW Motorrad debuted its second electric scooter, the CE 02, recently. We spent about half an hour riding it around the streets of Gurgaon and here is what we think of it.
Over anything else, the BMW CE 02’s form factor is quite high and impressive. Every road, bylane, and parking lot we went to, the CE 02 left people inquisitive about it. Its quirky and distinct design with the BMW badge attracts a lot of eyeballs.
The CE 02 gets an LED headlight with a small visor up top, a single piece skate-board-like seat, bright colours and an overall youthful appeal. However, its seat isn’t long enough to accommodate two full-size adults.
Powering the baby BMW EV is an 11kW motor paired with two 1.96 kWh batteries. The setup claims to offer a 96kmph top speed and 108km range. We could only push the scooter to 75kmph as per the road conditions.
The BMW CE 02 that we rode was equipped with the Highline package which gave it an extra riding mode along with the existing two – Flow, Surf, and Flash (exclusive to the Highline pack). While the difference in acceleration in these three ride modes isn’t significant, the regenerative braking is what changes the most.
In the short time that we spent with the CE 02, we felt it needed slightly sharper braking bite at the front and a plusher rear monoshock setup. The current setting feels stiff and may not be the most convenient in a city with broken roads.
It also gets a bunch of features like ABS, a micro TFT with smartphone connectivity, heated grips, reverse mode, and more. But some of these are only available with the Highline pack.
For Rs. 4.5 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi), the BMW CE 02 is an expensive offering when looking at the sea of electric scooters. But if you want to stand out from the crowd, and have a funky two-wheeler for local run about, then it makes all the sense to chip out nearly Rs. 5 lakh on the CE 02.
