Yamaha NEO'S electric scooter review

How far will it get me?

From a single battery, Yamaha claims a range of 23 miles in the standard riding mode, or 24miles in ECO mode. Add the second battery (for £980) and the range increases to a claimed 42 miles. When battery life drops to around 20% it automatically goes into Turtle mode, which restricts the power and speed, to hopefully get you home. On a single battery, you have around 19 miles before you lose power.

Running two batteries, as our bike did on test, works well. You only run one battery at a time, and when battery one is about to go into ‘Turtle’ mode, it automatically switches to battery two. You don’t have to stop and unplug anything. When the batteries switch, the rider is notified via the simple dash.

The range isn’t shown on the dash, just battery life via a bar-chart symbol. To see your range you need to use the MyRide Yamaha app, which plainly shows the range of total battery in kilometres. 

After our 30.3 miles ride, I still had 15.5miles remaining, which gives a total range from two batteries of 45.8miles – so not bad. Earlier in the day, after 13.4 miles, I had 30.9 miles remaining – a total range of 38.8 miles and a little less than Yamaha’s claimed 42 miles. So you can see that real-world range depends on how (and where) you ride your Neo's. 

One battery is truthfully going to last between 18 and 22 miles, while 37 to 44 miles is my calculation for two batteries (though it will go into Turtle Mode at around 20%). Ride fast, throw in some hills or take a pillion, and that figure could drop to 25km/15 miles – which means you are going to need the second battery, which costs £980 and represents nearly a third of the original cost of the scooter itself.

But Yamaha describes this as an inner-city bike. It’s aimed especially at young riders dashing to school or college and back, or to part-time work, a few miles here and a few miles back, meaning 18 miles should be enough for most, just.

It takes eight hours to charge from 0% to 100%, which means overnight for most owners, while a 20 to 80% charge can be completed in four hours. There is no fast charge option. If you opt for the second battery you will need a second charger, or charge one battery, swap over and recharge the second battery. 

What other features does it have?

There is no ABS on the Neo's relatively simple braking setup, which features a single 200mm disc at the front and a cable-operated shoe brake on the rear.  The front set-up is more than ample to stop a 100kg scooter from only 28mph, and thanks to the quality suspension, the forks hold their composure during stopping.

Very basic tech as you’d expect, no ABS and, no traction control either. There are two riding modes – standard and ECO – but the ECO mode only adds a few miles to the battery range. 

The Yamaha MyRide app is useful and worth downloading. It’s easy to connect to the bike and clearly shows the remaining range. It will also highlight your lean angle, and you can trace your route should you want to share it with your mates. The simple dash will also highlight if you’ve received a text message.

There is a small open compartment to take a phone, with a 12V charger, and keyless ignition comes as standard. If you want a USB charger, this is an optional extra. Yamaha also offers bar and mirror mounts, plus a large 34-litre top case.