River Indie Updated With New Chain Drive And Single-Speed Gearbox

Bengaluru-based River has introduced the first set of updates with its debut scooter, the Indie. Fondly called the “SUV of scooters”, the River Indie scooter now gains a new chain drive system with a single-speed gearbox, replacing the previous belt drive system. This makes it the first electric scooter in the segment to be available with this drive system. This inclusion has also pushed its asking price from ₹1.38 lakh to ₹1.43 lakh now (ex-showroom, Bengaluru). 

Beyond that, River has also introduced two new colour options: Winter White and Storm Grey. Both of these will continue to be available alongside previous options: Monsoon Blue, Summer Red, and Spring Yellow. 

Aside from that, River has not made any changes to the scooter. It continues to be powered by the same 4 kWh battery, which has a claimed range of 120 km on a single charge. The battery comes paired with an 8.9 bhp strong electric motor, which produces 26 Nm of peak torque at the wheel, which can propel the scooter from 0-40 kmph in just 3.9 seconds, despite its sheer size. Speaking of size, the River Indie is one of the most practical electric scooters on sale today in India. It boasts a class-leading 55 litres of storage space on board, divided between the boot space and the glovebox. 

Speaking on the occasion of rolling out the first set of updates, Aravind Mani, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of River, commented, “Since our launch in October last year, we have sold over 3000 Indies. We’ve been carefully listening to customer feedback, and a lot of it has been incorporated in the new Indie.”

River also confirmed its plans to expand into other cities. In the next two months, River will set up shop in Coimbatore, Vizag, Hubli, Cochin, Belgaum, Vellore, Mysore, and Uppal. “We aim to have 25 River stores across India by March 2025,” concluded Mani.