Honda Activa e: First Ride Review: Why Is It So Expensive To Run?

If you thought Netflix subscriptions were costly, then Honda is like hold my battery. Because it will cost you ₹28,000/year at the very least to run the new Activa e. And that is more than ten times the cost of home charging a similar capacity electric scooter. Aren’t EVs supposed to have cheaper running costs? Let me make things a little simpler before we dive into the review.

Running Cost Analysis

There are a lot of numbers to crunch and let’s try to not make it as a boring maths tuition class from school, you will have fun! Honda has two battery swapping plans on offer: Base and Advance plans. Honda claims that a rider will ride the scooter for 26 days in a month and with an efficiency of 30 km/kWh. Hence, the base plan factors in 1050 km of riding per month. And the monthly charge as a result with GST is ₹2360. And similar calculation is done for the advanced plan below.

Now let’s bring in other electric scooters into the equation. For the same kilometres of riding on an Ather e-scooter, Ather’s fast charging network will charge ₹1/km. And if you just charged a regular electric scooter at home using the same battery capacity and monthly usage, you will have to pay ₹5.90/kWh, as that is the Bengaluru standard per unit electricity rate.

Automatically, you will realise that the Ather charging cost is nearly half the battery swapping cost and home charging is a tenth of Honda’s plans. Multiply all of these by 12, and the annual cost of battery swapping vs fast charging vs regular home charging are as follows. 

Funnily, battery swapping is turning out to be just as expensive as a petrol powered scooter having a fuel efficiency of 50 kmpl, like the Activa.

Honda does take care of the health and maintenance of the battery, so you won’t need to worry about that. But after five years of usage, you will end up spending ₹1,41,600 in battery swapping, and that is over the initial cost to bring the scooter home. If a fixed battery pack on any other e-scooter needs to be replaced after five years, because you get at least that much warranty from any trusted electric brand, it should not cost more than ₹60000 or fifty percent of the scooter’s asking price. The latter are inflated numbers and still they sound more reasonable than what Honda is seeking.

So, understanding these numbers is crucial before we go anywhere ahead with the Activa e story. And we hope that this gives you a slightly better picture of the ownership experience. 

Evolved Yet Approachable Activa Design

There is an air of familiarity with the design of the Activa e:. Perhaps e: stands for evolution, which is noticeable as the design language that started off in the early 2000s has filtered down to the e-scooter. It is a sleek and very stylish looking electric scooter, it does look very pleasing and very futuristic in the Activa sense. It isn't as outlandish or alienesque as some electrics that we've experienced in the market. Even the colors are very pleasing to the eye, very appealing to the family buyer, and the blue shade on our test unit is certainly our pick of the lot.

The plastics are of far better quality than what we have come to expect from Honda on its scooters. The features on offer are what you expect from an electric scooter but the step up in quality levels is very noticeable and evident. Everything feels better put together. The switches are extremely tactile and navigating through the menu well is highly intuitive. So, overall Honda has done a really fine job in improving the touch and feel experience of the Activa e:.

Smartphone connectivity, proper map-based navigation, call and music controls that can be navigated through a large 7-inch screen. That’s what you get on the top-spec RoadSync variant of the Activa e:. The base version misses these and a few more but you can end up saving close to ₹35,000.

A Fun Activa? Really

Riding the Activa e: feels almost un-Activa-like. For starters, you get three riding modes. Econ is the base riding mode and it feels very lethargic in this riding mode. So best just keep it for when the battery levels are extremely low and you need to search for the nearest swap station.

Then there’s Standard, where the Activa e: feels the closest to the petrol Activa. It gets up to city speeds rather easily and you can commute at 45-50 kmph with enough torque on hand to get past slow moving traffic. But then you switch to Sport and it feels alive, it feels fun and energetic. All of these qualities are unlike any Activa we have ridden ever. It doesn't set off rapidly but once it gets going, it reaches rather quick speeds effortlessly. It doesn't feel vanilla like a TVS iQube or an Ather Rizta, this is more like a Bajaj Chetak, which is spirited in the right parts. Throttle calibration is very well done. Overall, you get the feeling that in case you were to transition from an ICE scooter to an EV this would feel seamless.

Range And Battery Swaps

Given the time limitations, we couldn't do a thorough drain test of the batteries of the Activa e:. We only covered around 30-35 km in peak Bengaluru traffic within the 2 hours that we had with the scooter. Most of these kilometers were clocked in sport mode, no economical riding only spirited riding. When we had to experience and shoot the battery swapping experience, the battery packs were at 52% state of charge left with around 28-29 km covered until that period. Honda claims that the IDC range of the Activa e: is 102 km. Hence, real-world range expectations should be around 85-90 km in Econ mode and 70-75 km in Standard.

And if you want to know how quickly you can swap the battery pack, check out our video below:

Storage? What Storage?

There's only one place on a scooter where you can put swappable batteries: under the seat. As a result, the entire convenience factor of getting a scooter goes away. There is absolutely no storage space to carry any groceries or supplies with just a small area that can hold a toiletries case and a small bottle of water. There are two cubby holes inside the front apron area and Honda will also sell you an accessory ‘frunk,’ which isn’t really increasing the storage capacity but rather just organising it neatly.

Basic Scooter Dynamics

Lack of storage space aside, Honda has got the other essential scooter bits in place on the Activa e. The riding posture is spot on for riders of nearly all height and only the extremely tall bunch might find the floor space to be a bit less. 

Filtering through Bengaluru’s torturous traffic while avoiding potholes was a challenge in the scorching heat. Nevertheless, the Activa’s balanced ride made commutes, especially spirited ones a breeze. Braking is quite solid for its intent and CBS works well. It could have been a little softly sprung. It isn’t able to fully soak up any unmissable pothole, with the rear end making sure the rider feels a thud every time.

Just Confusingly Expensive

Let’s just start with the good bits about the Activa e: and that is just how seamless it feels if you were moving from a petrol Activa. It still has its own charm and is definitely, as paradoxical as it sounds, the ‘fun’ Activa. 

While the slightly firm ride quality isn’t a dealbreaker, the lack of storage space and the running costs associated with the Activa e: makes it very difficult for us to recommend it. Honda has lost its first mover advantage when it comes to e-scooters and hence, while we must applaud innovation, this initiative of battery swapping isn’t coming across as super convenient. The swapping costs are super high and almost comparable to an ICE scooter. 

And this makes it all the weirder when you factor in the asking price of either ₹1,17,000 for the standard trim or ₹1,51,600 for the RoadSync Duo trim (all prices, ex-showroom Bengaluru). These price tags are without the cost of the battery, as Honda states that the battery packs that you ride home with never actually belong to you. If only Honda had some hybrid battery pack system like there is on the Hero Vida e-scooters or the Simple One, where charging remotely as well as on the scooter is feasible, then it would make far more sense. 

Thus, Honda’s attempt at a premium e-scooter is not likely to see many takers, especially considering that Honda will first have to set up the swapping infrastructure in cities before making it available to the public. Currently, it has only gone on sale in Bengaluru with Delhi and Mumbai to follow soon in a couple of months.