The River Indie is unique in a sea of electric scooters and, while there are plenty of fish in the sea, some are more noteworthy than others. Just how different is the River Indie? We swing a leg over it and take it for a spin.
Story: Sayantan De
Photography: Sanjay Raikar
The Indian electric scooter market has seen a veritable explosion of home-grown vehicles and everyone is trying to have their schtick to stand out, but it is difficult to do so in such a varied landscape. It seems like River, the Bengaluru-based electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer, has managed to pull it off with its electric scooter, the Indie. It looks like nothing else and offers specs and features that are markedly different from the competition. Just how much of that translates into a different real-world riding experience? We dip our toes into the “River” to explore the breadth of its shores.
There’s a certain movie from the Pixar Animation Studios and a particular Indian electric scooter manufacturer copied the face of a character for their scooter already, so River has gone ahead and followed the other main character’s face a little bit. The double-headlight set-up looks cute and works well with its unconventional proportions. Available in three bright shades, with contrasting black hardware, the Indie garnered a lot of interest from onlookers. The design is mostly dominated by straight lines, which is uncommon in scooter designs. The three colours on offer are named after the seasons: the Monsoon Blue you see here, along with Spring Yellow, and Summer Red. It seems like not offering a colour called “Winter White” is a missed opportunity.
The Indie is referred to as the “SUV of Scooters” by the manufacturer and what sets SUVs apart from other vehicles is their practicality. River ensured that the Indie was as practical as possible. I can imagine the conversation in the product meeting where somebody asked, ‘How much storage space do we need?’ and someone else answered, ‘Yes!’ The under-seat storage is a cavernous 43 litres, with a 12-litre glovebox, totalling 55 litres. There are pannier racks on the sides which can hold optional 20-litre boxes and a 25-litre top box. In total, the River Indie can be equipped with a mind-boggling 120 litres of storage. I liked the neat touch where the charging port flap can only be opened via a toggle located inside the glovebox, adding security. The build quality is robust with consistent panel gaps. There’s a Bluetooth-capable negative TFT display that is not a touchscreen affair, but easy to use thanks to handlebar-mounted buttons.
The Indie comes with steering column-mounted handlebars and these are an engineering solution to a problem: the empty space between the handles can accommodate a mobile phone-holder accessory from River and, once mounted there, the phone can be charged via the USB port next to the console. This is when you want to use the phone for navigation, of course, and if you simply want to charge the phone, there’s another USB outlet inside the glovebox. The tall position of the handlebars means an upright riding stance, which, coupled with the long and wide seat, makes for comfortable ergonomics. Also, since the flat floorboard can be used as a cargo space with or without the “floor cage” (guard-rails for the floorboard), there are additional foot-pegs for the rider. While using these, the riding geometry becomes a cruiser-like feet-forward one, further improving comfort.
The mid-drive motor that powers the Indie is rated at 6.7 kW (9.1 hp) and 26 Nm, which give the scooter a 0-40 km/h time of 3.7 seconds and a top speed of 90 km/h, both in Rush mode. Engaging this mode drops the range to 70 kilometres, though. There are two other ride modes, Eco and Ride. The real-world range in Eco mode is about 120 km, dropping to 100 km in Ride mode. The battery is a four-kWh unit. The Eco mode is best left for low-charge situations, as the River is too much fun in Ride and Rush modes, with Ride striking a great balance between range and performance. Whack the throttle open in either of these two modes and the Indie belies its 140-kilo kerb weight and scoots forward (pun intended).
One issue with the River Indie is the proprietary charging port, which means, despite the fast-charging capability being present in the software, you can’t take advantage of it at charging stations. A fast charger from River is in the works and till then you are limited to a charging time of five hours for 0 to 80 per cent SOC with the included 800-Watt charger.
The River Indie has a rather unique feature: 14-inch wheels front and rear. This is a rarity even among petrol-powered scooters, as only the Aprilia SR 125/160 and the Yamaha Aerox 155 come equipped with those. The tyres are suitably chunky, with a 110-section at the front and 120-section at the rear. While narrower tyres would have aided the range, I can’t argue with the handling prowess of the Indie on these big, wide tyres. Riding the scooter through the twisties was a lot of fun and the stability on offer was great. The fat tyres make turn-in rather slow during very low-speed U-turns, though. But the other upside of the big wheels is the ride quality, as the large wheels roll smoothly over broken roads and we even rode it over some gravel roads to see if it can live up to the SUV moniker. It turned out to be as much fun to ride on loose surfaces as it was on tarmac.
A particular highlight of the riding experience is the braking, which is phenomenal. There’s CBS, but two different braking circuits with a three-piston calliper at the front and a single-piston one at the rear. The right brake lever actuates two of the three pistons in the front calliper and the left lever actuates the remaining piston at the front as well as the rear brake. Combining both translates into exceptional retardation, occasionally overwhelming the limits of friction.
The River Indie is offered in a single variant, priced at Rs 1.38 lakh (ex-showroom). At that price, it is priced on a par with other flagship scooters, but it is one of the truly unique products in a crowded market; not just by design, but by concept and execution too. It offers unbeatable cargo capacity, and a great mix of power, ride, and handling, all in one head-turner of a package which makes it simply the best option if you don’t want to go with the flow and want to stand out from the crowd.
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