Micah Toll
Barcelona-based electric scooter company Silence has released their latest consumer-grade electric scooter, the Silence S02 LS. Designed for city travel as opposed to highway riding, it offers a reduced price compared to Silence’s flagship S01 electric scooter.
The Silence S01, which I had the chance to test drive in Barcelona last year, is a 100 km/h (62 mph) and 11 kW (15 hp) peak electric maxi-scooter famous for its trolley-style removable battery.
It offers high speed and high power, but costs somewhere between $6,000-7,000.
And while it is probably worth it as one of the few electric scooters with high marks for power, speed, and range, that price still places it out of reach for many riders, not to mention that plenty of city riders will find those specs as more than necessary for urban commuting.
Enter the Silence S02 LS. Designed and manufactured in Barcelona, the scooter is based on Silence’s S02 model used by many scooter-sharing services and is currently the second highest selling scooter in Spain (including gas-powered scooters). However, it offers a smaller motor and battery as well as reduced speed to help bring the price down.
The LS stands for Low Speed, and as an L1e vehicle it reaches a top speed of 45 km/h (28 mph).
Thus, it doesn’t require a motorcycle license to operate in most of Europe.
The 1.5kW continuous-rated motor should be plenty of power for city riding, which is exactly what the Silence S02 LS is designed for.
The battery is still larger than most L1e electric scooters, coming in at 2kWh. Silence rates that as enough capacity for 55 km (34 miles) of range.
I actually think that number may be a bit conservative, as plenty of electric scooters with less battery capacity offer even more optimistic range estimations. And Silence has always been a very upfront and honest company, so it would fit their style to provide real world or even conservative range ratings.
If you haven’t seen Silence’s unique batteries before, check this out. Not only are they removable for charging indoors (a common requirement for apartment dwellers), but they actually have their own wheels and extending handle built in. They can be easily slid out of the Silence S02 LS electric scooter and then rolled like a piece of carry-on luggage. The battery has its own charger built into it, meaning riders only need to carry a small electrical cord. Silence even offers an inverter option than convert the battery into a 220VAC electrical source for powering devices off-grid.
You can see the battery in action in my video test ride of the Silence S01 electric scooter below.
The Silence S02 LS electric scooter comes with a two-person seat as well as a cargo box, doubling its utility for carrying both passengers and cargo at the same time.
With a lower price of just €3,200 (US$3,560), Silence is hoping to win over urban riders looking for a lighter and less expensive electric scooter for the city.
Micah Toll
Barcelona-based electric scooter company Silence has released their latest consumer-grade electric scooter, the Silence S02 LS. Designed for city travel as opposed to highway riding, it offers a reduced price compared to Silence’s flagship S01 electric scooter.
The Silence S01, which I had the chance to test drive in Barcelona last year, is a 100 km/h (62 mph) and 11 kW (15 hp) peak electric maxi-scooter famous for its trolley-style removable battery.
It offers high speed and high power, but costs somewhere between $6,000-7,000.
And while it is probably worth it as one of the few electric scooters with high marks for power, speed, and range, that price still places it out of reach for many riders, not to mention that plenty of city riders will find those specs as more than necessary for urban commuting.
Enter the Silence S02 LS. Designed and manufactured in Barcelona, the scooter is based on Silence’s S02 model used by many scooter-sharing services and is currently the second highest selling scooter in Spain (including gas-powered scooters). However, it offers a smaller motor and battery as well as reduced speed to help bring the price down.
The LS stands for Low Speed, and as an L1e vehicle it reaches a top speed of 45 km/h (28 mph).
Thus, it doesn’t require a motorcycle license to operate in most of Europe.
The 1.5kW continuous-rated motor should be plenty of power for city riding, which is exactly what the Silence S02 LS is designed for.
The battery is still larger than most L1e electric scooters, coming in at 2kWh. Silence rates that as enough capacity for 55 km (34 miles) of range.
I actually think that number may be a bit conservative, as plenty of electric scooters with less battery capacity offer even more optimistic range estimations. And Silence has always been a very upfront and honest company, so it would fit their style to provide real world or even conservative range ratings.
If you haven’t seen Silence’s unique batteries before, check this out. Not only are they removable for charging indoors (a common requirement for apartment dwellers), but they actually have their own wheels and extending handle built in. They can be easily slid out of the Silence S02 LS electric scooter and then rolled like a piece of carry-on luggage. The battery has its own charger built into it, meaning riders only need to carry a small electrical cord. Silence even offers an inverter option than convert the battery into a 220VAC electrical source for powering devices off-grid.
You can see the battery in action in my video test ride of the Silence S01 electric scooter below.
The Silence S02 LS electric scooter comes with a two-person seat as well as a cargo box, doubling its utility for carrying both passengers and cargo at the same time.
With a lower price of just €3,200 (US$3,560), Silence is hoping to win over urban riders looking for a lighter and less expensive electric scooter for the city.
