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After launching their first urban e-scooter, the CE 04, earlier this year, BMW Motorrad has now launched the CE 02 urban e-vehicle starting at ₹4.5 lakh (ex-showroom). While the CE 04 was a fully imported unit, the CE 02 is being assembled in India. BMW says it doesn’t fit into either the category of a scooter or a motorcycle and is a bold statement for what an urban commuter can be. Let’s take a look into more details about this unique e-mobility…err…thing.
The CE in CE 02 stands for Concept Electric, which means it is a ground-up product with only electric drive in mind since the inception of its design process. Its styling is unlike anything in the Motorrad portfolio, or in fact anything in the market currently or for the foreseeable future. It sports a contemporary design with rectangular lights, big chunky 14-inch wheels with 120mm and 150mm section tyres in the front and rear respectively. In the Highline variant specifically you get the different colour stickers on the body and that colour scheme is carried on the seat too.
Because of the big mass in between your legs when you sit on it, it feels closer to a motorcycle than to a scooter. The seat is good for two people, but only if the rider is not very broadly built. The seat height is 745mm with tall handlebars which give a commanding riding stance with good visibility up ahead. A 3.5-inch colour TFT screen is horizontally laid out to give you the necessary information you need, and it has a USB-C socket. A design statement is the seat that scoops up, where a petrol tank would have been had this been an ICE, but has an empty space there instead. Towards the rear, you can see the belt-drive system on one side and the wheel is completely exposed on the other. The wheels look retro with their steely-type design, making it look very retro and modern at the same time.
You as an individual can describe it as a scooter or a motorcycle per your perception, and that is it’s idea - for you to interpret it the way you like. Individuality is at the helm of its theme.
The battery powering the CE 02 is a 3.92kWh pack. The motor then makes 14.7bhp and 55Nm, which sends power to the rear wheels. On the standard variant you have two riding modes to choose from - “Flow” and “Surf”. The highline package also gets a faster “Flash” mode, in which you can achieve 0-50kmph in 3 seconds and the top speed is of 95kmph.
The standard variant comes with a 0.9kW charger which can charge the CE 02 from empty to full in a claimed 312 minutes. The highline package gets the 1.5kW charger which drops the charging time to 210 minutes.
We got to ride the CE 02 for a very short period so our verdict is not a complete conclusion, that we will give later when we get to spend proper time with it. But the initial impressions were really good and we came back really impressed. It is a peppy scooter and there is a lot of power to be enjoyed. 14.7bhp may not sound a lot, but in the real world with the applications for the CE 02, it is a lot of fun. The throttle response is sharp and power is available on tap. While the Flash mode definitely amps up the power, it does not mean that the other two modes are slouch. The ride and handling too seem positive, it turns in well and the handling is very predictable. It also rides over rough roads very well and the braking too felt good. We need to ride it for longer and in different environments to be able to give a complete ride verdict.
The overall quality for the CE 02 is very high and it feels like a proper BMW. As a standalone product, it is mighty impressive and since it has no direct rivals, it has the potential to attract buyers who probably were not even considering buying a two-wheeler in the first place. We have done a complete walkaround video of the CE 02 as well which you can check out on the evoIndia YouTube channel. The bookings for the CE 02 are open across dealerships and deliveries will begin soon.
