Honda unveils two new electric scooters for the Indian market: Acitva e: and QC 1
The Honda Activa e: gets a swappable battery and the QC 1 gets a fixed battery
The Honda Activa e: gets a swappable battery and the QC 1 gets a fixed battery
Honda has finally entered the electric two wheeler space in India with two ground up scooters, the Activa e: and the QC 1, which are powered by lithium-ion batteries made in-house. The Activa e: is available in two variants with two swappable batteries which Honda claims will deliver 102km range. And the QC 1 gets a single variant with a fixed battery setup with an 80km claimed range. Here's everything you need to know about the two scooters.
Honda Activa e:
The Activa e: is the more feature-rich electric scooter of the two new Honda electric scooters. It gets two variants—standard and the RoadSync Duo—but both variants are powered by two swappable 1.5kWh batteries. Surprisingly, the Activa e: doesn’t get the option of charging, meaning you can't charge it like a traditional electric scooter and will have to only rely on Honda’s Power Pack Exchange e: battery swapping stations to top it off, by swapping batteries. The two battery packs give the Activa e: a claimed range of 102km on a single charge. This scooter has a swing arm mounted motor which makes 6kW and 22Nm.
On the design front, the Activa e: draws inspiration from the CUV e: scooter which Honda unveiled at the EICMA 2024, a month ago. It gets an LED headlight mounted down low and a DRL strip on the front cowl. It rides on 12-inch wheels and gets flush fit footpegs. At the rear, there's a small LED taillight and a sleek tail. All-in-all, the Activa e: looks good, simple yet premium. It has a top whack of 80kmph and gets a 3 year/50,000km warranty and is available in five colours. The Activa e: is equipped with three riding modes – Eco, Standard, and Sport – as well as a reverse function. The base model features a 5-inch TFT display while the top-end RoadSync Duo variant comes with a 7-inch display offering turn-by-turn navigation and notification alerts. Both variants of the Activa e: are offered in five colors – two different shades of blue (one lighter), along with white, grey, and black.
Honda QC 1
Just like the Activa e:, the QC 1 also draws design inspiration from the CUV e:, but it looks more basic. It omits the LED DRL strip and a few other elements looking more bare bones.
It's powered by a single 1.5kWh battery which send power to a swing arm mounted motor making 1.5kWh power. The QC 1 gets an 80km claimed range and a 50kmph top speed. Om the feature front, it boasts a 5-inch LCD display and offers only two riding modes Eco and Standard. But it has a bigger 26-litre underseat storage; the Activa e:’s two battery setup takes up 90 per cent of underseat space and it only gets a small cubby good for tiny things. It's also available in the same five colours as the Activa e:.
Honda Activa e: and QC 1 price and launch details
Honda say that prices for both the Activa e: and the QC 1 will be unveiled in January 2025 after they do a survey of the public’s reaction on these two scooters till then. The Activa e: will rival the likes of the Ather 450, the TVS iQube, Ola S1 and the Bajaj Chetak, whereas the QC 1 will go head on against more price conscious scooters like the Ola S1 Air.
