There are plenty of simple, lightweight scooters for casually tootin’ around town. This is not one of those scooters. The Turbowheel Dart is part electric scooter, part main battle tank. This is the kind of electric scooter that can tackle any commuting scenario and still have something left in the tank for screwing around doing donuts in parking lots on your way home.
Turbowheel Dart electric scooter
The Turbowheel Dart is definitely in a different power class than the budget-level $299 electric scooters.
This not your standard 250W Bird or Lime scooter.
This is a powerful 1,200W commuting machine with a design robust enough to withstand the abuse of real, everyday commuting.
It’s got a powerful motor, dual wheel mechanical brakes in addition to motor braking, full suspension, and an over-the-top light kit. See the full tech specs below.
Turbowheel Dart tech specs
- Motor: 600 watt continuous, 1.2 kW peak
- Battery: 613 Wh LG battery
- Top speed: 25 mph (40 km/h)
- Range: 30 miles (48 km) at 15 mph (25 km/h)
- Weight: 39.5 lb (18 kg)
- Load capacity: 250 lb (113 kg)
- Brakes: disc and motor braking front, drum brake rear
- Tires: 9″ pneumatic
- Suspension: front suspension stem and rear swingarm with dual shocks
- Charge time: 2 hours with quick charger, 5-6 hours with standard charger
- Extras: 3 power modes, side kickstand, really bright headlight and taillight, LED light bar on stem and under deck, Color LED speedometer and battery meter
Video Review
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How does the Turbowheel Dart ride?
It rides like a cloud, basically.
The front stem suspension doesn’t look like much, but it actually has a surprising amount of travel. Combined with the dual rear shocks, the Turbowheel Dart has extra cushy suspension. I was hopping curbs just for fun because of how well the suspension took it. Smaller road imperfections are nearly nonexistent after being absorbed by the suspension.
One of the toughest tests for electric scooter ride quality is riding over brick paths. The repeating cracks can cause some scooters to practically shake your bones loose. On the Turbowheel Dart, brick paths just feel like any other smooth road surface. The only hint that you aren’t on smooth asphalt is a slight vibration. That’s some seriously good suspension for a sub $1k scooter.
Part of the reason the ride is so good is that the scooter comes with good old-fashioned pneumatic tires. It’s been a common trend these days to switch to airless tires. More and more scooters are going this way. Many people prefer airless tires because they entirely remove the possibility for flat tires – a big hassle on scooters. While that can be a plus, they also cause the ride quality to suffer. So I’d rather just stick some slime or sealant in my air-filled tires and have a more comfortable ride – but perhaps that just me.
One of the most important parts of an electric scooter, in my opinion, is the acceleration and deceleration. How fast does it go and how quickly does it stop? The Turbowheel Dart gets full marks in both of these categories.
The power is impressive and is much more than you’d expect from such a physically unassuming motor. In Mode 1 you accelerate decently quickly, but cranking it up to Mode 3 results in awesome acceleration and a 25 mph (40 km/h) top speed. Now we’re commuting!
I also appreciate the dual wheel mechanical brakes. So many scooters either rely on motor braking alone or have a wimpy foot brake to compliment the motor brake. The Turbowheel Dart has mechanical braking on both wheels with a disc brake up front and drum brake in the rear. Together they give you ample stopping power. I also love rear wheel mechanical brakes because they offer the ability to do skid turns like a boss.
The battery also deserves credit. Not only is it so much larger than most scooters, tipping the scales at over 600 Wh. But it also uses high quality LG M26 cells. As something of a battery nerd (did I mention I wrote the book on the matter?) I always love to see a company using high quality cells.
While many scooters skimp and use no-name Chinese cells, the Turbowheel Dart includes high quality LG cells that have been tested and verified to perform to their full specifications. With all of the lithium-ion battery fire fears going around, even though such events are incredibly rare, it still gives extra peace of mind to know you’ve got good quality cells in your ride.
The light package on this scooter is also impressive. Not only do you get bright head and tail lights, but there are also multi-color LED strips embedded in the front of the stem and the bottom of the deck. That creates a halo glow around you while riding at night that is impossible for drivers to miss. Fast scooters like these that spend more time in bike lanes and on the roads need to be visible. And this scooter has visibility covered.
Everything else on the scooter is just as impressive. The build quality is top-notch. Everything down to the fine details like the folding and locking mechanisms are well planned and executed. While most scooters use spring-loaded folding mechanisms for the handles, the Turbowheel Dart has machine threaded locking collars that ensure your handles are rigidly locked in place while riding. It’s this attention to detail and safety that sets the scooter apart.
The biggest downside I can find on the scooter is probably just its weight. At 39.5 lbs, you’re not going to want to carry this thing too far if you can avoid it. But it’s hard to ask for high power, long-range, suspension, and quality machining without each of those things adding to the weight.
At $998, the Turbowheel Dart is not cheap compared to the many budget scooters out there. But when it comes to comparisons, this thing is almost more in the e-bike category than it is at home with e-scooters. With a faster top speed and bigger battery than most electric bicycles, the Turbowheel Dart electric scooter is actually very reasonably priced for the features.
What do you think of this high power electric scooter? Let us know in the comments below!
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