Yamaha is the last of the mainstream Japanese brands to enter the electric two-wheeler market in India and it has done so with the EC-06. This scooter is based on the River Indie but Yamaha has incorporated some changes. Here are two reasons to buy the EC-06 if you’re in the market for a new electric scooter.
Reasons to buy Yamaha EC-06
Style and repositioned charger
If you parked the EC-06 and the River Indie side-by-side, it would be quite difficult to say that both are effectively the same scooter underneath their very different skins. The Indie’s styling is not to everyone’s taste but the Yamaha EC-06 has a more universally appealing design. This is an important consideration for the usually conservative family scooter buyer, even in the EV space.
Yamaha also repositioned the charging port to a more conventional location on the EC-06 compared to the River Indie – a small but tangible change.
Improved handling over River Indie
Yamaha is known to make some of the best handling two-wheelers in the world and they’ve brought their expertise into the EV arena as well. The River Indie was already a dynamically sorted machine but Yamaha turned things up another notch by tweaking the chassis – making it stiffer in certain areas – as well as reworking the brakes and suspension.
That being said, here are two reasons not to buy the EC-06.
Reasons not to buy Yamaha EC-06
Reduced practicality and slow charging
In the process of redesigning the Indie to transform it into the EC-06, Yamaha reduced the underseat storage area on its scooter. The EC-06 has a 24.5 litre boot, almost half of what’s available on the Indie, which has 43 litres.
Perhaps what is an even bigger drawback is that the EC-06 only comes with a 450W charger which takes a glacial 10 hours to fully charge the battery. This is a puzzling move on Yamaha’s part because the Indie comes with a 750W charger which is also compatible with the EC-06.
Price differential to the River and other Indian EVs
Finally, at Rs 1.68 lakh (ex-showroom), the EC-06 is a full Rs 22,000 dearer than the Indie. Moreover, in comparison to the heavyweights in the Indian electric two-wheeler market like TVS, Bajaj, Hero and Ather, Yamaha’s product costs significantly more.
