Numeros Diplos Max E-Scooter: First Ride Review: It’s All A Game Of Numbers

Numeros Motors is a relatively new electric scooter manufacturer in India, and more so in the personal mobility space. They have a couple commercial e-scooters on sale, and have now introduced the Numeros Diplos Max - a personal-use electric scooter. Numeros claims that the scooter is designed, developed, and manufactured in India. 

During the introductory tour of Numeros’ production facility outside of Bangalore, it did seem like the brand was not just assembling imported EV kits. So much so, that we saw a few pallets with components sourced from well-known local brands. But after this quick tour, it was time to ride the Diplos Max. 

Design

The Numeros Diplos Max is based on a similar platform as the brand’s commercial scooter. That has inadvertently (or not) given it something quite useful, which I will tell you in just a bit. But like it or not, because of how it has been ‘derived’, it looks like one of those commercial e-scoots you’d have seen around in your city. Since the pillion seat is where the luggage box would be, you have a super-long seat. It can seat two people comfortably, while both carry a backpack each, and still have some room left. 

And that’s quite important because there’s hardly any more storage space anywhere else on the scooter. The floorboard is just enough to hold a mid-sized backpack. And under the seat are the removable batteries which leave just enough room for a hardhat – not even a proper half-face helmet. And no, there’s no storage behind the front apron. 

Performance & Range

The Max gets a 2.67kW (peak) hub-mounted motor that’s powered by a 3.7kWh battery pack (two batteries). The brand claims the powerpack is good enough for an IDC (Indian Driving Cycle) range of 140km. However, we couldn’t test the real-world range during our first ride due to time constraints such events have. Though, the scooter managed to hit the claimed top-speed of 63kmph on the speedo. 

But that was only in the Normal riding mode; in the Eco mode, the speed drops down to somewhere in the mid 40s. Having said that, the way Numeros has calibrated the throttle, you don’t feel the instant surge of torque that you normally associate with EVs. That’s a good thing, since not everyone needs that kind of instant torque delivery. Though, it would have been nice to have a third riding mode that’s all out, but that’s just the enthusiast in me speaking. Credit where due, the Diplos Max has a nice throttle calibration that neither feels jerky and nor too lethargic – something that we have seen with a lot of “homebrewed” electric scooters. 

The Diplos manages all its modes via dedicated switches – one for Eco and Normal, and another for forward and reverse. While it’s not the best layout of switches, it’s much better than having to go through a bunch of menus in the display to change them. On the flip side, these switches are vertically stacked and it's easy to misoperate. During the ride, I accidentally switched to reverse mode when I wanted to switch between riding modes. However, it just felt like the software cut power to the motor – no smoke, no explosion, and no unwanted behaviour from the scooter. Business as usual after switching back to forward. Numeros can take this up a notch by tweaking the software so that the rider needs to come to a halt to actually change into the reverse mode. 

Now, here’s the meat of the matter. We took the e-scoot to a quarry to do a hill-climb test. A steep slope with a surface more broken than your heart after that first break-up. Not really a real-world scenario, but if you have to test, why not take it to the max? Check out the reel below to see how the scooter performed. 

 

 

 

 

 

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Ride & Handling

The brakes are the handling-department highlight – they are quite sharp and have a good bite – at least on the scooter I was riding. The brake feedback could have been better but it’s not bad, and should suffice for most casual riders. 

Now, before we talk about handling, you must keep in mind that it’s a long scooter – really long. It’s just about 2 meters long from end to end and has a wheelbase of 1,430mm – longer than BMW CE02 and the Ather Rizta. And that doesn’t make it a flickable scooter, nor is it easy to take U-turns in tight spaces. Which is where the reverse mode comes in quite handy. But you win some, you lose some. The aforementioned seating space is largely due to its length. 

Speaking of, the seat is quite comfortable, especially the pillion seat. The suspension shows its charm better while riding two-up. That said, for solo riding, you’d only have to worry about sharp bumps and indentations in the road. Everything else is just alright and bearable, at least with my weight of about 90kg (fully kitted up). 

Features

The Diplos Max is pretty barebones when it comes to features. You have two riding modes - Eco & Normal, and a reverse assist. There’s an LCD console that shows all the basic info and that’s about it. No Bluetooth connectivity, no navigation, no ABS. Though it does have removable batteries which you can take home and charge, but those are quite heavy and you have two of them. But I am sure you’ll figure out how to get these to a secure charger everyday once you buy the scooter. 

Verdict

First things first, the Numeros Diplos Max is an out-and-out utilitarian scooter. You’d probably not buy it as a  primary scooter for your daily commutes or for the love of riding. It’s something you’d maybe buy for your househelp to help them get your groceries and run errands, or to do the same yourself. Numeros hasn’t yet revealed the price and will launch the e-scooter at the Bharat Mobility Show. This makes it difficult to give a clear concrete verdict on this. 

However, the Diplos i-Pro costs Rs 1,53,000 (ex-showroom) and has the exact same specs and styling, except the pillion seat. If the Max is priced in the same ballpark, it would be difficult to recommend this scooter. That is unless you are looking at a single-purpose scooter. For everything else, for a similar price, there are scooters out there that offer more performance and more excitement. It’s all a game of numbers in this segment, but the one that will determine Diplos’ fate is what you’d need to shell out for it.