NIU NQI GTS PRO (2020 - on) Review
Highlights
- Electricity costs are just a penny a mile
- Two removable batteries
- Cruise control as standard
At a glance
| Owners' reliability rating: | |
|---|---|
| Power: | 4 bhp |
| Seat height: | Medium (32.1 in / 815 mm) |
| Weight: | Low (247 lbs / 112 kg) |
Prices
Overall rating
Next up: Ride & brakesNiu (as in ‘new’) are an electric scooter firm based in China. Their model range reads like a spilled tin of alphabet spaghetti, starting with the UQi (a £1500 underbone) and peaking with this, the NQi GTS Pro. A top speed of around 45mph puts performance somewhere between moped and 125cc, and means it’s strictly for urban use.
- Related: Best electric motorbikes
If you’re after a cheap-to-run, short-range traffic-busting runabout, the Niu does the job well. Ride to work, ride home, charge overnight, repeat – and all for a penny a mile. Never visit a petrol station, nor change oil, filters and spark plugs again. Being able to remove its pair of batteries is useful too, not just for the ability to charge them indoors but also if (or when) they need to be replaced in future.
- Related: Learn to ride a motorbike with MCN
Modern touches like the large LCD dash, one-button cruise control and smartphone connectivity mean it doesn’t feel nearly as cheap as its £3600 pricetag. However, as long as that amount also buys a faster, more practical and longer-proven conventional scooter along the lines of Honda’s PCX125 or Vision 110, petrol isn’t beaten yet.
Ride quality & brakes
Next up: EngineSnarled-up traffic can be untangled with little effort. The Niu is small, light (just 112kg), extremely slim and has a supremely tight turning circle. Ride quality from the basic suspension (31mm forks up front, twin shocks out back) and dinky 14-inch wheels is fine on smooth city streets, but feels very crashy over potholes.
Brakes are plenty powerful but lack an anti-lock system. Instead they’re linked – one of the front caliper’s three pistons is operated by squeezing the back brake lever.
Engine
Next up: ReliabilityThe Bosch-branded electric motor is built into the rear wheel hub, meaning no final drive to maintain and intuitive, silent, ultra-smooth twist-and-go drive. Claimed maximum power output is 3100 watts, which is a whisker over 4bhp in old-fashioned English, yet there are still three riding modes to let you manage all that power…
Full-whack ‘Sport’ is good for an indicated 45mph. ‘Dynamic’ limits speed to 29mph, which is fine in an empty town but just slow enough to find yourself holding up other traffic from time to time. ‘E-Save’ caps speed to a virtually useless 16mph.
There are two removable 2.1kWh lithium-ion batteries: one under the seat; one beneath your feet. But there’s a catch: only 85% of the total capacity is usable in practice. That’s because once charge drops below 15% the bike defaults to E-Save mode, instantly cutting your speed to 16mph. So you’ll want to be home before then, which gives a round-trip range of about 40 miles flat-out, or 70 miles if you restrict yourself to Dynamic mode and less than 30mph.
Batteries can be recharged in or out of the bike, and at 11kg each they’re light enough to lug indoors. Recharging from 14% to full takes between 5.5 and 6 hours, but only costs less than 60p – so a penny a mile is easily achievable. However, the charger is a standalone unit (ie not built into the bike) which is intended to be left at home. With no place to store it on the bike, this isn’t designed to be charged in public. The batteries also seem to self-discharge quite rapidly, their state of charge dropping by 17% when the scooter wasn’t used for a week.
Reliability & build quality
Next up: ValueNiu are so, ahem, new that we haven’t got anywhere near enough experience to know how their bikes stand up to long-term use. We experienced no issues whatsoever during our two-week test, which is at least a promising start. That said, given the price (and the cost of two batteries), you’ve got to be realistic in expecting overall build quality to broadly sit at the budget end of the spectrum.
The batteries are warrantied by Niu for two years or 600 charging cycles, with replacements costing £1233 each.
Value vs rivals
Next up: EquipmentIf you restrict the field of rivals to other electric scooters, then you’re looking at something like Super Soco’s CPx, which is more expensive in its two-battery guise. But if you’re comparing the Niu with all scooters, then Honda’s eternally popular PCX125 is actually slightly cheaper – and the firm’s ultra-economical Vision 110 costs significantly less still.
As ever with electric vehicles, bear in mind that servicing is cheap, vehicle excise duty is completely free, and ‘fuel’ costs can be as little as 1p a mile. However, you’ll need to do a lot of miles to pull back the £1000 or so you’d save by buying a Vision.
Equipment
The large LCD dash looks very smart, displaying speed and battery status really clearly, and it glows a variety of colours at night. Niu have a clever bespoke smartphone app too, which can actually use GPS to track the bike if it gets stolen – the value of that shouldn’t be taken lightly. And there’s even one-button cruise control as standard, which is great at helping stop you accidentally stray over 30mph.
However, there’s no underseat storage (unless you remove one of the batteries). The artificial ‘bong’ from the indicators gets tiresome too.
Specs |
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| Engine size | - |
|---|---|
| Engine type | Air-cooled electric motor |
| Frame type | Tubular steel |
| Fuel capacity | - |
| Seat height | 815mm |
| Bike weight | 112kg |
| Front suspension | 31mm forks, no adjustment |
| Rear suspension | twin shocks, adjustable preload |
| Front brake | 220mm disc with linked three-piston caliper. No ABS |
| Rear brake | 180mm disc with single-piston caliper. No ABS |
| Front tyre size | 90/90-14 |
| Rear tyre size | 110/80-14 |
Mpg, costs & insurance |
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| Average fuel consumption | - |
|---|---|
| Annual road tax | - |
| Annual service cost | - |
| New price | £3,596 |
| Used price | - |
| Insurance group |
- How much to insure? |
| Warranty term | Two years |
Top speed & performance |
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| Max power | 4 bhp |
|---|---|
| Max torque | - |
| Top speed | 44 mph |
| 1/4 mile acceleration | - |
| Tank range | - |
Model history & versions
Model history
- 2020 Niu NQi GTS Pro
Sub-£4k electric scooter is newcomer Niu’s flagship model. Performance sits somewhere between moped and 125cc, with a 45mph top speed and useable range of 40-70 miles, depending on how you ride.
Owners' reviews for the NIU NQI GTS PRO (2020 - on)
1 owner has reviewed their NIU NQI GTS PRO (2020 - on) and rated it in a number of areas. Read what they have to say and what they like and dislike about the bike below.
Review your NIU NQI GTS PRO (2020 - on)
Summary of owners' reviews |
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| Overall rating: | |
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| Ride quality & brakes: | |
| Engine: | |
| Reliability & build quality: | |
| Value vs rivals: | |
| Equipment: | |
Year: 2020
Round town it's actually not a bad bike at all. It's about the same power as an 80cc bike. It's worst feature is it's best feature - it's electric. You feel good about the low running costs but you are limited in range ( about 50 miles at town speeds and in tour mode ( limited 30mph ))
Don't expect to go far on it. A 35 mile trip in full power is about all you'll get out of the two batteries. This will be at a maximum speed of 45mph which is quite frankly terrifying on an average "A" Road where cars can do up to 70. It's home ground is a short distance city bike. In fact if you ride say 6 miles across town to work and back every day then this is not a bad choice at all. It's what it does best.Comfort wise it's not a question of how far can you go before you need a break. Your breaks are recharge enforced.
It's woefully underpowered. It can do 2 up and I regularly ride with my partner on the back. It doesn't really like it. If you're larger build then expect to only have yourself on it. It's 3.5kw, please be kind to it.
Mine was not assembled correctly. The number plate sub assembly was not correctly screwed into the rear mudguard. This meant that it was free to waggle up and down every time I went over a pot hole. The stress fractures caused it to fail at around 9000 miles. I did not get a warranty fix on this. It has been fixed mechanically ( bolts and a plate to rejoin the two pieces. Otherwise I have had precisely zero problems with it. It has to stay outside ( mid terrace house with no garage ) and has no rust spots yet. The only thing it's needed so far is brake pads and tyres.
Running costs are very low. I have done a total of 14,000 miles on mine. If this were a petrol scooter then I'd have spent about (@80mpg) £1200 on petrol. Instead I've used at most ( assuming 2p per mile on average with rising electricity costs ) £280 in electricity. Indeed it's likely half that. In this time I have used fewer than 250 charge cycles. The batteries are rated for 1000 charge cycles and will automatically die at that point to protect you from potential fiery death. Doing the math this means I have another 42,000 miles to go before they need replacing in 6 years time. At this point replacement batteries will be £2400 ( or thereabouts) and I will have saved about £4000 by not using petrol ( at current prices ) so overall I will be about £1600 better off. Please note that a "Full Charge Cycle" is anything that recharges more than 60% of the batteries. Expect 6 hours to recharge 20% to 100% . Incidentally the bike goes into limp mode at 20% battery. My advice is if you get to 30% then GO HOME / RECHARGE IMMEDIATELY. To maximise your battery longevity always recharge at 50% battery, that way you are well within the trigger for using a Charge Cycle.I have done the bulk of the maintenance myself. My local bike shop asked for 1.5 hours labour to change the back tyre @ £60 an hour because of the faff of taking it apart. Replacing the rear tyres is a pain because you have to disconnect the motor from the controller meaning you have to remove the seat and battery compartment to get at it. You then need to clip the cable ties holding the motor power lines to the frame and free them before taking the rear wheel out. However, I have discovered that changing the tyre is very doable at home if you have a half decent set of tyre levers and a compressor or a garage near by who's airline you can use. Oil changes are obviously not a thing so there's no costs there. All it ever needs are tyres and brake pads. Do these things yourself and this is the lowest maintenance cost bike you will ever own that's not a pedal cycle.
It gets very little as standard, register your app before that first ride or it won't reflect your actual mileage. If you buy it second hand then your app will only ever tell you how far YOU have ridden, not how far the bike has been ridden in total. Unlike other scooters is has NO storage under the seat. You could get a pair of gloves in there. This is because the under seat space is taken up by one of the two batteries ( the other is under the foot pan ). On the plus side it does have built in GPS tracking, immobiliser and alarm. The alarm is not very loud but it's put at least one potential thief off from trying to wheel it away on the day I forgot to put a disc lock on it. I definitely recommend adding a screen for comfort in the winter if you are going to make this a daily commuter.
Buying experience: I got mine on HP from a dealer brand new - Urban e-Bikes delivered it to me they gave me a good deal because I ordered extras on top - tall screen, SH50 top box, top box mount, phone mount. In hind sight I would recommend the mid screen. The tall one blocks your vision when it fogs up on cold winter nights or in snow.
