Horwin SK3+ 8.6kw 65mph Electric Motorcycle Test Ride Review and Speed Test : 4K – Green-Mopeds.com
[Music] So, hello from Green Mopeds. So, today we’re taking out uh a possible future bike in the UK, which is the Horwin SK3 Plus. Um, I say future bike because uh this was actually shown off for the first time in uh ECMA in November 23 and we’re now in August 25 and the I guess dilemma or consideration by the importer is uh when or if they bring this out. So, we’ve got it for a little bit. We’re going to show you what it’s about. Um I think this these are available in Europe already. Um and then see what happens to the bike actually. Uh so obviously people know about Horwin. They’ve been around for a long time. They’ve got the EK series which is a sort of smaller bike and then they’ve got the SK series. Uh there was actually an SK1 which we’ve never had here. Um, we’ve had the SK3 and I think it’s fair to say that that bike was a I don’t know if it was bought out because of it, but it was literally aimed at the Supo CPX. Speed was the same, although it had more power and it possibly could have gone faster. Uh, it was literally speed the same. Uh, 72 volt versus 60 volt. Um, so greater battery capacity I think or probably with the maths it probably works out about the same but 72 volt chain driven. Um, price was similar, all that sort of stuff. So this is like the upgrade to it. Um, and in this one isn’t the final version. Um, and I know that because if you look on the Horwin uh website, the the version that they’re showing off has ABS and traction control, and this one doesn’t have that. So, um, this must have been the version that originally came out, and that’s pretty normal. The Voto Stash came out, and then they added in ABS and traction control later. They added PR tires later. So this is essentially um I guess the pre-production model but in terms of power and performance it should be the same and the main features should be the same as well. Um so a little bit about the bike it’s 1.9 m long and without two batteries it is 100 kilos in weight. So um not too dissimilar from anyone else. Uh but it comes by default now with two batteries and they are 72vt 45 amp. So that is uh not much of an increase from what uh Hman were doing before cuz they had 72 volt 40 amp power but uh that was on their EK range but on the SK range uh they only ever bought out 72 volt 36 amp power. So um they’ve jumped up quite a bit and again might be in response to although I guess they did it first. Uh Voto are moving to 74V batteries and uh obviously these are 72 volts so pretty much uh going down the same path in some respects. Um, this one is more equivalent to the CPX Pro. Um, because obviously, well, not obviously, um, it is 8.64 kW in power, which is interesting that they stress the 64. Um, the CPX Pro is 8. So, maybe they just wanted to make a point that it had more than um, the CPX Pro. In reality, that’s less than one horsepower more. It’s uh what? 640 W versus 750 W for one horsepower. So, it’s like.9 horsepower more than a CPX Pro, but still more. So, they can still tick that box. And the CPX Pro currently is only 60 volt. So, um and we’re at 72 volt here. So again, you could say, okay, well, they’re going after now the CPX Pro, which is fair enough. Why not? Um, overall size is again comparable to CPX Pro being, you know, 1.9 m long. The CPX Pro is is about that. Um, CPX Pro obviously comes with a uh the base of a rack and a screen, more of a fulls size screen than this. Uh but the CPX Pro doesn’t come with a color screen which um you can see there. So, one of the one of the big sort of uh improvements I suppose or upgrades from the standard SK3 other than power and um uh range and all that. Um are there are some subtle things that are actually quite good. One of them is that this button down here, this P button puts the bike into ready. Okay. So, when it’s although it’s showing ready all the time, P means throttle is dead. Okay. Now, on the old uh SK3 bikes and actually on all of the other Hallwind EKs as well, once you turn it on and got it into ready, you could never take it out again unless you turned it off. So, this was a one-way switch. Um, and now, of course, as you can see, it goes in and out ready. It’s just a minor thing, but little things like that sometimes uh make all the difference to me. Okay, it’s still got reverse and it’s got modes one, two, three. As you can see, it’s got master cylinders here. Uh your lights, horn, indicators, which do make noise, which is always a good thing. Hazard lights, and in there there’s a USB port, uh USBA. Um you’ll notice down here that it is keyless. Um which is good because they didn’t provide keys. They only provided fobs. So, um it’s got proximity. So, as long as the fob is uh within range or near, you can just turn the bike on and off from that switch there without having to use a key. So, that’s all good. Um, so that is one upgrade from the standard SK3, which is the uh ready button now does into an out of um ready. Uh, also the obvious thing there is that the screen is now a 7 in color screen. Um, and again sort of uh one up against the CPX. CPXs have never gone to color. Um, color isn’t everything I suppose, but it is quite a big screen now. Um, as you can see where you’ve got the power along the top, you’ve got your battery along the bottom. You know, this is still in kilometers because it’s uh uh essentially I haven’t worked out how to put it back into miles yet. Um you got battery A, battery B, range. So um range they talk about as being uh 130 km um which is what 80 something 80 something. Uh but what I’ve been doing recently as you might have seen on my CPX review is actually doing worst case um range. So worst case range is worked out by taking the maximum capacity of the batteries which is uh in this case 74 * sorry 72 * 45 * 2 which is about 6.4 kW hours of battery capacity. You’ve got an 8.64 kW motor. You do the maths on that and it basically means that you can run this bike flat out as in consuming all 8.6 kW of power, which of course you won’t do. Uh, but this is a theoretical worst case. Um, and then divide that by the battery capacity and you get 45 minutes of use. You will chomp through these batteries at full power in 45 minutes, both of them. And then what you do is you do the 45 minutes of the speed that it can achieve at that uh output which is 100 km. So you’re saying 45 minutes of 100 km or 3/4 of 100 km and you’re talking 75 km range worst case which of course is just a bit less than 50 miles. So it’s actually 46 miles. So 46 mi is the worst case range you’ll get out of this bike based on that theoretical use case. Okay. So if you don’t get 46 milesi out of it, there’s something wrong, I would say. So you’re looking at, you know, real world better than that. So you’re looking at let’s say 60 would be probably more reasonable for this sort of bike. And obviously in London when you’re pling around at 20 mph on every road, you might even get better than that. You might be up to 70 mi. So that’s obviously a good thing. Uh and an improvement over the standard SK3 and uh better than the current CPX Pro because it’s still on 60 volt. Okay. So, I don’t know if that’s uh of use, but it is a way of sort of normalizing all of these range quotes that people are giving you. Worst case scenario, 46 milesi. Okay. Um the batteries are fairly heavy. So, even though the bike weighs 100 kilos, with the two batteries in it, you’re getting over 130 kilos of weight. Um, the other good bit of news and an improvement over certainly the first generation of SK3s is that there’s now a dual charging cable by default. So, Horwin in general, despite having bikes that could take two batteries, um, only ever included one cable. So, you could only charge one battery at a time. And it also feeds through to being able to to charge one battery at a time off the bike as well. So now Hwin have provided this bike by default with a uh dual cable. I haven’t worked out yet whether it needs that to get full power. Um cuz in the older bikes it certainly didn’t. The second battery was merely for range. You got full power all the time and you just increase range by adding another battery. um which is what CPXs do. But um yeah, so a dual it’s using both batteries and you can sort of tell that if you look down here. This one’s at 96 and this one’s at 95. When I started this was at 100 and this was at 99. So it’s obviously consuming both the batteries at a time. Maybe I’ll uh take out one of the batteries or disconnect one of the batteries and see what the performance is like. But um if it’s like they used to be, it shouldn’t make any difference on performance purely uh range. Okay. So, it includes a 10 amp charger which is the same as the older bikes. Um nothing new there. Uh they’re saying that charging time is 4 and 1/2 hours. Um that is each battery. But of course, if you charge it through the bike now, you can charge both batteries without having to do anything. So the charging port is down there between my legs. Um so you’re looking overnight basically for charging. Okay. So 4 and a half hours 10 amp charger. Okay. Um, one of the big big other differences between this and the uh standard SK3 and also a general difference between Horwin and Voto or pretty much every other bike that we do apart from a TC Max is that this is now they’ve moved away from chain which is uh a good thing and they’ve now moved to belt. So I’ll come back to that in a second. We’re just going to go up our test hill. Can’t for a minute think that this isn’t going to get up there very easily. No. I mean, if you saw one of the last tests I did on a something called uh VSS3, you will see that there was a bit of struggle getting up this hill. This is one in seven this hill. So, uh not a problem. MC Jagger’s old house in case you’re interested. Okay. So, no issues with that. [Music] Okay. So, yeah, no issues. If if uh 11 horsepower couldn’t go up that hill, there’ll be something wrong. Okay. So, um, we’ve done range, we’ve done charging time, we’ve done battery capacity, and yeah, we were talking about belt. So, um, it’s obvious that having a chain driven bike, you’re introducing friction and noise and all of that sort of stuff and high levels of maintenance and all of that. So, it’s a good thing that um, they’ve moved away from chain to a belt. Um don’t really know why they have haven’t gone to a hub motor in their bigger bikes. Um you know you can get a 10 kW hub motor now and this is only eight. So uh don’t know they’ve they’ve stuck to uh a centrally mounted motor which is essentially uh right at the bottom of the bike. And as you can hear probably or hopefully um it also means that the noise that the the old SK3 used to make is pretty much gone. You can hardly hear this bike moving, which is uh obviously a good thing. Um, having a belt uh obviously potentially needs replacing. Um, what we’re finding on other bikes with belts, which is essentially the TC Max, um, if you happen to get some grit in that belt, a little stone or whatever, it essentially shreds the belt and then unfortunately the sprockets too. So, you do end up having to change the sprockets and the belt together. um can’t really do one without the other. So that is a potential risk and you know the belts can stretch. You might have to readjust them. So it’s a slight overhead in maintenance but not something that you’ll probably have to worry about too much. Um I imagine these are Gates belts so they’re pretty good quality and all that sort of stuff. So um don’t worry too much about that. Uh other things about the bike in general. So, this bike has come with a rack uh rather than just the grab rails. I think the rack is extra. Um, and the other thing is that this bike is running on 14-in wheels front and back. Okay. So, again, if you wanted to compare that to like a CPX, the CPX is 16 front and 14 back. So, um, it’s neither here nor there really. people. Some people do worry about wheel sizes, but um if you’ve got ABS and traction control, which the um the current live version does have, then uh I wouldn’t worry too much. Um you’ll see on the Hall website that the rear of that bike looks different to this bike. Um and that is because they’ve added in uh ABS and traction control. And you can always tell by looking at the disc itself if it’s got uh ABS on it. So, this bike currently has uh uh CBS, combined braking. Okay. Um pricing I can’t tell you anything about. It’s being sold in Europe uh for like5,000 that sort of price, which um let’s say that translates to 4ish4,000. Um CPX Pro is four. Um that’s after the grant. So it’s RRP obviously Pixro is 4599. Sorry 4499. Um so I’m not sure what Horwin are going to do about that in the UK. The grant is basically going away in the UK. So um uh they will have to come up with some pricing if they decide to bring it in. Um, the other thing also is on colors. So, as you can see down here, this is a gray, nice gray. It’s got accents now around here. Before, it didn’t used to have that. It was a single color. There was a graphite, there’s a blue, and a sort of deep gloss green. Um, so there are four shown on the Horwin China website, but only three shown on other websites. So, not sure if it’s going to be four colors or three colors, but uh as I said, it’s all to be determined. Um so, what we’re going to do now is we’ll go to our little test track and um test it out going down um zero to top. Um as I said, it is in kilometers, so we’ll have to work that out as we go. But, uh, we’ll come back and then we’ll show you, uh, show you how they how it performs down there and then, uh, we’ll wrap up. So, uh, see you back in a minute. Okay. So, uh, we’re at our test track. Um, conditions have changed slightly since, uh, we did the other part of the ride review, but that’s, uh, British summer for you. So, we’re going to whiz down here. Um, we put it in mode three. It should get to 100 km. Just remember our dash is in kilometers, but I’ll try and convert it to miles as I go. Um, do the normal thing. Uh, but just to go around the dash one more time. Modes, reverse, park, which now goes in and out of park rather than just into park. No cruise control. They’ve got rid of that. Uh, basically lights, indicators, and horn and hazards and all that down there. Keyless go. Um, including open the seat. You just have to flip the remote and you can get into that cubby hole for your mobile phone. Bag hook, master cylinders, 7in display, pretty clear. Um, and that’s that. So, uh, we will give it a go down here and put the times up. It’s main, uh, competitor, of course, is now the CPX Pro. So, um, I’ll see if I can compare it to that as I go. All right. So, back in a sec. Okay. So, it’s going to be in kilometers, it’s going to be 32, uh, 48, 64, 80, and 96 km on the dash, which corresponds to 30, 40, 50, and 60. Okay. So, um, let’s see how we get on. Uh, mode three. Let’s go. So, we’re all at 50. [Music] 50 miles an hour now. It’s a 96 60 mph. So remember this is with both batteries. Um, you can ride this bike with just one battery, but of course the draw from the battery on these uh on the scales there will obviously just go through the roof on one battery. That’s 100 km. There we go. So, um, not bad. Uh, obviously this is a belt driven bike, so I wouldn’t expect it to be as good as a hub driven bike. We’ve seen that before with the uh AE8S, even though that’s got 14 kW. Um it didn’t outperform the Segway, although that’s got 10. So, this bike is out and out going after the CPX Pro. Um they make a point that it’s got 8.64 kW of power versus 8 kW of power for the CPX Pro. that 64 is almost one horsepower more, but they seem to want to make a point of it. Um, but of course, if you compare this to a Segway, which has got 10 kW, then you are sort of bound to expect the Segway to win. But will it win over a CPX Pro? So, uh, we’ll do that again, um, on the way back and just see if anything, uh, comes to light. But I think it’s going to be close. But I would expect the CPX Pro to win. Although the CPX Pro has got 70, sorry, currently it’s got 60 volt batteries. So 60 volt batteries versus 70 uh 4v um sorry 72 volt uh would make a difference. So it this might have it. The only real way to work it out is to actually put up the figures. But um yeah, when you have a a 74 volt or 72 volt B bike based bike versus a 60 volt one, if everything else was equal, then the one with the higher voltage would out accelerate. And uh at the moment, not only does this have this almost one horsepower more, but it does have higher voltage in the batteries, but then it does have belt. So, uh, interesting that I will, um, give it another go from a standing start just back here. So, as Jeremy Clarkson said, wet track. Um, we might be able to get to the top whack by the time we get down to the, uh, traffic lights. Um, let’s hope that that’s the case, but obviously wet conditions and, uh, we’ll see how we go. So, uh, I’ll put the times up later. 64 [Music] 50 m an hour. [Music] No. Didn’t make it. [Music] Okay. So, um we have got to top speed in that time with other bikes. I don’t think wet tracks have much to do with it on this sort of bike. But um so just in summary uh to be determined if it’s coming to the UK is uh I guess the first thing to say. So this might all be uh pointless, but um it is meant as an upgrade to the SK3. Um the SK3 was brought out as a direct competitor to the CPX, possibly a bit too late. Um, this has been bought out as a competitor, I guess, to the CPX Pro. Uh, but the CPX Pro is already in the UK and it is for £3,800 after the Grant. Um, but that’s currently the 60 volt version, uh, 6045, the same as the old CPX. um with 8 kW CBS, ABS, uh GPS tracking, um no storage, uh similar sort of size, although a bigger front wheel, 16in front wheel. This one’s got 14-in front and back. But this one, um they’ve sort of beaten it in some respects. So, a big screen, for example, is one. They’ve now caught up in terms of the app. Uh it weighs 100 kilos without any batteries loaded. So you’re talking about 140 odd kilos with the batteries loaded. Um belt driven versus hub driven. Uh slight maintenance overhead there I guess. Um, but with its 72vt batteries and 45 amp hours, it is currently uh will have or should have more range than a CPX Pro because the CPX Pro is still on 60 volt. Um, however, as you might have guessed from the new CPX, they’re moving to 74 volt 45 amp. Um, so when or if that happens to the CPX Pro, then that will leap over this one again. Uh, but currently from an acceleration perspective, I’m interested to see the figures myself because if it was literally 72 volt versus 60 volt hub motors, same power, you would expect the 72vt bike to win. Um, but because it’s got a belt, it might still just scrape it, but not by a lot. Um, the belt has had an effect, as we said, with the AEAS. It had 40% more battery uh power than the Segway, but the Segway still won, and the batteries were about the same voltage, but it was hub versus belt. So, um, it is going to be interesting. Um, the good news about this bike, like all the other winds, of course, is that you can ride it on one battery and still get the same speed, which and this is the case with this bike as well. Um, so range is quoted 100 km, 60 odd miles. That’s possibly realistic. I mean, uh, we’re at 77% now. Um, and we’ve ridden what about 12 mi from 95% and we’re doing 12 mi back. Um, [Music] I guess the the the real question about it is one, is it coming? And two, if it’s coming, what would a price be? Because with Vimoto now directly represented here they can afford they’ve cut out a layer of margin. There’s no importer dealer manufacturer. It is manufacturer dealer and because of that they have brought their prices down. Um, as a perfect example, the last standard CPX dual batteries that they were selling were at 2,799 when they were originally £4,999. Um, that’s not to say that, you know, they were just getting rid of them, but you know, all of the prices of V Motors have come down and they can sort of afford to do it because there’s no uh distributor. It is just them and then people like us. Okay. So, prices in Europe, they’re quoting, well, there’s a couple of different prices that have been quoted. €5,300, €5,500 I’ve seen as well, uh, if that translates to pounds directly, which they sometimes do, uh, that would put it more than a Segway 300 with three batteries, um, which would get you more range, more power, ABS traction control, um, a color screen like this one, uh, a little bit of storage. So, it really depends on on that sort of discussion. I’m not saying you shouldn’t look at it. Um, but we have other bikes that um these days seem expensive for what you get. Um, which is good because that means the prices are coming down and making them more affordable. So, uh, shouldn’t complain about that. Okay. So, uh, I think I’ve covered everything in either this part or the other part. uh three colors. Um it is a worthy upgrade to the SK3. So if you like your SK3 and this does come over, it would be a good upgrade to it. Um but I guess if there’s one thing they could have added, uh is ABS cuz it’s only got CBS. So that would at least bring it up to par with a Segway, an AEAS, a CPX Pro. Um, that would I guess be the one thing that I would say is missing. And you can tell it’s missing because they haven’t got the ABS discs. Right. So hopefully you found that useful. Um, as I say, this might be here next year, um, in the UK at least. It’s already available in Europe. Uh but if you do have any more questions then please feel free to contact us. Um please feel free to subscribe to our YouTube channel where there’s many other reviews about this and other bikes. And thanks very much. [Music]
A Ride Review and Speed Test of the Horwin SK3 Plus. An 8.6kw 65mph Electric Motorcycle
Green-Mopeds.com is a London based electric-only moped and motorcycle dealer and importer. We started in 2017 by signing a dealership with Torrot (https://torrot.com/) after initially seeing an electric moped for rent on holiday in Portugal.
Since then we looked for more brands and became the UK Importer for ECCity Motorcycles from France (https://www.eccity-motocycles.com/) and then Super Soco (https://supersoco.co.uk/) from China.
In early 2018 we were then approached by Askoll (https://www.askollelectric.com/) to be their first London dealer and soon followed by Lifan who were lauching their first moped the E3 (http://www.lifanmotos.net/product/ddcc/2017-03-30/73.html).
Later in 2019 we also signed up with SurRon with their hugely popular and lightweight LBX Lightbee (http://www.sur-ron.com)
Mid 2019, we signed up to be the first dealer for Niu (https://www.niu.com) and sold the first 9 of their new NGT model when it was launched at the end of 2019.
In early 2020 the UK Importer for Torrot moved on to other things and we became their importer to support existing customers of the Muvi range.
Later in 2020 after a request from a customer, we signed up with Artisan (https://artisanscooters.com/) to sell not only their brand but also Horwin (https://www.horwinglobal.com/) and Kollter (http://www.kollter.com/).
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