River Indie Spotted Testing But No Changes Seen. What’s Going On?

Quick News Highlights

• The River Indie wearing camouflage was spotted testing

• Will likely see changes to ensure a smoother power delivery 

• Might also come with new features, including smartphone connectivity

The River Indie electric scooter was spotted testing recently with camouflage, and judging by the photos it is clear that there are no external changes to the e-scooter. We feel the updates might be in the internals of the EV. River has been working on improving the Indie for a while now, and this update could iron out some minor issues here and there. These are some possibilities of what the brand might have changed:

In the recent update, the brand had changed the belt drive transmission and swapped it for a chain-drive. This change should in theory make the scooter a lot easier to maintain. That said, there are still a few other areas where improvements could be made.

In our experience, the lack of smartphone connectivity and related features like turn-by-turn navigation was a bit of a letdown. We hope River changes this, and offers smartphone connectivity with this update. Having smartphone connectivity and turn-by-turn navigation would make travelling to new areas a lot easier, with the rider not having to constantly pull over and check the phone for directions. Call and SMS alerts along with this update could be another added bonus.

Another issue we had noticed with the scooter back when we had ridden it was the slightly choppy throttle calibration in the Rush mode. This is another aspect that the brand could improve upon, to ensure a smoother riding experience.

Instead of all the aforementioned speculations, there’s also a very small possibility that the brand has mounted the upcoming Yamaha electric scooter’s powertrain on the Indie for testing purposes. However, we feel this is unlikely as the Yamaha electric scooter had already been spotted testing recently. So testing the powertrain and battery pack again on the Indie makes no sense.

If River brings the updates we predicted, then the e-scooter could come at a premium of around Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000. For perspective, the River Indie is currently sold at a price of Rs 1,44,259 (ex-showroom Bengaluru, including subsidies). 

Other than the above-mentioned updates, the rest of the e-scooter is likely going to remain unchanged. The River Indie will be powered by the same 6.7kW motor, which offers a claimed top speed of 90kmph. The scooter will likely use the same 4kWh battery pack, which offers a claimed range of 161km.

Image Source: u/MiBoy69