2021 Levy Electric Scooter Plus Review

The Levy Plus electric scooter starts at $699. We’re beginning our review with the price for a simple reason: this e-scooter does so many things right for this price tag that it’s easier to list them in the following line. That way, you’ll hopefully get a picture of what the Levy Plus can offer and what it can’t.

Design and comfort

We’re not ones for judging a particular e-scooter’s appearance but we’ll tell you this: the Levy Plus looks good. It’s a stylish scooter that you can ride to work, to a meeting, and to your [insert favorite sport here] practice. The base color is matte black, but you can choose from three different accents (grey, green or red) that change the color of the power cable and throttle controller.

That said, design in a scooter should be about more than looks. The Levy Plus has soft rubber handles, a supremely-straightforward LCD display, and a battery that clips itself to the handlebar stem. This is where Levy innovated compared to other electric scooter manufacturers that like their batteries fitted inside the stem or mounted within the deck. The solution does tamper a little bit with the suppleness of the scooter, but it’s nothing to worry about. Especially since you’re going to appreciate how easily you can pop out the depleted battery and swap it with a fully-charged unit when you’re in a hurry or not in the patient mood to charge it.

Finally, the aluminum alloy frame looks and feels sturdy. There’s no rattling or squeaking whatsoever despite that fact that our e-scooter was a test unit that was used before. You can also fold the scooter by simply dropping the handlebar which then clicks into the rear fender for easier storage. However, we don’t recommend carrying the scooter over long distances as it’s quite heavy at 30 pounds. Then again, a healthy average-sized adult shouldn’t have any problem with carrying it over a few flights of steps or even a couple of building floors.

Other than the well-built frame, the Levy Plus comes with a bunch of safety-related bits and bobs that we personally like to see from an electric scooter: these are the hand brake, the rear stomp brake, a bell and the LED headlight and taillight.

Ride and performance

The scooter we rode came fitted with 8.5-inch tubeless tires. We get it that some people might prefer inflatable ones – and Levy does offer those in the 10-inch variety – but you’ll get a lot more peace of mind from knowing that a nail or shattered glass can’t mess up with your ride. Obviously, the tubeless tires are less comfortable as they don’t soak in shocks as efficiently as tube-fitted ones, but in fairness, the difference isn’t that huge, and we’d rather prefer being able to continue the journey instead of having to deal with a flat tire.

What’s more, Levy founder and CEO Eric Levenseller told us that the company plans to “phase out the 8.5-inch tires and only use 10-inchers for future production.” The reason: they’ve found out that the ride is much more stable and safer with the added shock absorption.

Another thing we liked is the e-scooter’s usability. Not only you can ride it as a complete rookie – there’s a kick to start feature that comes in handy here and an Eco mode that limits power - but every acceleration is predictable and even if you select the Sport mode, going full weight on the throttle controller won’t knock you off the deck or unbalance your stance in any way.

That said, you’ll also feel the scooter accelerating at a pleasing pace. It’s not slow, but rather linear and smooth as far as picking up the pace goes. The only difficulties we encountered were uphill, when the e-motor (350W nominal, 700W max power) started struggling.

Levy says the max incline the e-scooter can handle is between 5 and 10%, which is quite decent for most urban scenarios – unless you live in a hilly city. Speaking of hills, you’ll find the brakes – disc in the front and stomp-like in the rear – apt at stopping/slowing you down in a controlled and intuitive manner as it’s easy to figure out just how much pressure you need to apply. Big advantage when riding through urban décor and other moving vehicles/people.

Keep the scooter in Eco mode and you’ll be able to get a range of about 20 miles, says Levy. Keep in mind that this number depends a lot on the environment you’re riding the scooter and most importantly, how you ride it. But we had like a full week of strolling around doing different chores or just riding through the empty streets at full speed (about 18 mph) and the 12.8-Ah Panasonic battery only lost half of its juice. Charging the Li-ion pack from depleted to full took about 3.5 hours, just like the spec sheet said it would.

Conclusion

The Levy Plus electric scooter starts at $699. A price tag that won’t blow a hole in your budget but one that will get you a competent and classy all-rounder with a knack for safety and relaxed riding first and foremost.