SEAT MÓ electric scooter (2022 - ) review

Bikes and scooters have always been cheaper than cars, and increasingly tempting for urban commuters fed up with traffic jams or crowded, overpriced public transport. In many places parking is also free, which will be another significant saving if you work every day in a town or city centre. An electric scooter like the MÓ is also way more efficient than an electric car, travelling 15 miles or so for every kWh you put into the battery against the four miles or so a typical EV would cover on the same. Given rising home energy prices make charging more expensive that’s a big difference, the fact you can just plug the MO’s battery into a standard domestic socket meaning you also save on the installation costs for the home charging point you need to make an electric car add up. Against that, the relatively small cost of doing your Compulsory Basic Training (CBT) if you don’t already have a bike licence looks pretty reasonable as well. At the time of writing the Government plug-in grant is still in place for electric bikes as well, saving you a useful chunk off the purchase price and bringing the cost down to about the same as an equivalent 125cc petrol scooter.

Although branded as a SEAT product the MÓ is actually built by electric scooter specialists Silence. The simplicity of electric power and reduced maintenance requirements should count in its favour in terms of reliability, though. As standard the MÓ comes with a two-year warranty for the scooter and four years for the battery, which is a year more than you get if you buy it from Silence.

Against security of a typical modern car with its airbags and driver assistance systems there’s no escaping the exposure you feel on two wheels, though some may argue that putting the responsibility for your safety literally into your own hands is both healthy and empowering. And the MÓ is certainly very rookie friendly, this being our first time on a powered two-wheeler. The lack of gears, the inherent stability and the ‘twist and go’ simplicity all leaves you to concentrate on the road sense you depend on to stay out of trouble. It is, of course, worth investing in some decent protective clothing, SEAT also offering a helmet mounted light and GPS tracker as an accessory, this helping you keep seen in traffic and including an automatic emergency call function should you be involved in an accident.

The saying ‘there’s no such thing as the wrong weather, just the wrong clothing’ applies up to a point on a scooter, but it’s clear if you’re going to ride in all weathers you’ll want to wrap up warmly and put things like heated, USB-chargeable gloves on your shopping list. Such practicalities aside the MÓ is very comfortable to ride, with a degree of weather protection for your legs from the step-through design and a large and comfortable seat on which to perch. There is space for a pillion passenger, but you can only carry one once you’ve passed your full bike test. Small wheels meanwhile mean you have to pay attention to the road surface and be wary of potholes, speed bumps and other potentially unsettling hazards but the MÓ’s manoeuvrability means it's easy enough to avoid them while the suspension does a decent job of isolating you from the worst. One of the big selling points of the MÓ is the large stash space under the seat, which has enough room for a couple of bags of shopping or somewhere to stow your helmet and riding kit once you park up. Many rival electric scooters like the NUI MQi GT Evo lose this space to batteries, so this convenience is a big tick in the MO’s favour.

True, compared with a car there’s not much in the way of bells and whistles. But the MÓ is in fact fully connected with its own SIM and app, meaning you can check charge status and other information from your phone. There’s even a USB socket for charging, a phone mount among the accessories if you want help with your navigation. The MÓ’s neatest feature, though, is its removable battery pack. With one lever you can remove it entirely, an extendable handle and pop-out casters basically turning it into a cabin-bag sized wheelie trolley you can easily bring with you to charge at home or in the office. At 40kg it’s a bit heavy for heaving up stairs but, if there’s a lift to your destination, you can plug in anywhere with a regular domestic socket, saving a huge amount of faff. Given it also immobilises your scooter and makes stealing it pretty much pointless it’s also a great security feature in its own right.

The MÓ is pretty much equivalent to a conventional 125cc petrol-powered scooter, meaning it has respectable performance up to its top speed of just shy of 60mph. That’s not really enough for busy dual carriageways and you’re not allowed on motorways with L-plates either but, other than that, you’ve got the pace to keep out of trouble you don’t get with less powerful electric mopeds like the 50cc-equivalent Yamaha NEO. There are Eco, City and Sport modes to choose from, the former reducing top speed and performance to achieve a maximum potential range of just over 80 miles. That drops significantly as you go up the settings, Sport as much as halving it but getting you off the line, away from the traffic and into your own free space before most drivers have come off their brake pedals. City is a sensible middle ground of range and performance for most situations, while moderate use of the right-hand brake lever scores you some regeneration for the battery when slowing down through a combination of the front disc brake and motor on the rear wheel. Using the left lever operates linked conventional brakes operating on both wheels at the same time.