The Pure Electric Advance is an e-scooter for the modern age
Pure’s new e-scooters have a futuristic design and are packed with innovative features
Pure Electric has unveiled its latest range of e-scooters at a launch event in Paris. The Pure Advance, Pure Advance Plus and Pure Advance Flex, which have been designed and engineered in the UK and an unusual new design.
Instead of having a narrow deck where you place your feet one behind the other, Pure’s new Advance scooters split the deck either side of a central chassis, and they look very different to most e-scooters as a result.
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Pure Air Advance specifications
- Motor power: 500W (ave); 710 (peak)
- Range: 40km
- Weight: 16kg
- IP65 dust- and water-resistant
- Price: £799
Pure Air Advance+ specifications
- Motor power: 500W (ave); 710 (peak)
- Range: 50km
- Weight: 16kg
- IP65 dust- and water-resistant
- Price: £899
Pure Air Advance Flex specifications
- Motor power: 500W (ave); 710 (peak)
- Range: 40km
- Weight: 16kg
- IP65 dust- and water-resistant
- Price: £1,099
Pre-order now from Pure Electric
Pure Air Advance hands-on: Key features and first impressions
The split deck allows riders to take up a more natural forward-facing stance on the scooter, as if they were riding a bike. And because it sits either side of the central structure – in the form of small textured foot pads – it can be positioned lower down, givine a lower centre of gravity and a more stable ride.
It’s certainly a rather eyecatching thing. The central structural member – the bit that goes between your feet – is chunky, constructed of hydroformed 6061 aluminium and rises up from around your toes to meet the steering stem above the front wheel. It’s a frame that not only looks great, it also feels much more beefy and robust than rival e-scooters.
Those footpads do contribute to quite a wide machine, but despite that, however, the Pure Advance takes up no more space than a regular scooter thanks to the fact that the footpads are hinged and fold flat against the flanks of that hydroformed chassis.
Along with folding handlebars amd a stem that folds back and locks against the rear wheel, it’s a neat, sleek package, albeit a fairly hefty one: all three scooters weigh in at around 16kg.
If you want a scooter that can fold even smaller, though, the Pure Advance Flex is the model you want. This splits in, just half like a Brompton (indeed, one of the engineering team originally worked at the folding bicycle manufacturer), allowing it to be stowed under your desk, in your car boot or in the train luggage racks.
The deck isn’t the Pure Advance’s only innovation, however. It also come with another clever feature: steering stabilisation. Dubbed Pure Control, this uses a spring to return the steering column to a central position and to resist twitchy steering input at low speed.
The scooters are quite different from the firm’s first and second generation Pure Air and Pure Air Pro review scooters, then. But the innovations contribute to a impressively composed ride. During a short test ride at the launch around an indoor track, I felt comfortable on the scooter almost immediately and the whole pacakge felt remarkably well balanced.
And, when it comes to stopping, the Advance’s front drum brake and rear regenerative brake worked in concert to bring me to a halt surprisingly quickly. First impressions, then, are positive; I’ll have to wait until I have tested it a more thoroughly, however, until I can deliver a final verdict. What I can say, however, with some confidence is that the folding mechanism on the Advance Flex works beautifully: it’s simple, intuitive and takes no time at all to get to grips with.
Elsewhere, the Pure Advance ticks all the boxes a premium e-scooter should. It’s equipped with 10in pneumatic tyres, so it should roll smoothly over most urban surfaces.
There’s plenty of power on tap, too, so hills shouldn’t present too much of a challenge. All three of the scooters are equipped with smooth 500W motors that deliver peak power of 710W. And maximum range is decent. There’s 40km of range in the Advance and Advance Flex, while the Advance Plus has a larger battery that’s able to deliver up to 50km on a single charge.
As with their forebears, the Advance scooters are all IP65-rated for dust and water resistance and have integrated front and brake lights – both on the rear of the chassis and embedded in the rear of each foot pad.
And, in a extra unexpected touch of automotive luxury, there are left and right indicators on both the ends of the handlebars and sequential indicators that run the width of the footplates. This is no white label mass-produced Chinese copycat – this is seriously impressive and well-engineered product.
With Bluetooth connectivity providing remote locking capabiity, it’s a fully-rounded, high-end e-scooter that seemingly leaves no stone unturned.
Pure Air Advance hands on: Early Verdict
Pure’s new e-scooters look great and ride beautifully. However, if you like the look of they, you’re going to have pay quite a bit more than for your regular, common or garden e-scooter. The basic Advance model will set you back £799, which is £100 more than the second-generation Pure Air Pro cost when it launched in 2021, the Advance Plus is £899, while the Flex costs £1,099.
If those prices dont put you off and you can’t wait to get your hands on one anyway, you can pre-order directly from the Pure Electric website right now.
E-scooter use in the UK
Despite the fact that they’re now a common sight in UK cities, you should be aware that private electric scooters are currently classified as “personal light electric vehicles” in the UK, which means that you’re only legally allowed to use them on private land with the landowner’s permission. If you’re caught riding one on roads or pavements, you could be fined and receive six points on your driving licence. This situation may be about to change, however, with the UK Government setting out plans to expand the legal use of e-scooters in the Queen’s Speech on 10 May 2022. The only way you can currently ride an e-scooter legally in the UK is to rent one via one of the legal pilot schemes operating in some cities.
