Acer AES015 Series 5 eScooter review: Simple but speedy

Acer’s AES015 Series 5 eScooter is designed for nippy commuting, with a simple folding design and a top speed of 25km/h. A small onboard console shows your speed and battery status, while other functions are handled by a companion smartphone app.

 It’s a capable little vehicle, but the controls and ergonomics feel a bit awkward, and the 350W motor isn’t exactly muscular. If you don’t need a powerful electric scooter, you might prefer to pay less for a lighter model – or throw in a bit more for a more refined ride.

Acer AES015 Series 5 eScooter review: What do you get for the money?

Acer offers three families of scooters, dubbed the Series 1, 3 and 5. The AES015 is a Series 5 model, meaning it’s one of the company’s most upmarket vehicles. It isn’t as powerful as the premium AES025, which has a 500W motor and a bigger battery, but it does everything most people are likely to need, and it’s rated for riders weighing up to 125kg.

It glides along roads and paved pathways at speeds up to 25km/h (the legal limit for e-scooters in the UK). Acer claims its 15Ah battery will get you as far as 60km on a full charge, equivalent to more than two hours of use between pit stops.

The design is quite tasteful, in an unfussy sort of way. It’s mostly black, but with a slanted, stripey grey and green motif running up the steering column and along the battery base, plus matching green rims around the tyres. The supplied charger plugs neatly into a port on the left-hand side of the base, while further back an integrated kickstand props the scooter upright when not in use. At the back there’s a bright red tail-light, while a downward-angled LED lamp shines from the front of the control unit, and flashing orange sidelights at the rear can be used as indicators or hazard warnings.

In some ways, though, it still feels like quite a basic scooter. The handlebar height isn’t adjustable – it’s fixed at 107cm up from the riding deck – and the battery isn’t removable, so when it runs low, you may need to bring the whole scooter indoors to your charging point. That’s not ideal, as the scooter itself is a little on the heavy side, weighing a total of 18.5kg.

And even though the handlebar folds down (by releasing a sturdy clip at the front), it still takes up a fair bit of space. The “stump” of the steering column sticks up 55cm into the air, with the overall footprint extending to 49 x 118cm. 

Another point to note is that the 42V battery can take a while to recharge. The manual suggests a “typical” charge time of four hours, but if you run the scooter all the way down to zero you’re looking at eight hours for a complete refill. That won’t be an everyday problem, but some sporty rivals are faster to charge – for example, the Xiaomi 1S takes only 5hrs 30mins.

Still, most e-scooters in this price range have similar design foibles, and Acer’s two-year carry-in warranty is twice as long as you’ll get from many competing manufacturers.

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Acer AES015 Series 5 eScooter review: What’s it like to ride?

Getting started with the AES015 is a simple matter of standing on the rubberised baseplate, kicking off to start moving, then pressing down the accelerator with your right thumb.

In the default mode this keeps the scooter trundling along at a sedate 6km/h; you’ll probably want to immediately switch to a higher performance mode. Switching modes raises the limiter to either 10km/h or the maximum 25km/h.

The 10in solid foam tyres provide plenty of grip, and while uneven roads can make for a bumpy ride at higher speeds, my excursions on the AES105 never felt unstable. The scooter also carried me happily over dry grass and dirt. I’d recommend you steer well clear of muddy puddles; aside from the potential loss of traction, this scooter’s IPX4 rating indicates that its electrics have only nominal splash-proofing.

For slowing and stopping, a bicycle-style brake lever is located on the left-hand side of the handlebar. This applies a physical disc brake at the rear, while electric braking slows the front wheel at the same time. The action can be quite sharp if you squeeze too eagerly, but I got used to that in time – and it’s certainly better than under-responsive braking.

While you’re riding, the control unit in the middle of the handlebars provides an always-on display of your current speed and battery status. It’s not terrifically bright, but I found it acceptably readable, even in the midday sun. A single button below the screen turns the scooter on and off, and can also be used to cycle through speed modes, while the rest of the scooter’s features are accessed in the companion mobile app.

It must be said, while I found the AES105 fine for whipping around my local park, you couldn’t mistake this for a high-powered ride. When you first push the accelerator down the scooter lurches urgently forward, but after the initial kick I found it took several seconds to accelerate to 10km/h and beyond. If you’re riding on a public road (and you shouldn’t be), pulling away from the lights is a slightly embarrassing experience. The motor struggled with inclines, too: at around 95kg I’m well within the official weight limit, yet as soon as I hit a moderate uphill section of roadway the speedo plummeted from 20km/h to just 8km/h.

I didn’t love the ergonomics of the AES015, either. Although the fixed handlebars were at a good height for me (I’m a pretty average 172cm tall), the hard plastic grips didn’t exactly feel comfortable in my hands. The indicator switch on the left-hand grip was positioned too far away to reach comfortably without stretching, while my right thumb quickly grew tired from having to keep the spring-loaded accelerator continually held down. There is a cruise control option, but I didn’t find this usable: rather than holding a steady speed, it automatically accelerates to the maximum permitted speed when engaged, and then disengages entirely every time you tap the brake. As is usual with this type of vehicle, the 16.5cm deck width also necessitates a slightly unnatural one-foot-in-front-of-the-other stance.

Perhaps my biggest issue, however, is the companion app. I don’t want to have to dig my phone out of my pocket to perform basic functions such as turning the headlights on or off, or engaging the scooter’s electric lock. In this case it’s particularly irritating because every time you open the app you have to wait a few seconds for it to connect over Bluetooth, adding a considerable sense of drag to the overall experience. It’s also annoying that, on my Android phone at least, a lot of display space is wasted on a wholly superfluous picture of the scooter, while your ride information is pushed almost off the bottom of the screen.

Acer AES015 Series 5 eScooter review: Should you buy it?

The AES015 does everything you’d expect from a scooter in this price range. It will go as fast as any rival on the flat, it claims a decent range, and when it’s not in use the fold-down steering column makes it a bit easier to tuck away.

It’s not a luxurious ride, however. It’s slow to accelerate and sluggish up hills, the physical controls aren’t particularly comfortable, and dealing with the companion app is a faff, too. While there’s no such thing as a featherlight e-scooter, you’ll definitely feel this one’s 18.5kg weight if you need to haul it into the house to charge.

Whatever you’re looking for, therefore, it’s worth weighing up other options. The Xiaomi Pro 2 offers a similar riding experience, but is both cheaper and lighter, costing £480 and weighing just 12.5kg. Or, if your priority is comfort, the impressive Pure Advance+ has recently had a price cut to £550, matching the Acer on cost while offering a more powerful motor and a more comfortable overall riding experience. You’ll find more details about these and other alternatives in our best electric scooter roundup.

Still, while the Acer AES015 may not be an aspirational vehicle, it remains a practical and reasonably priced conveyance. If you just need a quick and easy way to nip across town or along a paved parkway, you could do a lot worse.