Cute Scoots: Here Comes The Kumpan 54i Electric Scooter Lineup

Kumpan unveils the 54 Inspire and 54 Iconic models.

By: Zac Kurylyk

Jun 4, 2020 at 4:01pm ET

Comment

Want a scooter with modern engineering, but retro looks? German manufacturer Kumpan heard your plea, and is releasing the new 54 Inspire and 54 Iconic, combining vintage aesthetics with an electric motor.

It’s been a tough year for Kumpan, even by 2020 standards. Along with the coronavirus pandemic shutdowns that spread around the world, Motorrad reports that Kumpan’s production facility burned down in March. The company’s looking for the bad luck to turn around now, with its new 54i electric retro series, starting with two just-released machines, and more to come.

The Kumpan 54 Inspire (on the left, in the title photo) is intended to be an entry-level scooter, with top speed limited to 45 km/h. The small electric motor makes 3 kW (roughly 4 horsepower), and battery range is 62 kilometers. Supposedly, it can reach 70 km/h.

Those aren’t very exciting specs, but at least the battery is swappable; you can easily remove it to swap in a freshly-charged one. That means minimal wait for recharging, as long as you have a spare battery. MSRP for Inspire is 3,999 euros, so it’s affordable as well.

Along with the 54 Inspire, Kumpan also announced the 54 Iconic (on the right, in the photo). This electric step-through makes 4 kW of power (a little over 5 horsepower), and has three batteries, good for a claimed 186-km range. Asking price is 4,999 euros. The Iconic’s more powerful engine is supposed to help the scooter reach a top speed of 100 km/h.

What do you think?

View

Comments

Both of these scooters have 12-inch wheels and a 7-inch touchscreen display borrowed from Kumpan’s previous 1954ri electric scooter line. LED turn signals are standard, and an LED headlight is an optional upgrade.

The Inspire and Iconic scooters fall under Germany’s L1E moped class. The rules will vary in other jurisdictions, but in Germany, you don’t need a full motorcycle license to ride them. That could potentially make them appealing to a very wide range of customers, at least in urban centers. Will battery bikes replace the iconic European two-stroke step-throughs, that dominated cities for years? If it happens, machines like the Iconic and the Inspire will be the start of that revolution, along with the Impulse and Ignite, the next machines in the Kumpan line.

Source: Motorrad