The Fastest Cheap Electric Scooters We've Tested

Warmer weather’s on the way, and you maybe have your eye on an electric scooter for commuting to school or work. If you’ve only ridden rental scooters, you might have noticed they aren’t very fast. Most of them have top speed capped somewhere around 15 miles an hour for safety and liability. The fastest cheap electric scooter, on the other hand, can hit speeds of 20 miles an hour and above.

What do we mean by “cheap”? At the lower end, you can expect to spend aroud $300 to $600 for a budget-priced electric scooter for adults that will take you safely where you need to go, with all the basic features but without the bells and whistles (suspension, apps, etc) that come with pricier models.

Top speed isn’t everything when it comes to being fast, of course. There’s also acceleration, a metric we think is often more important since you use it at every stoplight. You don’t want a scooter that struggles to keep up with slow moving traffic at an intersection or can barely make it up inclines from a full stop.

Riding a slow scooter is not only a little embarrassing. It can also be a little dangerous. You want the speed and power to maneuver around obstacles and quickly get out of the way when necessary. Even if you only have a few hundred to spend, you can find a budget scooter – under $600 – with a high top speed and quick acceleration.