Paul Somerville
Rider Guide’s Editor-in-Chief is a seasoned expert in the electric scooter industry. With a wide-ranging background that includes managing scooter warehouses, selling thousands of motorcycles, and restoring high value (+1M) European sports cars, his expertise is unmatched. Having personally tested more than 100 electric scooters, he offers invaluable insights and recommendations to our readers. We are fortunate to have him as part of our team, as his diverse skill set and extensive experience ensure top-notch reviews.
Qiewa QPower Review
Technical Specifications
Qiewa QPower Alternatives & Competitors
Our Take: Insane Power on a Budget (But at a Cost)
The Qiewa QPower is an off-road beast with massive power at a budget price point compared to other monster scooters. It packs as much acceleration, hill climbing, and stopping power as the beastliest scooters we’ve tested — the Wolf Warrior 11, Mantis — yet at just over $2,000, it’s one of, if not the cheapest of the bunch.
We like to think of it as a “rural commuter” — a hulking scooter that is well-suited for zipping around rural areas with dirt roads. It might well take the place of an ATV or dirtbike that country dwellers rely on to zip around.
It is also suited as a “weekend warrior” — a scooter that is probably not used as a daily commuter, but something used on weekends for recreational trips and off-road exploring.
The Qiewa hosts a lot in terms of features, including huge pneumatic tires, fully-hydraulic disc brakes, and a giant 1560 watt hour lithium-ion battery pack. It has a sturdy frame, and owners online concur that it can stand up to quite a bit of abuse. However, the out-of-the-box quality was average to below average, and we had to tighten up and fix a few things before seriously riding it.
Overall, the QPower delivers a lot of power, hill climbing, and off-road capabilities in a relatively compact and affordable scooter. It is as thrilling as the most beastly scooters we’ve ridden. Still, the trade-off is less quality compared to more premium scooters like those from Kaabo or Minimotors.
Performance Summary
Acceleration
The QPower has dual 40 amp controllers that supply power to dual 60V electric motors — for a combined power of 3200-watts. All this power allows the QPower to burnout from a standstill in dual motor mode.
The QPower has fantastic acceleration — among the best we’ve tested — going from zero to 15 mph in 1.8 seconds, to 25 mph in 3.7 seconds, to 35 mph in 7.0 seconds, and to 40 mph in 10.1 seconds.
This acceleration is on par with the fastest, most beastly scooters out there, including the Kaabo Wolf Warrior 11, Zero 10X, and Kaabo Mantis.
You can see and compare full real-world test data on our electric scooter performance tests page.
Hill Climb
The QPower has savage hill-climbing ability, sailing up our hill climb test (200 ft, 10% grade, 165 lb rider) in 7.5 seconds with an average speed of 18.1 mph.
This is comparable to the fastest scooter we had previously tested — the Wolf Warrior 11, which went up the same hill in 7.6 seconds with an average speed of 17.9 mph.
Top Speed
The QPower has a claimed top speed of 55 mph. We were only able to test it up to 41.0 mph, due to lack of runway. We estimate that it should be able to hit 50 mph, which is very, very fast.
Range
The QPower achieved 34.3 miles in our range test thanks to its 1560 watt hour lithium-ion battery pack.
As part of our QPower review, we test all scooters on the same urban test track. The track has steep hill climbing, frequent stops/starts, and rough terrain. The scooter is ridden by the same 165 lb rider as fast as is safe and in the most powerful (least energy conserving) dual motor mode.
Braking
The QPower has bumpy ride quality at low speeds on pavement due to the stock knobby off-road tires (though road tires are available). Once you reach about 8 mph, the tires rotate quickly enough that you don’t notice the bumpiness.
The Qiewa QPower has a front spring suspension and rear coil-over-hydraulic suspension. Though the suspension doesn’t afford extensive travel, it works well both on- and off-road.
The large 11.0-inch pneumatic tires roll over almost any obstacle you’ll encounter on-road — making very stable to ride on roads in poor repair.
Off-road, the knobby tires bite into dirt, sand, and other terrain you’ll encounter. This is one of the few scooters that has enough power and traction to really excel at riding in sandy areas.
Though the scooter is off-road oriented, we recommend exercising extreme caution if you intend to put it through extreme use, including off-roading, jumping, high-speed riding. This includes wearing the proper protective equipment and paying attention to the scooter. You can read more about electric scooter helmets here.
Know that stressed components can fail suddenly — as we’ve seen in other scooters — even though they are seemingly beefy and strong.
Ride Quality
The QPower has bumpy ride quality at low speeds on pavement due to the stock knobby off-road tires (though road tires are available). Once you reach about 8 mph, the tires rotate quickly enough that you don’t notice the bumpiness.
The Qiewa QPower has a front spring suspension and rear coil-over-hydraulic suspension. Though the suspension doesn’t afford extensive travel, it works well both on- and off-road.
The large 11.0-inch pneumatic tires roll over almost any obstacle you’ll encounter on-road — making very stable to ride on roads in poor repair.
Off-road, the knobby tires bite into dirt, sand, and other terrain you’ll encounter. This is one of the few scooters that has enough power and traction to really excel at riding in sandy areas.
Though the scooter is off-road oriented, we recommend exercising extreme caution if you intend to put it through extreme use, including off-roading, jumping, high-speed riding. This includes wearing the proper protective equipment and paying attention to the scooter. You can read more about electric scooter helmets here.
Know that stressed components can fail suddenly — as we’ve seen in other scooters — even though they are seemingly beefy and strong.
Qiewa QPower Features
Portability
The QPower weighs 81 lb and is not particularly portable. Loading this into a car is doable, but not easy. If you need to carry this thing upstairs more than rarely, you should consider something lighter.
However, the QPower folds to very compact dimensions for storing, thanks to its telescoping stem, folding handlebars, and a folding stem. The QPower’s folded dimensions are 45-inches by 11-inches by 17-inches.
This is quite compact and is actually smaller in folded width and height than the rather compact 26-lb Xiaomi Mi M365 (42-inches by 17-inches by 19-inches).
Stem folding mechanism
The folding mechanism looks beefy and incorporates a secondary locking pin for added safety. The scooter cannot be folded with the locking pin in place. Once folded, the stem locks into place for carrying, though its weight makes this difficult with one hand.
Cockpit
The Qiewa uses the ubiquitous QS-S4 trigger throttle. This component has a reasonably bright LCD display that can be seen at night and lots of adjustable settings for tuning the acceleration / electronic braking characteristics of the scooter. However, the trigger throttle is disliked by many riders due to its poor ergonomics.
The scooter has simple buttons for controlling lights. It also has a loud built-in electronic horn that looks like it was pulled off a small car. It is too loud to serve as a pleasant warning for pedestrians and bicyclists, but should work well for cars.
The deck-to-handlebar distance is adjustable from 28.1-inches to 40.8-inches.
Lights
The QPower has large front LED headlights and red taillights. The headlights are bright but lack optics, so the light tends to diverge quickly.
For frequently riding at night, you’ll want to use additional lighting.
Check out our guide for staying visible while riding at night.
Tires
The deck has 19.0-inches by 9.1-inches of clear deck space. Though the tires are quite large, the thick deck limits ground clearance to just 4.9-inches.
Deck
The QPower comes stock with dual 11.0-inch tubeless pneumatic, knobby off-road tires. These things are fantastic for rolling over dirt, sand, and any on- or off-road obstacles.
Build Quality
Overall, the build quality of the Qiewa QPower is average, with a below-average out-of-the-box quality, but above average component quality.
Out-of-the-box, the Qiewa required some adjustments. If you end up purchasing this scooter, it’s best to go over it. This includes making sure the screws are all tightened up, no critical parts are damaged, and to make sure the brakes are functioning correctly.
The headlights on our test scooter fell off (we didn’t check them before riding) due to not being tightened up. You can tighten these and use thread glue to keep them secure on bumpy terrain. The second issue with our test scooter was one of folding handlebars wouldn’t unfold — we had to file part of it down.
See our QPower adjustment video for details.
The QPower has some other nice touches, including cables that are routed nicely, zip-tied down, and well-protected in a mesh wrap. An exception to this is the horn, which has exposed wires that are not well-protected.
The QPower has an IP (water-resistance) rating of IPX5. However, after reaching out to Qiewa directly, they have reported that the IP rating is not “official” (though it is stated on their site). However, Qiewa says it does have water-proofing and should be fine in light rain but not submerged.
The QPower has a hefty max rider weight rating of 660 pounds.
Qiewa QPower: Review Conclusions
The Qiewa QPower is a “budget” power scooter for the weekend warrior or the rural commuter.
It doesn’t carry the price tag that other monster scooters carry. However, it has a good warranty and decent enough build quality to make it attractive for the rider who wants power and doesn’t mind wrenching on the scooter out-of-the-box.
If the QPower doesn’t appeal to you, then check out our suggested alternatives. You can also check out our Editor’s pick of best electric scooters.
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