With a large 3.94 kWh battery pack, will Hero Vida V1 Pro manage to clock a real-world range that is close to official claim?
Hero Vida V1 was launched recently and has been quite a mixed bag as far as appeal goes. It is a commendable effort for sure, from the country’s largest 2W manufacturer. But will it meet the success which is generally expected from a Hero MotoCorp product, well we will have to wait and see. Especially when this is among their most expensive offering, at Rs. 1.7 lakh (on road, Bangalore, without FAME II subsidies).
Every single one of Hero MotoCorp’s rivals costs much less than Vida V1 Pro. That said, Vida V1 Pro offers a removable battery feature, which can very well be the deciding factor. None of the premium electric scooters from Ola, Ather, TVS and Bajaj offer a removable battery. This is a boon for people living in apartments or those who do not have access to charging facility in parking space.
Hero Vida V1 Pro Range Test
Hero claims 165 km of range for Vida V1 Pro and 143 km of range for Vida V1 Plus. Both the IDC range and real-world range vary vastly. For example, real-world range for Ola S1 Pro crossed 200 km with some users and 300 km with some, while claimed range is 180 km only. Thanks to YouTuber Pradeep On Wheels, we now have the first real-world range for Vida V1 Pro.
Pradeep ensured that both batteries on Hero Vida V1 Pro are charged to the max. He set off to test the range in Eco mode and maintained a top speed of 40 km/h. First 50 km of the ride was covered with just 38% of battery power with 62% left. At around 53% battery, Hero Vida V1 Pro covered 60 km of range.
At around 50% charge, Pradeep engaged cruise control and until then, manual throttle inputs were used. Cruise control was set to around 40 km/h top speed to extract maximum possible range from V1 Pro. By the time Pradeep covers 85 km, battery is at 36%. This is a strong indication that V1 Pro would cover over 100 km.
At around 30% battery, the total distance covered was 94 km. By the time 100 km mark was touched, battery hovered around 24%. This means that Hero Vida V1 Pro would cover 100 km of range from a single charge with 24% of battery on reserve. At this point, the onboard computer was showing a range of 25 km left with 24% battery.
At 110 km, one battery showed 13% charge and another battery showed 12% with 14 km DTE (Distance To Empty). Once battery is below 20%, V1 Pro switches to a conservative state where user can only choose between Eco and Ride modes. There is a low battery warning at 10% with both batteries.
What Happens At 5% Charge?
When Vida V1 Pro falls below 5% charge, it automatically goes into limp home mode where top speed is capped at 10 km/h. Pradeep extracted 120 km before going into this mode. From 5% to dead, Hero Vida V1 Pro covered 1.8 km. Pradeep’s effective real-world range of V1 Pro with a total of 3.94 kWh battery pack is 121.8 km. This is nowhere close to the official claim of 165 kms. Especially considering that speed was maintained below 40 km/h throughout the ride. With higher speeds, range would have dropped drastically.
But that does not mean Hero electric scooter cannot do 165 kms or more on a single charge. Range depends on a lot of factors including weather, road condition, etc. In addition, with more users getting on road with the Hero Vida e-scooter, there will be more data available to Hero engineers. This will help Hero MotoCorp to optimise software and Battery Management System via future OTA software updates. That will not only increase range, but also the performance of Vida electric scooter.
