EMOVE RoadRunner V3 Review

The EMOVE RoadRunner V3 gives us all the upgrades we’ve wanted: more power, rear suspension, and even optional pedals that turn this 35+ mph seated electric scooter into a hybrid scooter/ebike.

EMOVE RoadRunner V3 – $1695

What if there was an e-bike that went more than 35 miles per hour, had more than 30 miles of real-world range, and a thousand watts of nominal power from dual motors? Well, this is the E-Move Roadrunner V3, the third generation of our favorite seated scooter, and it does all those things.

Is it an e-bike? Not really. There are meaningful differences between the EMOVE Roadrunner V3 and an e-bike, and we’ll get more into that later. But the important part is I think it could pass for one when you really need it to. There are now optional pedals, and they’ll actually move you forward, and if you get pulled over, you can always point to them and say, “Hey, it’s an e-bike!”

The EMOVE RoadRunner now has two 500-Watt motors. That’s a big step up from the earlier version, which has 500W in the back and 350W in the front. It’s also got longer-wearing tubeless tires, a high-quality swappable battery, a more comfortable seat, and an update we’ve all been waiting for: dual spring shocks and a swing arm in the back.

The added suspension really smooths out the ride and makes it easier to customize if you want to go crazy with more power and a longer swing arm. In our review, we test the new Roadrunner V3 against the Roadrunner V2 to find out how much faster it is and how much better it rides.

Who Is This Scooter For?

The RoadRunner V3 is very different from a regular electric scooter. It’s very fast, yet so relaxing to ride because of the way you interact with it and the smooth throttle response. It’s also very accessible, because the 28-and-a-half inch high seat means that anyone of any height can ride it. 

I feel like there have always been kind of two things holding people back from buying earlier RoadRunners. One was the lack of rear suspension. The other was that potential riders were afraid of getting hassled by police for not having pedals. Now Voro Motors has solved both those problems. 

EMOVE RoadRunner V3 Specs

Our Full Video Review

EMOVE RoadRunner V3: Performance

Top Speed

The previous version, the EMOVE Roadrunner V2, went 35.4 miles per hour. The top speed of the EMOVE Roadrunner V3 is a satisfying 36.4 mph, one mph faster than older model and a mile-and-a-half faster than the manufacturer spec.

Oddly, the V3 didn’t actually feel faster than the previous version when I was out on my speed run because this thing is so smooth. It’s a deceptively fast ride.

Acceleration

The acceleration of the EMOVE Roadrunner V3, however, is much quicker. In our tests, the scooter went from zero to 30 mph in 14.4 seconds, versus the earlier model’s time of 18.0 seconds.

The motor specs have improved from 500 Watts in the rear and 350 in the front to 500 Watts a piece. And they use 20 amp controllers. So by my calculations, that puts the peak power of the RoadRunner V3 north of 2000 watts.

Hill Climb

The EMOVE RoadRunner V3 beat the V2 up our test hill by 1.7 seconds, reaching the top in 11.1 seconds. The scooter accelerated smoothly all the way up the hill, with just a little wheel spin at the bottom.

Braking

Every version of the EMOVE RoadRunner uses the same X-Tech semi-hydraulic brakes we find on the EMOVE Cruiser. They have cables from the brake levers down to the calipers. Then then calipers are hydraulic.

The advantage of semi-hydraulics is they push evenly on both sides of the disc. You don’t get the full hydraulic power, but in some ways it’s the best of both worlds between hydraulic and mechanical brakes because you don’t have to bleed them.

Our tested braking distance for the EMOVE RoadRunner V3 was 10.2 feet from 15 mph, a minuscule improvement on the V2’s tested 10.4 feet.

Range

On the ESG range test course, I rode the EMOVE RoadRunner V3 32.8 miles from full charge until it stopped going. That’s 2.2 miles farther than the EMOVE RoadRunner V2

Range per dollar, the EMOVE RoadRunner V3 is exceptional, especially if you ignore its cousin, the EMOVE Cruiser. If you want to go even further on a single charge, you can pick up a spare battery for $550 and carry it in a backpack, since it only weighs 15 pounds.

Ride Quality

The tubeless tires and dual wheel drive help with some truly excellent cornering. On an electric scooter, you have to be careful not to lose traction on the front end. A seated scooter like this with larger diameter wheels has less torque, so it kind of just pulls you around the corners.

One thing about this form factor: I feel like people aren’t that nice to scooter riders. In my experience, car drivers and pedestrians don’t really like us that much, but everyone likes bicycles, so I feel like I get treated a little better when I’m riding this than when I’m riding a standup scooter.

Of course, you know, the big change is the rear shocks, which makes the ride as relaxed as it could possibly be. Around town, the EMOVE RoadRunner V3 is really delivering car replacement type transportation.

If we’re talking Roadrunner V2 versus Roadrunner V3, there’s really no contest. The Roadrunner V3 has suspension, it’s got more power, it’s got a higher top speed and better grips.

What about the EMOVE Roadrunner V3 versus an e-bike? Well, I’m picking this over an ebike any day. It’s got two hub motors, it’s got way higher top speed, tons of range, and even full suspension.

Also, as I note below, even with the optional drivetrain and pedals, this isn’t really comparable to an ebike in any way.

EMOVE RoadRunner V3: Design, Build & Reliability

Reliability is not as high as I expected, coming out to 7.4 out of 10. It’s pulled down by a lack of UL listing for the battery, even though it’s made from high quality Dynavolt cells.

Reliability is also pulled down by the fact that it doesn’t come with an IP rating, although maker Voro Motors says that it’s okay to ride in light rain. The score is pulled up by tubeless tires, ample parts availability on the Voro website, and a swappable battery. Warranty is more or less what you’d expect – one year on all major parts.

Let’s talk portability. The RoadRunner V3 is already smaller than most e-bikes, even some folding e-bikes. It gets even smaller when you fold the handlebars, and it gets narrower because it’s really easy to take the pegs off with your hands.

I should, however, really call out on the weight discrepancy. The spec for the V2 was 55 pounds, but the ESG tested weight of the V2 was 63.4. The V3 weighs in at 77.8 pounds, but it gets 15 pounds lighter, of course, if you take the battery out.

If we look at the handlebars, the adjustability is huge. You get quite a bit of stem height you can adjust. You can position it from full-on cafe racer all the way to fully upright, which is the way I like to ride. Moving from hands to feet, I should point out that while we’ve called this a seated scooter, it’s technically not a scooter because scooters are required to have decks.

Yes, to meet the technical definition of a scooter, the RoadRunner would have to have a deck, and this has foot pegs. But that also makes it nicer to ride when you’re sitting down. The big wheels that give you more stability, and the long seat lets you move to the best position. The pegs also give you a wide stance to help control the lean of the scooter as you take corners.

To Pedal Or Not to Pedal?

The RoadRunner V3 offers optional pedals and drivetrain for 50 bucks, so you can pretend you’ve got an e-bike. These work, but they are really more for show because if you look at the throw of the cranks, it’s tiny. You’re not going to be able to put a ton of forward motion into this, and it’s only got one one speed.

Other reasons this is not an ebike: there’s no cadence sensor, so it’s not going to engage the motor when you pedal; there is no torque sensor, so it doesn’t know how hard you’re pushing on the pedals; the throttle and pedals are really not connected to each other at all. The reason you’d want to have the pedals is really just to pass for an e-bike.

Reasons you might not want to have them is they do make it a little bit heavier. You lose this side-by-side foot control that you had for leaning into corners. And then also you lose a little bit of ground clearance. If your pedal is down and you’re going around a corner, you’re going to ground out a bit earlier than you would with the conventional pegs.

EMOVE RoadRunner V3: Is It Worth It? Our Verdict

Okay, so we’ve established that it’s not, technically, a scooter since it has pegs instead of a deck. It’s also not quite an ebike, for reasons stated just above. Voro Motors calls it “the world’s first electric scooter bike hybrid,” which is not a phrase I’d use if I got pulled over.

On the plus side, if you have the pedals installed, no one’s going to bat an eye if you call it an ebike. My experience of riding RoadRunners around town over the years, even without pedals, is that cops hardly even notice it, and drivers tend to give me more respect than when I’m on a standing scooter.

The RoadRunner V3 is $200 or $300 more expensive than the standard V2, and you can get a standup scooter that’s faster for about the same price. But when I’m riding scooters, I almost never find myself riding faster than 35 miles per hour anyway, so I don’t really miss the ability to go 40 miles an hour. 

What I love are the compactness and the comfort of the RoadRunner. Those qualities, plus the long range, relatively high speeds, and swappable battery are why pretty much every generation of EMOVE Roadrunner has been one of my favorite rides here at ESG since the beginning.

The RoadRunner V3 adds improvements in all the right places, addressing nearly all the rider concerns about the V2, without adding too much weight or cost. We would like to see the next edition come with a UL Certification and IP Rating, but, hey, perfect shouldn’t be the enemy of pretty great.