Quick Look

The XR Elite Commuting Electric Scooter is the latest iteration of GoTrax scooters built specifically for commuting in and around towns and cities. With a range of special features that make this a perfect scooter for city and night riding, the XR Elite is a great solution for anyone who is looking to reduce their public transportation usage and starting scooting to work instead. As the global pandemic is encouraging more people to rethink how they’re getting to work, now is a great time to invest in an electric scooter! The XR Elite is a simple, stylish electric scooter with good battery life and more than enough power to get you where you need to go.

Quick Specs

36v Battery 7.8AH
300 Watt Avg
18.6 miles per charge
15.5 mph top speed
5″ Air-filled tires
Size – 43.3″ x 17.1″ x 14.6″
Weight of the scooter – 31.88lbs / 14.46Kg
Max Rider Weight – 220lbs / 100Kg
Waterproof Rating – IP54

Features

The GoTrax XR Elite Commuting Electric Scooter has 8.5-inch tires, that arrive pre-inflated up to the recommended 50 PSI, giving you a smooth ride right out of the box. The inflatable tires are perfect for city riding and provide a good amount of suspension over bumpy and uneven roads. They can be a little hard to inflate but we didn’t have any problems with punctures and they were tougher than we expected.

Standing on the scooter, the deck gives off a spacious feel and has a large grippy texture. The scooter is perfect for larger riders with bigger feet and the weight of the scooter is beneath you giving the scooter a better center of gravity and making the steering more responsive. This scooter has placed the battery in the deck instead of the tiller, which creates a more stable feeling. The battery is replaceable, with Gotrax selling replacement batteries online soon, but you can’t interchange the batteries, which means you have to use the ones they provide for this model.

The XR Elite has a dual braking system with both electronic brakes and caliper brakes, which are very responsive and reliable, even at top speeds, which is great for dealing with lots of other traffic. We also like that GoTrax put the brake cables through a hole in the tiller creating a smooth and defined look with all the cables neatly encased.

The scooter weighs 31.8 lbs, which makes it lightweight enough to carry up and down flights of stairs or on to the bus. It’s not quite light enough to make it easy to carry over long-distances, and the folding mechanism is quite cumbersome, so you don’t want to be folding and unfolding the scooter often. The folding mechanism is fairly intuitive, but you do need two hands to make it work and you might occasionally get hit in the head with the handlebars. It just takes a little bit of practice to get right!

There is a highly responsive throttle that again, is great for city riding. We like the built-in cruise control mechanism that kicks-in automatically if it detects a constant speed for more than 10 seconds. We found that even at slower speeds the cruise control recognizes your speed. As always, breaking cancels the cruise-control so you aren’t stuck at a speed that’s too fast. The LCD screen is really bright, and we had no problem reading the screen even in the sunshine. Its a nice simple, intuitive display as well.

Design and Build Quality

The GoTrax XR Elite Commuting Electric Scooter has been designed with the commuter in mind, using lots of safety features. GoTrax has also included grippy handlebars and a great platform. The scooter has a waterproof rating of IP54 so you can ride through puddles and light rain, but we wouldn’t recommend riding in a heavy rainstorm or submerging the scooter in water.

When it comes to colors, GoTrax has kept it simple, using an all-black paint job with its distinctive black and white logo. We like that the color scheme is simple, and it makes it appropriate to take into meetings and the office. The XR Elite Commuting scooter comes with 6 reflectors, with large reflectors on the front, back, and sides. For our taste the reflectors stand out a little too much and are not as sleek as they could be, but again, this is a matter of personal taste. Considering this is a scooter for commuters, we appreciate the inclusion of many reflectors.

There is also a strong front light capable of illuminating the road for up to 15 feet in front of you. You can turn on the front and backlight simultaneously using the LCD dashboard.

Performance and Range

The 300w motor gives this scooter more power than other comparable GoTrax scooters. The scooter will travel up to 18 miles on one charge, and we found that to be pretty consistent across different sized riders and different routes. As with most electric scooters, the range will depend a lot on your weight and the terrain that you’re riding on, as well as how steep the hills are that you’re climbing. We would always recommend riding on the pavement or paved streets with the XR Elite as the scooter isn’t really built for going off-road. The 36V 7.8aH lithium battery is temperature resistant, short-circuit resistant, and is protected from overcharging, so the battery should last for at least two years.

What We Like About the XR Elite

We love that this scooter has been purpose-built for commuters. We know that there will be lots of riders out there looking for a scooter they can enjoy on the weekends, and while the XR Elite is certainly a joy to ride, it really comes into its own on the way to and from work.

The integrated, super-bright head and tail lights, as well as the reflectors, make it safe to ride at night, and the responsive dual-braking system means you aren’t worried about the brakes failing.

The top speed of 15.5 miles works really well for keeping up with bike traffic but not being so fast that you’re dangerous to bikes, cars, and yourself.

We also loved the new position of the battery. Putting it under the deck gives the entire scooter a better feel and it makes it much easier to ride because you aren’t dealing with heavy handlebars.

What We Don’t Like About the XR Elite

The folding mechanism continues to be a challenging topic for most electric scooter manufacturers, and so it is with the GoTrax Elite. You must use one hand to pull out the safety bolt and the other hand to pull the lever, which means there is no hand left to perform the actual folding, resulting in a bit of a cumbersome folding process.

Also we would have loved to see, as with previous models, 2 gears (Eco/Normal), but the XR elite comes only with 1 gear. However the transmission still works smoothly, so that is not that big of an issue.

We also thought the reflectors could have been a little more streamlined or painted on rather than stuck to the sides, but this is a matter of design and definitely keeps you safe at night!

Final Thoughts

Overall the GoTrax XR Elite Commuting Electric Scooter is great for daily riding to and from work and comes with sufficient power and range, bright lights, many reflectors, and responsive brakes that will keep you safe on your daily commute. This is a great first electric scooter before buying something more powerful, but it’s such great value for money we’d recommend it even to more experienced riders. If you’re looking to avoid public transportation as people starting going back to work amidst a pandemic, and you’re traveling under 20 miles roundtrip, we can’t think of a better electric scooter that is more suitable for your commute.

Check the latest price on the GoTrax Website.

Use Coupon Code “5Elite” for 5% off!!

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