Yrsa is Here and it’s Ready to Get Wet
One of the prime tenets of riding electric scooters is “don’t ride in the rain“. Water and electricity don’t mix. Most scooters have an IP54 environmental rating against water ingress, which translates to “don’t get it wet”. Our advice to our customers has always been “If you happen to get caught in the rain you’ll probably be OK, but if you know it’s going to be raining leave the scooter behind.” The reason is that most manufacturers, including ours, don’t cover damage from water ingress. With anything less than an IPX7 rating, water will find it’s way in if you give it a chance.
Water damage can be substantial too. The biggest concern is your battery, and not just because it’s the single most expensive component of your scooter. A surge or short-circuit from even a tiny amount of moisture contacting any connection where current from a 48V to 60V battery is flowing can be instantly fatal for your battery and/or controller.
Gradual uptake of moisture in the internal compartments of the scooter can cause corrosion of electrical components. The corroded elements have a raised resistance when current flows through them which leads to overheating and fire or carbonization which permanently damages the scooter.
Bottom line…for the vast majority of scooters, and anything with less than an IPX7 rating, you should not ride in the rain or right after it has rained.
As electric scooter enthusiasts living in the Pacific Northwest (otherwise known as the “wet coast”) this puts a major cramp in our style. It generally rains from non-stop to very frequently November to March (a small price to pay to not have to deal with snow!) For this reason we started looking for a truly waterproof electric scooter even before we opened up shop. After testing many, we found a model that truly met the challenge of being able to be ridden even in the rain. Introducing the Vig Yrsa!
Yrsa achieves an amazing IP68 rating on the battery and controller due to a clever design which isolates it from the rest of the scooter via a single watertight connector, which also makes the entire battery/controller module removable and swappable (helping to eliminate range anxiety). The rest of the scooter has an IP55 rating (except for the display and turn signals which carry an IP67 rating) which makes it adequate for riding through puddles without needing to worry about water damage.
We’re so confident that Yrsa performs well even in the rain (and we’ve been riding our test models consistently in wet weather for over a year) that we cover water damage under the warranty. If it gets damaged due to water ingress we’ll repair or replace it for free! This is the only electric scooter that we know about that offers this level of assurance.
Yrsa sits firmly in the “commuter” segment of scooters. It doesn’t possess the raw power of the Blade nor the ultra-smooth suspension and range of the Aesir, but it’s more portable—only 23kg with a simple, one-handed folding mechanism that also locks the stem in place when carrying. It’s 500W motor is capable enough at getting most people up most hills and cruising up to 40km/h.
Yrsa is an extremely low maintenance scooter, which is something that’s important to commuters (i.e. reliability). The 10″ tires are solid (honeycomb) rubber so will never get a flat. The brakes are sealed drum brakes, so are not exposed to water, dust or getting bang and bent.
Several safety features are present on Yrsa, including high-mount turn signals (integrated into the ends of the handlebars where they can be seen from in front and behind), a large rear-view mirror, LED lights and several reflectors for visibility, and an electronic horn.
Finally, like all Vig scooters, we haven’t forgotten about comfort and ergonomics. Dual front shock absorbers take the jolt out of bumps. Wide handlebars give greater control and our premium faux-leather grips with gel palm rests provide comfort. Large fenders keep water from splashing your pants when riding through puddles.
Yrsa is now is stock and ready to ship.