Best budget e-scooters of 2024 to supercharge your scooting

Best for: Sheer style, smooth ride

For reasons both practical and obvious, all e-scooters look alike. Two wheels, a deck, a steering column and handlebars – everything that’s essential and nothing that isn’t. However, the latest model to roll off Yadea’s considerable production line, the Artist, has a certain style all of its own that helps it stand out from the rest of the e-scooter swarm. It’s slim, slick, sexy and futuristic and yet… there’s also an absolutely undeniable feel of the Sinclair C5 about it (the C5 being the pedal-assisted electric tricycle car created by British inventor Clive Sinclair back in 1985 with the intention of spearheading a revolution in personal transport).

But where the C5 ultimately failed, the Artist’s place on the winners’ e-podium seems assured. Straight out of the box, easy to assemble with just a power connection to be made between the steering column and the handlebars, followed by a handful of screws used to secure the two, the Artist charges to full in 4.5 to 5.5-hours, which then gives it enough juice to cover a maximum range of 18.6-miles, while carrying a load of up to 110kg.

A decidedly comfortable ride, too, the Artist features nicely sized 9-inch anti-skidding tubeless tyres, front and rear dual suspension shock absorbers and a pleasingly padded deck, the combination ensuring the worst of the bumps and vibrations don’t hit your knees and back. Meanwhile a front drum brake and rear electric brake work in tandem to allow for quick but controlled braking, so that you don’t end up being hurled through the air on your way to toothchipper land every time you stop.

Featuring a powerful 600W (peak) motor and three-speed modes, you can cruise at a relaxing 3.7mph, up the ante to 9.3mph if you’re in more of a hurry, or open her up and top-out at 15.5mph, all of which can be accessed and set via Bluetooth on the Yadea smartphone app. Speaking of which, very intuitive to use, you can also lock and unlock the Artist via said app and set some personal preferences.

As the UK is a wildly unpredictable place when it comes to atmospheric conditions, the IPX5-rated Artist shrugs off damp weather, so you can even pootle about in heavy rain, all the while keeping an eye on speed and battery level on the handy handlebar-centred multifunction LED display.

With LED lights front and rear so that you can ‘be safe, be seen’, as the Road Safety slogan goes, and blinking indicators on the handle ends so other road users know where you’re heading next, the Yadea Artist may be the heaviest of the e-scooters I’ve looked at here, and at 18.6kg, yes, it’s got some substance to it, but then it is utterly tricked-out with everything possible to give the safest, smoothest, most stylish e-scooter experience available. And that’s exactly what it does, so get building those biceps… even if ‘leg days’ are now a thing of the past completely.

• Peak power: 600W
• Max speed: 15.5mph
• Max load: 110kg
• Battery: 7.65Ah
• Range: 18.6-miles
• Tyres: 9-inch anti-skidding tubeless
• Unfolded dimensions: 121 x 57.5 x 118cm (H x W x L)
• Folded dimensions: 53 x 57.5 x 118cm (H x W x L)
• Weight: 18.6kg