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Simple Wave Family Electric Scooter First Ride Review: Should You Hold Your Breath?
Family electric scooters are the flavour of the season for personal mobility in 2026. The latest to join the bandwagon is Simple Energy with its Wave electric scooter. Here's our first-ride review of the Simple Wave, where we find out what all the hype is about.
Amber Banerjee
Updated Sep 21, 2026, 08:11 PM IST
Simple Wave Electric Scooter First Ride Review
What is a family electric scooter, and how is it different from a regular scooter?
The difference comes down to usability and practicality. Today, a family electric scooter needs to be larger than a conventional scooter. It needs enough room to store two helmets under the seat, a battery that offers at least 100 km of range, and a design that appeals to riders of all age groups. It also needs to deliver all of this while remaining as sporty and nimble as a regular scooter.
As the segment continues to grow rapidly, Simple Energy enters the family scooter market with its first offering. The Simple Wave aims to tick all the right boxes with its spacious packaging, practical features, and family-friendly appeal. Here's what works well and what could be better about the Wave electric scooter.
Simple Wave Family Electric Scooter First Ride Review: Design
At first impression, it is clear that simplicity is the core focus of the Wave's design language. It features clean lines and sculpted surfaces, in contrast to the sharp, edgy designs we have seen earlier from the EV maker. Overall, it looks mature but not dull.
All LED lighting as standard.
The dual-pod LED headlamp setup looks fresh, and the DRL stretches across the width, giving the front a smiling appearance. The body panels are smooth, and the front fender features a dolphin-themed vinyl sticker at the lower end. The two nostril-like inlets on the top panel give a quirky appeal and also get LED indicators.
Seat Height: 775 mm - Ground Clearance: 175 mm
The floorboard is large enough to keep grocery bags in the middle of your feet. Simple has also thoughtfully added an ambient light that illuminates the floorboard area at night. The rear body panels showcase the scooter's extended length. The rear panels continue the clean and simple design but feature a pill-shaped insert that we will talk about in a moment.
The 920 mm long seat offers ample space for two and is well-cushioned. The 775 mm seat height gives easy access to a wide range of riders. Ground clearance is also ample at 175 mm.
Gets a floating-style grab handle.
The rear passenger grab handle has a floating design and looks cohesive with the scooter. The 12-inch diamond-cut alloy wheels look good too.
Simple Wave Family Electric Scooter First Ride Review: Storage
Storage space is a top priority for a family scooter, and it is a strong suit of the Wave. It has 70 litres of overall storage space. The front apron has cubby holes to keep small items handy. The under-seat area offers 63 litres of storage for larger items. Two half-face helmets will fit inside, but full-face helmets won't.
(Left) Underseat Storage - (Right) 'Pill' Storage
The 'Pill':
Additionally, Simple Energy has incorporated a hidden storage space behind the 'pill' shape on the rear panels. Operated from the key lock itself, the left-hand 'pill' opens up to reveal an additional 3 litres of storage. It is good for small items like an umbrella or small bags. While it may not solve an essential problem, it still makes for a thoughtful impression.
Simple Wave Family Electric Scooter First Ride Review: Variants
Simple Energy has launched the Wave in three variants across four different battery packs. The range starts with the Wave S, priced at Rs 1.10 lakh (ex-showroom) and equipped with a 2.2 kWh battery pack. Above it sits the Wave, which comes with a 3.7 kWh battery pack. At the top end, there is the Simple Wave Plus, which gets a 5 kWh battery pack and 243 km of claimed range.
Gets 3 variants and 4 battery pack options.
Deliveries of the Wave S and Wave Plus will begin sometime in 2027. During our tests, we rode the Simple Wave 3.7 kWh scooter that has an IDC-certified claimed range of 171 km. It is also priced at Rs 1.75 lakh (ex-showroom), which is significantly higher than the starting price of the Wave S.
Simple Wave Family Electric Scooter First Ride Review: Equipment
The Wave 3.7 kWh electric scooter has all the key ingredients on paper. It offers a 220 mm front disc brake as standard, along with a combined braking system called Grip SENSE. It gets traction control as well. The front gets telescopic forks, and the rear gets 5-step adjustable shock absorbers to handle different load-bearing requirements.
12-inch alloy wheels and front disc brake come as standard.
Simple Wave Family Electric Scooter First Ride Review: Performance
In terms of performance, the Wave electric scooter covers the basics well. The electric motor produces 6.4 kW (8.7 PS) of power. It also gives the Wave a 0-40 kmph time of 3.3 seconds. In our experience, that figure is achievable in Sport riding mode. Overall, the Wave gets four riding modes: EcoX, Eco, Ride and Sport.
Simple Wave 3.7 kWh version gets 4 riding modes.
Power in EcoX mode drops significantly and should be used for emergencies. Eco mode feels dull in its responses and works best in heavy traffic. The Ride mode feels very well balanced for both city speeds and short overtakes. The scooter feels noticeably faster in Sport mode and also fun to ride.
Interestingly, the drop in range from Eco mode to Sport mode wasn't drastic during our ride experience. The difference was 20 km in estimated range.
The combined braking system performs satisfactorily at higher speeds and feels sharp at lower speeds. However, the feedback was not progressive and felt wooden.
Suspension setup feels well-tuned over bad patches.
The suspension setup does a good job of soaking up bumps and jerks. It is stiff enough for carrying speeds between traffic, and overall it is not a department where the scooter leaves any room for complaint.
However, with two adults on board, the Wave struggles to climb a short hill section. It did make the climb after we disembarked the passenger and turned the scooter off and on. Even in Sport mode, the climb felt like a struggle for the scooter.
Simple Wave Family Electric Scooter First Ride Review: Features
The Simple Wave checks all important boxes in the tech and features department. It features a 7-inch TFT screen that has built-in maps. It includes all the essential connected features, such as live location sharing, theft and tow alerts, geofencing, and more.
Higher variants get a 7-inch TFT display.
Other important features include Super Hold (hill hold assist), Super Share (reverse assist), traction control, and over-the-air (OTA) updates.
Simple Wave Family Electric Scooter First Ride Review: Verdict
We tested the Simple Wave 3.7 kWh variant, which is priced at Rs 1.75 lakh (ex-showroom). For that price point, the scooter felt a little rough around the edges. The rear-view mirrors don't have a good field of view, and the body panels didn't align properly in some places.
The Simple Wave is a step in the right direction.
Perhaps it would be better to wait for the Simple Wave S variant, which offers the 2.2 kWh battery and 110 km (IDC-certified) range. At a starting price of Rs 1.10 lakh (ex-showroom), it could offer better value than the higher variants alongside acceptable compromises in the TFT display and the Sport riding mode. Additionally, by then, the fit and finish would have been better optimised for this new-generation scooter.
Overall, as of today, the Simple Wave puts forward a solid proposition, but it doesn't quite seal the deal. But somewhere in there is a very promising product that we are looking forward to in time to come.
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