Surge S32 Electric Scooter And Three Wheeler Hybrid Unveiled: Image Gallery

Although it's a convertible both the scooter and 3-wheeler feature different powertrains

Surge Automobiles, a Hero-owned startup has unveiled the Surge S32 a first of its kind electric scooter and three wheeler hybrid. Designed with easy convertibility in mind, the e-scooter can be converted to a three wheeler and vice versa in 3 minutes according to the manufacturer. 

The Surge S32 includes a 3 wheeler without its front wheel. Instead it gets an e-scooter that slots into the three wheeler body and becomes its front wheel. This conversion process doesn’t require any special tools and is done through a simple manual operation.

The conversion process lifts the e-scooter’s rear wheel away from the ground and into the three wheeler platform. After which an electronic connector needs to be plugged in, this turns allows the scooter’s handlebar to control the three wheeler’s powertrain and brakes.

Coming to design, the S32 gets a typical commuter scooter design and features an apron mounted headlight, a wide floorboard and a split seat setup. The interesting thing is that the LED indicators at the front stick out from the handlebar cowl, something not usually seen on scooters. In the rear it comes with an LED tail light and a small pillion grabrail doesn’t stick out much from the rear seat making it easy to miss.

Underpinning wise, the e-scooter features twin shock absorbers in the front and twin shock absorbers in the rear which can be adjusted to slot the scooter into the 3 wheeler body. Brakes consist of a disc at front and drum in the rear.

The powertrain on both the scooter and 3 wheeler is different. The e-scooter comes with a 3.87kWh battery pack mated to a motor which produces a peak power of 6kW giving the e-scooter a top speed of 60kmph.

The three wheeler is offered in 3 different options, first is the S32 PV: An auto rickshaw. Then there are 3 other cargo carriers with different loadouts - the LD, HD and FB. The PV features a 9.675kWh battery pack mated to a motor that produces peak power of 8kW while the LD, HD and FB feature a slightly larger 11.617kWh battery pack mated to a motor that produces peak power of 10kW. 

Although the Surge S32 sounds quite promising there’s still a lot of things that are uncertain about this new hybrid. First of which is the high amount of moving parts that could create some complications or points of failure, and second is the issues with regards to the driving license required to operate the S32.