Lambretta’s sleek new electric scooter is sexy, but repeats Vespa’s big mistake
Lambretta, an icon of retro-inspired scooter design, showed off a stylish electric model at the EICMA 2023 Milan Motorcycle Show. The new model, known as the Lambretta Elettra, mixes vintage vibes with the latest electric vehicle technology.
Lambretta’s name has long invoked a certain style and nostalgia in the scooter world. Originating in Italy in the late 1940s, Lambretta became synonymous with European chic and post-war mobility.
Lambretta scooters were not just a means of transportation but often times a fashion statement among the youth of that era. Over the decades that Lambretta has evolved, the brand has maintained its classic aesthetics. Now, that same design ethos is on full display with the newly unveiled Lambretta Elettra.
I had the chance to see the new model up close at the show, and it’s quite impressive how the company managed to channel its legacy designs into a futuristic offering. The entire rear bodywork even tilts up to allow access to the mechanicals underneath.
Lambretta also did a great job with the specs, eschewing the trend for slower urban scooters by offering a top speed of up to 110 km/h (68 mph), meaning this would be a highway-capable scooter – even if it spends most of its time in the city.
To achieve that speed, the Lambretta Elettra uses a fairly powerful 11 kW (15 hp) electric motor, giving it powerful acceleration and a higher top speed than many other models on the market.
To supply that power, the scooter uses a fairly large 4.6 kWh lithium battery, though it appears the company has made a similar design move as its rival Vespa in opting for a single non-removable battery.
Most electric scooters have multiple smaller removable batteries that allow riders to charge the batteries remotely from the scooter. But when Vespa first launched its Vespa Elettrica scooter, it used a single non-removable battery. A built-in coiled charging cord allowed owners to charge the scooter as long as they were within reach of an outlet. That works fine in a garage or with street-level charging stations, but not for apartment dwellers who lack a place to charge. As it so happens, those are the majority of urban residents in many European cities.
Lambretta has now followed a similar move to Vespa, outfitting the Lambretta Elettra with a single fixed battery.
Piaggio, the parent company of Vespa, eventually followed normal conventions by releasing the Piaggio ONE electric scooter and its removable batteries several years after the release of the original Vespa Elettrica.
In this case, the 4.6 kWh battery in the Lambretta Elettra is somewhat larger than most removable battery electric scooters, but not by much. My first NIU electric scooter had a 4.2 kWh battery divided into two removable units, allowing me to charge the batteries up in my apartment while the scooter stayed on street level.
Lambretta says it plans to bring its new electric scooter to production, so it looks like the brand’s first model will stick with fixed batteries – at least for now. But it wouldn’t be surprising to see subsequent models follow in Piaggio’s footsteps by eventually incorporating removable batteries.
As for when exactly we’ll be able to ride around on an electric Lambretta or how much the experience will cost us, those details still remains a mystery.
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![Day 1 of the Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix 2025 [Gallery]](https://i0.wp.com/electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/07/54629423281_6315c46dff_k.jpg?resize=1200,628&quality=82&strip=all&ssl=1)
Today was the official start of racing at the Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix 2025! There was a tremendous energy (and heat) on the ground at NCM Motorsports Park as nearly a dozen teams took to the track. Currently, as of writing, Stanford is ranked #1 in the SOV (Single-Occupant Vehicle) class with 68 registered laps. However, the fastest lap so far belongs to UC Berkeley, which clocked a 4:45 on the 3.15-mile track. That’s an average speed of just under 40 mph on nothing but solar energy. Not bad!
In the MOV (Multi-Occupant Vehicle) class, Polytechnique Montréal is narrowly ahead of Appalachian State by just 4 laps. At last year’s formula sun race, Polytechnique Montréal took first place overall in this class, and the team hopes to repeat that success. It’s still too early for prediction though, and anything can happen between now and the final day of racing on Saturday.
Congrats to the teams that made it on track today. We look forward to seeing even more out there tomorrow. In the meantime, here are some shots from today via the event’s wonderful photographer Cora Kennedy.
Stay tuned for more!
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The numbers are in and they are all bad for Tesla fans – the company sold just 5,000 Cybertruck models in Q4 of 2025, and built some 30% more “other” vehicles than it delivered. It just gets worse and worse, on today’s tension-building episode of Quick Charge!
We’ve also got day 1 coverage of the 2025 Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix, reports that the Tesla Optimus program is in chaos after its chief engineer jumps ship, and a look ahead at the fresh new Hyundai IONIQ 2 set to bow early next year, thanks to some battery specs from the Kia EV2.
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Tesla has launched its new Oasis Supercharger, the long-promised EV charging station of the future, with a solar farm and off-grid batteries.
Early in the deployment of the Supercharger network, Tesla promised to add solar arrays and batteries to the Supercharger stations, and CEO Elon Musk even said that most stations would be able to operate off-grid.
While Tesla did add solar and batteries to a few stations, the vast majority of them don’t have their own power system or have only minimal solar canopies.
Back in 2016, I asked Musk about this, and he said that it would now happen as Tesla had the “pieces now in place” with Supercharger V3, Powerpack V2, and SolarCity:
All of these pieces have been in place for years, and Tesla has now discontinued the Powerpack in favor of the Megapack. The Supercharger network is also transitioning to V4 stations.
Yet, solar and battery deployment haven’t accelerated much in the decade since Musk made that comment, but it is finally happening.
Last year, Tesla announced a new project called ‘Oasis’, which consists of a new model Supercharger station with a solar farm and battery storage enabling off-grid operations in Lost Hills, California.
Tesla has now unveiled the project and turned on most of the Supercharger stalls:
The project consists of 168 chargers, with half of them currently operational, making it one of the largest Supercharger stations in the world. However, that’s not even the most notable aspect of it.
The station is equipped with 11 MW of ground-mounted solar panels and canopies, spanning 30 acres of land, and 10 Tesla Megapacks with a total energy storage capacity of 39 MWh.
It can be operated off-grid, which is the case right now, according to Tesla.
With off-grid operations, Tesla was about to bring 84 stalls online just in time for the Fourth of July travel weekend. The rest of the stalls and a lounge are going to open later this year.
Electrek’s Take
This is awesome. A bit late, but awesome. This is what charging stations should be like: fully powered by renewable energy.
Unfortunately, it will be much harder to open those stations in the future due to legislation that Trump and the Republican Party have just passed, which removes incentives for solar and energy storage, adds taxes on them, and removes incentives to build batteries – all things that have helped Tesla considerably over the last few years.
The US is likely going to have a few tough years for EV adoption and renewable energy deployment.
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