Rising tension: Test electric children's quad CFMoto CForce EV110

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E-drives have a hard time on the road in powersports: the speeds and therefore the energy required are too high for batteries to go very far. Although e-racing cars snort around the Nürburgring's 21 -kilometer Nordschleife in impressive times, you can already see the battery's power diminishing during their record lap. It's a short burst of fun, and Porsche will have to show how the concept performs on two-lane country roads in the next generation Cayman/Boxster. In the motorcycle market, things are looking bad: all electric motorcycles for the unlimited driving license [A] are making a massive loss.

The situation is much better in off-road sports. The generally lower top speeds and full load proportions place lower demands on the energy storage systems, meaning that a battery will probably soon be able to keep up with a tank over a motocross race distance, for example. This is when the perfectly controllable electric motor comes into its own. The situation looks even better in trial sports, and for children's powersports equipment, there is really only one thing that speaks against an electric drive: the higher price. We take a look at CFMoto's electric CForce EV110, which is aimed at children and young people aged 10 to 17.

Techno mania

Every children's quad bike needs a throttle so that parents can protect differently gifted and experienced offspring from getting carried away while learning. CFMoto has come up with a very technical solution for the EV110 (and also for the petrol 110): there is a Bluetooth fob that is already paired to the vehicle. You then connect it to your smartphone and the "CFMoto Youth" app. There you set the top speed and only there can you activate the open power, with which the vehicle can reach 45 km/h. This worked, albeit with a few error messages, but I understand the criticism of many fathers, which is that CFMoto replaces a simple throttle stop screw with a bunch of complex technology with dozens of possible error points and costs. In the test later with the children, for example, the Bluetooth fob did not work despite being charged. Perhaps the key in the trouser pocket had pressed the button until the battery was empty? Hard to check.

However, the whole technology is not entirely in vain, because CFMoto allows the maximum distance between transmitter and vehicle to be set via Bluetooth, so that children cannot drive away from their parents. The vehicle starts to beep when it leaves the set distance and slows down before coming to a complete stop. Meanwhile, the app constantly displays the approximate distance to the vehicle, which can thus be triangulated. There is an "SOS" button on the speedometer unit. When pressed, the vehicle beeps and the app sends a notification. I imagine the geofencing function to be useful in some possible practice areas, but the majority of users will hardly need it. In addition to the setting options in the app, there is a slider on the handlebars that switches between a slow mode "E" (-economy) and "S" (-port). This will be enough for most parents if their children have ridden a quad bike before.

More testers than usual

Luckily for me, there are experienced quad riders living down the road from me, two boys aged 10 and 11 and two girls aged 15 and 17. Their father regularly mows a small track for them in the meadow behind the barn, where they ride Yamaha PW80s or a small noname petrol quad. The track is very easy, clean through the grass and leads over two ramps with an estimated gradient of just under 17 percent. On the inclines, it was noticeable that the quad (depending on the child's weight) had too little torque on the rear wheel to get going. You have to drive up with momentum, which works on the Scheinenwiesen Motodrom, but would not be smart everywhere. Just think of the pull paths with drop-offs.

The electric motor goes directly onto a sprocket and that onto the chainring. It would therefore be relatively easy to shorten the final gear ratio by using a larger chainring or a smaller sprocket. You hardly need the 45 km/h even on the meadow. Climbing ability, on the other hand, would require considerably more. The manual states somewhat bizarrely that riding up hills is "forbidden" and that if you do it, you have to stop at a gradient of 10  degrees. This corresponds to a gradient of 17.6 percent. This is probably the case with a full battery and a small child. For the older children weighing over 60 kg, the end was around 15 percent. The drive therefore taught the children to carry momentum.

All testers praised the well-balanced chassis and the smooth, easy-to-operate thumb lever for the power. The track width created confidence in the fast bends in the grass. The ergonomics suited everyone, with the limiting element being the length of the lower leg. It was still a good fit for the 17-year-old. For another tall 15-year-old boy, the knee and handlebars got in the way. Adults who move the quad (e.g. to load it onto the trailer) feel the same way. Like Zero, CFMoto releases the full power when the battery is fully charged, which shows the same downside: You notice how the battery power drops. At 40 percent SoC at the latest, it became tough on the ramps, said the smallest test rider despite his weight of only around 35 kg.

Good, but expensive and with weaknesses

I let the children run down the battery, which confirmed that two or three hours of fun are easily possible on such easy terrain. I recharged the battery at 20 percent SoC and 19.5 kilometers according to the trip counter. As is usual with small powersports devices, the charger is external so that it doesn't add any weight to the vehicle. The DC plug on the EV110 is connected where the fuel filler cap is on the 110.

According to the manufacturer, the DC charging power is 550 W, the charger draws up to 680 W from the AC mains, so it is probably not particularly efficient. The gross measurements confirm this: 13.3 kWh per 100 km. Good idea: the 2.4 kWh battery can be removed from under the seat in two easy steps and carried into the house on its carrying handle. The charging connection on the battery is the same as on the vehicle's charging plug, it is just extended from there by cable. This allows the battery to be charged indoors and also protects it from excessively high storage temperatures.

Despite the advantages, many parents are more likely to opt for the petrol engine in the 110. Depending on the dealer, it costs 1000 euros less, sometimes the difference is so great that the EV110 costs almost twice as much. Since the little bit of gasoline is not the cost driver, the e-quad can hardly recoup these costs. If it can't get up inclines that its gasoline brother chugs up slowly but steadily, it will be difficult to find arguments for the e-quad. I would wait and see. CFMoto also owes its success in the ATV market to listening. It doesn't need a new generation, very simple changes to the final drive ratio and pricing are enough.