EVOLV Tour XL Plus Review

EVOLV Tour XL Plus Review

Performance Summary

Acceleration (0 to 15 mph)	4.5 seconds
Acceleration (0 to 20 mph)	7.2 seconds
Acceleration (0 to 25 mph)	12.3 seconds
Top speed	29.8 mph
Braking distance (15 to 0 mph)	13.4 feet
Range	21.1 miles
Hill climb	13.4 seconds

Acceleration

The XL Plus has zippy low-end acceleration, meaning you will feel some torque as soon as you pull the throttle. The throttle on the XL Plus is responsive. By this, we mean the time between squeezing the throttle control and feeling the motors activate. There’s little to no lag time between pulling the trigger and feeling the XL Plus accelerate. 

In our ESG certified acceleration test, The XL Plus took 4.5 seconds to reach 15 mph and 12.3 seconds to hit 25 mph. For a first-time rider, this will feel like a pretty quick jump from zero to speed but isn’t as quick as dual-motor beasts of its size. 

The XL Plus is powered by a rear 600 watt motor (1200 watt peak) and is a little noisy when launching, but quiets down as you reach higher speeds. 

For comparison, the XL Plus is quicker than the typical shared scooter, like the Xiaomi M365, which reaches 15 mph in 6.3 seconds.

Hill Climb

The Tour XL Plus is a solid hill climber. All scooters under review are ridden up a 200-foot, 10% grade hill by a 165 lb rider. The XL Plus completed this ESG certified hill climb test in 13.4 seconds with an average speed of 10.4 mph. 

To give some context, the average shared scooter would climb the hill in 17 to 20 seconds with average speeds of 6 mph to 8 mph. 

Compare with other scooters on our performance page.

Top Speed

The Tour XL Plus had a very stout ESG certified top speed of 29.8 mph, which is comparable with the fastest scooters in its class. This will give urban commuters more than enough speed. For comparison, the average shared scooter is limited to about 16 mph.

Range

The XL Plus has an ESG certified range of 21.1 miles at an average of 18 mph thanks to its LG-branded 874 watt hour Li-ion battery. 

All scooters are range tested by a 165 lb rider along the same urban loop with frequent starts and stops, rough terrain and hills. It is ridden as quickly as is safe and in the scooter’s fastest (least energy conserving) mode. 

The XL Plus has comparable range to similarly priced scooters, like the Zero 9 and Inokim Ox. 

Learn more about our extensive ESG certification tests.

Braking

When it comes to stopping power for electric scooters, anything under 15 feet is excellent. The XL Plus has a 15 mph braking distance of 13.4 feet, an amazing result. 

It has dual disc brakes, which (along with drum brakes) are the safest, most powerful and most reliable type of brake. The XL Plus has cable-controlled disc brakes as opposed to semi-hydraulic or hydraulic, meaning that the lever you squeeze physically moves the cable to engage the brakes. These types of brakes tend to take more effort to activate and feel less linear than hydraulic disc brakes, which are the most premium.

The Tour XL Plus also features electronic braking, which slows the scooter through the motor without applying the disc brakes. To apply e-brakes as you’re riding, pull slightly on the brake levers and you’ll feel the scooter slow down. Electronic braking strength can be adjusted via the LCD display from disabled all the way up to maximum, which provides significant braking.

Ride Quality

With large pneumatic tires and dual suspension, the XL Plus has good ride quality. Also, the larger than average deck, which gives the rider more options for standing positions, really improves ride comfort. 

With stiff front and rear suspension and handlebars that are taller and wider than most electric scooters, it’ll easily come down off a curb while accommodating heavier riders. The XL Plus feels grounded and balanced, and it performs well on smooth roads. However, on rough roads the ride quality suffers due to the stiffness of the suspension.

EVOLV Tour XL Plus Features

Portability

The Tour XL Plus weighs 51 lbs, teetering over the edge of the 50 lb limit for what we would consider as “portable” electric scooters. Lifting and carrying this size on occasion for many will be doable, but the XL Plus is not a scooter that you’ll want to carry up flights of stairs or have to lift regularly every day.

The folding mechanism on the XL Plus is an exceptional and unique design we haven’t seen before. It is quick and easy to use and one of the best we’ve seen. You can easily pull the sturdy handle to bring the scooter from folded to resting and fully opened positions. When unfolding, you can feel and hear the mechanism lock into place. One minor problem: if you don’t pull hard enough as you’re unfolding, you may end up with the stem in the resting position rather than the fully opened position. 

Although not the lightest, some other features improve the portability of the XL Plus. It has screw-in folding handlebars and the interior telescoping stem is squared off, so it won’t rotate inside making your handlebars off-center as can happen with rounded stems. 

The Tour XL Plus is 40 inches long by 7 inches wide and 42 inches tall. The folded dimensions are 48 inches by 9 inches by 15 inches.

Cockpit

The XL Plus has an index finger trigger throttle, much like a EY3 LCD throttle, and hand lever-operated brakes. The hard rubber handle grips have set screws that prevent them from turning as you’re riding and feel ultra durable. The handlebars are wider than most electric scooters and the stem has an adjustable height from 30.0 inches to a maximum of 40.2 inches—one of the tallest deck to handlebars heights we’ve seen. 

Although we really like the cockpit, the screw-in folding handlebars have a tendency to loosen while riding. The right handlebar came loose pretty quickly during the range test after riding for only a few minutes. This is a common occurrence in this type of mechanism and annoying, but not a safety hazard.

On the left handlebar are button controls for the lights and a loud horn.

Over the right handlebar, the LCD cockpit display provides speed, mode, time and battery readouts. It also retains your mode settings, so you don’t have to reset every time you power on and off. 

To access the P-settings, start with the scooter powered off, then hold down on the power and mode buttons simultaneously.

Lights

The Tour XL Plus comes with a front headlight, button-sized deck lights and a rear tail light. The deck lights illuminate acrylic tubes on either side of the deck. To turn on the front and rear lights, push the light button. To activate the deck lights, long-press the mode button on the LCD display. 

When braking, the deck lights—not the rear tail light—blink. Because the rear deck lights are partially covered by the suspension, it may be difficult to see the blinking during the day. 

All lights are low-mounted, meaning that you will want additional lights, especially if you are riding around a lot at night.

 Read our complete guide to staying visible at night.

Tires

The XL Plus is equipped with a 10.0-inch pneumatic (air-filled) inner tube front and rear tires. We consider this to be the highest-performance type of tire. 

Flats are a common complaint with air-filled tires. However, the XL Plus comes equipped with a split rim design, meaning you can easily replace the inner tubes without having to remove the tires.

Most flats can be prevented and even repaired, using tire sealant. 

Read more about preventing and repairing flats.

Deck

The Tour XL Plus has a large deck with 21.5 inches by 6.0 inches of ample standing area making for a more comfortable ride. It’s covered almost edge to edge in quality griptape, featuring EVOLV’s tribute to the Toronto skyline. The deck gives 4.0 inches of ground clearance.

Build Quality

The thoughtful design of the EVOLV Tour XL Plus means everything—from the recessed bolts to the sheathed cables—has a particularly polished look. 

Not only is it safe given the excellent brakes and sturdy suspension, it’s fast, fun to ride on well-paved roads and feels grounded. Also, you won’t notice any odd noises, stem wobbling or hand grips twisting.

So many of the features that we noticed create both comfort and convenience for the rider. Along with the split-rim tires, a comfortable deck and solid construction, you’ll notice that all of the cockpit electronics are connected via quick-connectors along the handlebars. Should any need replacing, you can easily do so without disassembly. However, these cables are a little more exposed than on other scooters of its price and, with the screw-release handles, could get caught on something as you’re moving about.

The XL Plus does not have a water resistance (IP) rating, so riding on wet ground and in heavy rain is not recommended. 

EVOLV Tour XL Plus Specifications

Make	EVOLV
Model	Tour XL Plus
Weight	51 lb
Folded dimensions	48 by 9 by 15 in
Motor power, continuous	600 W
Top speed	28 mph
Range	34 mi
Battery capacity	874 Wh
Battery recharge time	7 to 9 hrs
Max rider weight	260 lb
Brake type	Disc + Disc
Tire type	10.0 in Pneumatic + Pneumatic
Built-in lights	Front + Rear
Water resistance	IP54