River Indie EV Road Test Review: Quirky, But Practical
- Jun 15, 2024
- Views : 2139

It was five years back that we rode Revolt’s first offering, the RV 400. At that time it had the distinction of being India's first electric motorcycle. And it felt decently impressive too, because it worked quite well as a simple, yet good looking, electric commuter. But in these last five years, electric two wheelers have really stepped up a lot. Now for 2025, we have Revolt’s latest offering, the RV BlazeX. So does the BlazeX take the game forward or is it just an RV400 in a different package?
The RV 400 and the BlazeX are clearly very different because they've been built for a different purpose. The RV400 is more like a sporty computer with a little more aggressive design, more aggressive posture, slightly lower handlebar and more rearset foot pegs, while the BlazeX it's a pukka commuter. It's got a long flat seat, it’s got a tall handlebar, and the foot pegs are more center set.
And the seat height is just 790 mm which means getting your feet on the ground is really really easy. Now the bars are tall so sitting quite upright like a proper commuter. But my only concern here are the footpegs, which although center set, are set pretty high, and end up lifting your knees quite a bit. So if you're tall, say 5’10” or taller, this might be a concern for you as your knees might come really high up. This should not be a major concern for you though if you’re 5’9” (like me) or shorter. The RV BlazeX is part of Revolt’s RV series, which is primarily oriented towards commuters. The real claim to fame of these bikes is their insane payload capacity of 250kg, which is even more than that of the Himalayan 450’s.
The BlazeX gets a 3.24kWh battery pack that gives it a claimed range of 150km on a full charge. Of course in the real world it should get around 110-120km which is not too bad at all. And charging it is quite simple because you have a charging socket on the side of the bike. Just plug in the charger in your parking spot and you're done. If you don't have a parking spot or a charger in your parking spot… It's a Revolt after all. You can take the battery home to charge it. Just open the tank cover, remove the battery cover which doubles as a little storage space for your phone and other essentials. Unclip the latch on the plug, disconnect the battery and turn the key while lifting the battery. Not an easy task because this battery weighs 20kg. Now lifting a battery that weighs 20 kilos might be okay for some, but for many this is going to be quite a task.
Using the standard 840W home charger, you can charge this battery from 0-80% in just 3.5 hours. The best part is that this standard charger can fit neatly in the cubby hole located under the seat. There is also an optional 2.7kW fast charger that can charge the battery from 0-80% in 1 hour & 20 minutes. But at this time, Revolt hasn’t released the pricing of this fast charger.
The BlazeX has a 2.8kW mid-mounted motor with a chain drive system. But since Revolt is using an O-ring chain, the chain noise while riding is minimal. Now Revolt claims a top speed of 85kmph and 0 to 40kmph in 5.2 seconds for the BlazeX. These numbers might not sound all that great, but for a commuter bike, they are sufficient. In fact the bike has three riding modes and the top mode, that is Sports or number 3 is actually quite peppy.
And by peppy, I mean sometimes it can actually feel a little jumpy or even jerky for that matter. It's actually quite difficult to ride this bike smoothly with smooth throttle inputs because the throttle feels quite sensitive. In the top Sports mode, if you open the throttle even slightly it just jumps forward and if you're not ready for it, it can feel a bit unnerving.
The other two modes, City and Eco, are a bit better because they have a lower throttle response. But then again the throttle response starts off with almost no reaction from the motor, and then the torque suddenly comes in, which again makes it feel jerky. Not as jerky as Sports mode but still jerky. The RV BlazeX also gets a fairly easy-to-use Reverse mode. Just push and hold the ride mode switch all the way to the left, roll on the throttle, and the bike will move in reverse
At 118 kilos, the BlazeX is slightly heavier than the most basic commuters, but you won't feel this weight all that much while riding. Also it's got a fairly high centre of gravity as the battery is placed fairly high up, which means the bike turns into corners pretty easily.
In fact, to change direction it takes almost no effort. Now we didn't ride this bike in traffic or in the real world. We rode it on a go-kart track here in Noida. And around the tight corners of this track, the BlazeX was quite fun, because you could tip it from corner to corner very easily. And even when leaned over at speeds of 40-50 kmph, or even faster through a couple of the corners, the bike felt quite stable on its 90-section front and 110-section rear JK tyres.
The RV BlazeX gets 240mm disc brakes at both ends and a combined braking system. The brakes feel adequate for this level of performance. They’re not too sharp and the braking is fairly predictable. There’s also a regen braking system which starts slowing the bike down as soon as you roll off the throttle, and will charge the battery a little as well.
The one big issue for me on the BlazeX is the fact that as soon as you touch either brake, the motor completely cuts off. Now Revolt says this has been implemented for safety, and to mimic pulling the clutch on an ICE motorcycle. But I am not convinced this analogy works, because sometimes in tight traffic if you're taking U-turns, you want a little bit of throttle and brake at the same time. And in the BlazeX’s case, if you're trying to take a tight U-turn with the throttle slightly open and the bike leaned to one side, and you just apply a little bit of brakes, the motor just cuts power delivery abruptly. This can cause you to lose balance and even tip the bike over, making it more potentially unsafe.
In terms of features, the BlazeX gets all LED lighting, a 6-inch monochrome instrument cluster with smartphone connectivity for turn-by-turn navigation and more. While it still does have the button on the right switchcube for changing the “fake engine note” that plays through speakers (like on the RV400), the BlazeX doesn’t have any built in speakers. And we’re actually grateful for that. While the features are pretty decent for a commuter bike, what’s not so great is the quality of plastics and switchgear. These do leave you wanting for more.
If you're in the market for a simple electric commuter motorcycle, honestly, you don't have too many options. You have great electric scooters, but most of the electric motorcycles are just a bit meh, including Revolts. Now in this case the BlazeX is offering some things that others don't, like a massive payload capacity. And at the same time it does handle quite well and it’s decently quick as well.
But it looks a bit too “commuter-ish” and honestly at Rs 1.15 lakhs ex-showroom, it's only Rs 5,000 cheaper than the RV 400, which in my books looks better and handles a bit better too. Now if you're dead set on carrying heavy loads on an electric motorcycle, the BlazeX might make sense for you. But if that's not your primary concern, then honestly Revolt’s own RV400 is a much better option as an electric computer.
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