The 125cc commuter is the most rational vehicle in Europe. It is fast enough for a city, cheap enough to insure, legal on an A1 licence, and there is a dealer for it on every ring road.
The MQi GT 100 is NIU asking you to give one up. Its case rests on four numbers: 100 km/h, 100 km, 6500 W and 128 kg.
Weight is the unexpected advantage
Electric vehicles are usually heavier than the petrol thing they replace. Not here. At 128 kg the MQi GT 100 undercuts most 125cc scooters, and you feel it at every low-speed manoeuvre: filtering, U-turns, pushing it into a parking bay.
NIU pairs that with 14-inch wheels and 180 mm of ground clearance — numbers aimed squarely at riders who deal with kerbs, speed bumps and broken tarmac rather than showroom floors.
100 km/h top speed, which puts it level with a petrol 125.
6500 W motor on a 72 V, fourth-generation NIU lithium pack.
Up to 100 km of range; 4.5 hours to charge.
128 kg kerb weight, 269 kg gross, two seats.
816 mm seat height and a TFT dash with three display faces.
NIU says the MQi GT rivals any 125 on the market. On pace and weight that is defensible. On price it is not, and NIU does not pretend otherwise.
The price is the argument
€4,990 buys two petrol 125s in most European markets. The electric case is made over years, not on the day: no oil, no filters, no valve clearances, and electricity instead of fuel.
Whether that arithmetic works depends entirely on your mileage. A rider doing 40 km a day will get there; a rider doing 40 km a week will not, and should buy the petrol bike with a clear conscience.
Who it is for
High-mileage urban commuters on an A1 licence who are tired of servicing a small petrol engine. The MQi GT 100 does everything a 125 does, is lighter doing it, and asks to be plugged in overnight instead of filled on a Sunday.
It is not a tourer. Sustained 100 km/h will empty the pack well short of the quoted 100 km, and 4.5 hours is a long lunch. Treat the top speed as headroom for overtaking, not a cruising figure.
See it for yourself
