The Praise was always a feature-rich product, but the i-Praise has additions to it that make it even better. The biggest one is the detachable battery, which is a Lithium-ion unit that can be taken to the owner’s house to be charged via a 5A power socket. It has a charge time of 2-3 hours. Another benefit of the Li-ion battery is the fact that the scooter has managed to cut down its weight by 4 per cent over the previous lead-acid version. The new Li-ion battery will offer a range of 160-180km on full charge. Motive power is via a 1000 Watt BLDC electric motor.

The features list includes geo-fencing, virtual speed limit, curfew hours (no doubt for those parents who don’t want their children to go out at late hours with the i-Praise), battery health tracker, SOS notifcations, trips, GPS, maintenance and insurance reminder, and vehicle status. All of these features can be accessed via the ‘Okinawa Eco’ app that is available for Android phones.

Only 500 units of the i-Praise will be manufactured in the first batch, and 450 of those have already been booked, despite the eye-watering Rs 1.15 lakh ex-showroom price. Bengaluru residents can consider the Ather 450 as an option, but the rest of India has no alternative to the i-Praise.