Petrol vs electric · real numbers

Still paying for petrol?

Same delivery miles, same London streets — a petrol 125 costs around £160 a week once you add fuel, oil and insurance. An Otto electric moped is £76 all-in. Slide your miles and see what you keep.

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Your miles, your money

Petrol vs electric, on your mileage

Rental + insurance + energy + consumables, using prices checked on each provider’s site in August 2026. Adjust the miles, switch the period.

UGO · Honda PCX petrol · insurance incl.
Ben Scooters · PCX petrol · + own insurance
Otto · Askoll eSPro 70 electric · everything incl.
You keep a week vs the cheapest petrol route
Switch to electric →

Assumptions you can challenge: petrol 125 at ~70 mpg in stop-start delivery riding, unleaded £1.50/litre, ~£5/week oil & consumables; Otto charging at ~£0.70 per full charge (~45 miles). Rental prices from benscooters.com/rentals and ugoscooters.com, checked 14 Aug 2026. Ben Scooters price is the Honda PCX at £80/week + hire & reward cover you arrange yourself — the UK average for food-delivery cover is about £150/month (≈£35/week).

Line by line · checked Aug 2026

Every cost, side by side

Weekly cost comparison: Otto electric vs Ben Scooters and UGO petrol moped rental, London, checked August 2026
Otto Scooter (electric) ⚡ Ben Scooters (petrol) ⛽ UGO Scooters (petrol) ⛽
Weekly rental £69 (Askoll eSPro 70)£60–£90 (Vision → Forza) · PCX £80£105 Vision · £119 PCX
Delivery insurance Included — certified hire & rewardNot provided — arrange your own (~£150/month ≈ £35/wk)Included
Fuel / energy (400 mi) ~£7 electricity~£39 petrol~£39 petrol
Oil & consumables None~£5/week~£5/week
Servicing Included + same-day replacementFree servicing includedVaries
Deposit £200 refundable£250 refundable£300 refundable
Typical week, all-in ≈ £76 (£66 on the £1-offer rate)≈ £159≈ £163
ULEZ / emissions risk Zero, foreverCompliant today, exposed tomorrowCompliant today, exposed tomorrow

Ben Scooters and UGO are long-standing London operators — this is a cost comparison, not a knock. On total weekly cost, electric wins on every line that moves with your miles. Prices from each provider’s public pages, 14 Aug 2026; tell us if they’ve changed and we’ll update the table.

Is it cheaper to deliver on a petrol or electric moped in London?

Electric, decisively. On a typical 400-mile London delivery week (checked August 2026): renting a petrol Honda PCX from Ben Scooters costs about £159 all-in — £80 rental, self-arranged hire-and-reward insurance at the UK-average £150/month (≈£35/week), ~£39 of petrol and ~£5 of oil. The same week at UGO Scooters is about £163 (£119 rental with insurance included, plus fuel and oil). An Otto electric moped is about £76: £69 all-inclusive rental (insurance, servicing, GPS, breakdown replacement) plus roughly £7 of electricity — and £66/week on the current £1-first-week offer rate.

That is £83–£87 kept every week, about £360 a month, £4,300+ a year — before counting zero congestion-charge exposure, no fuel stops mid-shift, and no oil changes. The maths is why Otto has moved London delivery riders from petrol to electric since 2019.

Petrol vs electric · answered

Questions, answered

Is an electric moped really cheaper than petrol for delivery?
Yes, and by a wide margin. A petrol 125 on a typical 400-mile delivery week burns roughly £35–£40 of fuel plus ~£5 of oil and consumables; an Otto electric moped covers the same miles on about £7 of electricity. Add rental and insurance and the petrol route typically costs around £160 a week against £76 all-in at Otto — £59/week on the £1-offer intro rate.
How do Ben Scooters prices compare to Otto?
Ben Scooters (checked August 2026) rents petrol 125s from £60/week (Honda Vision) to £80–£90/week (PCX, NMAX, SH, Forza), with free servicing but no insurance — you arrange your own hire-and-reward cover, typically ~£150/month — plus a £250 deposit, petrol and oil. Otto’s £69/week includes certified hire-and-reward insurance, servicing, GPS and breakdown replacement, with a £200 refundable deposit and roughly £7/week of electricity instead of £35–£40 of petrol.
How do UGO Scooters prices compare to Otto?
UGO (checked August 2026) rents the Honda Vision at £105/week and the Honda PCX at £119/week with food-delivery insurance included and a £300 deposit — then petrol and oil on top. Otto is £69/week all-inclusive with a £200 deposit and ~£7/week of charging.
What about a 50cc scooter or a Vespa rental?
A 50cc petrol scooter is cheaper to rent than a 125 but tops out around 30 mph — too slow for most delivery zones — and still burns petrol and oil. A classic Vespa rental costs more again. For delivery work, an electric moped beats both on running cost: same £7-a-week charging, no fuel stops, insurance included.
Is a 125cc petrol moped faster than an electric one?
On paper a petrol 125 tops out slightly higher, but in London traffic it makes little difference: the VMoto Super Soco CPx reaches 56 mph and the Askoll eSPro 70 41 mph — and electric torque is instant at the lights, where delivery time is actually won.
What about ULEZ and the congestion charge?
Petrol 125s made after 2007 are generally ULEZ-compliant, but electric goes further: zero tailpipe emissions, no congestion charge exposure, and no risk from future emissions tightening — plus no fuel stops mid-shift.

Keep the petrol money. Ride electric.

From £69/week all-inclusive — or £1 for your first week on the current offer. Pickup tomorrow in Hammersmith.

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