NIU has just revealed the FQiX 150, a compact electric scooter designed for dense urban environments. It’s part of the company’s new FQiX lineup, a fresh design direction that leans heavily into smart technology, removable batteries, and safety features you normally wouldn’t expect to see on a small city runabout.
Like most made-in-China anything, the FQiX 150 wants to stand out in terms of tech, and it does this by adding a rear radar system that helps you avoid rear-end collisions. Yes, a rear radar system on a scooter. What a world we live in.
Radar is usually the kind of hardware you see on big touring motorcycles or premium sportbikes. The stuff that powers blind spot detection and adaptive cruise control. The FQiX 150 obviously isn’t that kind of machine. It’s a small electric commuter with a top speed of about 28 miles per hour. Yet NIU still decided to install a radar sensor that monitors traffic approaching from behind and alerts the rider if something’s closing in.
It’s a weirdly forward-thinking feature for something that basically sits in the same category as a 50cc moped. But it also makes sense if you think about where machines like this actually live. City traffic can be chaotic, and riders on small scooters are often surrounded by cars that are significantly larger and faster. A simple alert system could make a real difference when navigating tight urban streets.
Beyond that key feature, however, the FQiX 150 is still very much a practical city scooter. Power comes from a 3-kilowatt electric motor, which works out to roughly four horsepower. That motor draws energy from a pair of removable 72-volt lithium battery packs, each rated at 28 amp-hours. Together they deliver a claimed maximum range of about 93 miles, depending on riding conditions.
Those batteries are designed to be pulled out of the scooter and charged indoors. Each one takes about 3 hours to top up from empty, so riders can bring them inside an apartment or office instead of hunting for a charging station.
Then there’s the technology side of the story. The FQiX 150 uses NIU’s Link Crown connectivity system, which connects the scooter to a smartphone app and a cloud platform. Riders can unlock the scooter using a digital key, track ride data, and access navigation through a 5-inch TFT display mounted on the handlebars. All of that connectivity turns the scooter into something closer to a rolling gadget than a traditional two-wheeler. It’s very much in line with how younger urban riders expect their vehicles to work.
Photo by: NIU
Which brings us to the obvious question. Could something like this actually work in the US?
Well, ongoing geopolitical issues and tariffs aside, dense urban areas like New York City, San Francisco, and parts of Los Angeles are already seeing growing interest in lightweight electric mobility. Short trips, limited parking, and heavy traffic make small scooters surprisingly practical. The removable battery system also solves one of the biggest barriers to EV adoption in cities where many residents live in apartments without access to dedicated charging.
Outside those dense urban centers, things get a little more complicated. Much of the US is built around faster roads and longer travel distances. A vehicle that tops out at little more than a bicycle would struggle to keep up with traffic in many suburbs where speed limits regularly climb past 45 miles per hour.
That means the FQiX 150 wouldn’t replace motorcycles or cars across the country. But in cities where trips are short and traffic is slow, it actually makes a lot of sense. It’s cheap to run, easy to park, and now apparently equipped with the same radar tech you’d expect from a much larger motorcycle.
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