Exway Ripple Electric Skateboard Review 2026: Is It Worth Buying?
Picture this. You step off the subway, your destination is still a mile away, and you don’t want to call an Uber for such a short trip. What do you do?
If you’re smart about it, you pull a sleek little board out of your bag, drop it on the sidewalk, and glide your way there like you own the city. That’s exactly the experience the Exway Ripple Electric Skateboard was built for.
In 2026, the electric skateboard market is more packed than ever. But the Ripple still holds a very special place among riders who want something lightweight, fun, and genuinely portable. It’s not trying to be the fastest board on the block.
Key Takeaways:
- Feather-light and portable: The Exway Ripple weighs just 13.1 lbs (5.9 kg), making it one of the lightest electric skateboards available today. You can carry it in your backpack or under your arm all day without breaking a sweat. That makes it a perfect last-mile commuting tool for students, urban workers, and frequent travelers.
- Airline-friendly travel battery: The Travel Edition battery is 99Wh, which meets FAA and most international airline regulations. This means you can actually take this board on a plane, which is something most electric skateboards simply cannot claim. It is one of the few e-boards you can travel with hassle-free.
- Built for smooth city rides: With dual 672W hub motors, a top speed of around 22 mph, and a range of up to 13.5 miles on the Cruiser Edition battery, the Ripple handles daily commutes on smooth pavement like a champion. It is not built for rough terrain or steep hills, but on city streets it performs very well.
- Premium build quality for its price: The Ripple features a multiaxial fiberglass and maple composite deck, Trist 7″ Reverse Kingpin trucks, and RGB ambient underglow lighting. These are features you typically find on boards that cost a lot more, which gives the Ripple serious value.
- Great for beginners and experienced skaters alike: The four-speed mode setup and smooth LingYi FOC ESC make it easy for new riders to learn. Experienced skaters will enjoy its carvy, surf-skate feel and the kicktail design that allows for tricks.
- The trade-off is real: The 75mm wheels are small by e-skateboard standards, which makes rough pavement a bumpy experience. The board also lacks hill-climbing power on steep inclines. Know your riding terrain before buying.
What Is the Exway Ripple Electric Skateboard?
The Exway Ripple is Exway’s most affordable and most lightweight electric skateboard. Exway is a well-respected brand in the e-skateboard space, known for boards like the Exway Wave and the Exway Flex. The Ripple sits at the entry level of their lineup but packs in some seriously thoughtful engineering.
The Ripple was designed with one specific rider in mind: someone who lives in a city, uses public transport regularly, and needs a board that can handle the “last mile” of their commute. Think college students carrying it into class, office workers jumping on it after the train, or travelers who want to explore cities without renting a scooter.
What sets the Ripple apart from other budget boards is how it looks and feels. Most electric skateboards at this price point look like tech gadgets. The Ripple looks like a real skateboard. It has a glossy artistic underside, a clean grip tape top, and proportions that feel very natural under your feet.
The ER edition launched in 2024 added RGB ambient lights and improved the motor system to hit 22 mph with a 13.5-mile range, making it an even stronger daily-use board.
If you have been looking for an electric skateboard that you can actually live with every day without babying it or worrying about hauling it around, the Exway Ripple deserves your full attention.
Key Specs and Features at a Glance
Before we get into the deep details, let’s look at the core specifications of the Exway Ripple ER in one place:
| Spec | Details |
|---|---|
| Top Speed | 22 mph (35 kph) |
| Range | Up to 13.5 miles (Cruiser Edition) |
| Weight | 13.1 lbs (5.9 kg) |
| Deck Size | 30.7″ x 10.8″ |
| Deck Material | Maple + Fiberglass composite |
| Motors | Dual 672W Hub Drive |
| Battery (Travel) | 99Wh (airline approved) |
| Battery (Cruiser) | 159Wh |
| Trucks | Trist 7″ Reverse Kingpin |
| Wheels | 75mm x 56mm Polyurethane |
| ESC | LingYi FOC |
| Speed Modes | 4 |
| Brake Modes | 4 |
| Lighting | RGB Ambient + Brake lights |
| Price | ~$349 to $399 |
The specs tell a clear story. The Ripple is not a speed machine or a range king. It is a precision-tuned commuter board that puts portability and ride quality above raw numbers.
The 99Wh travel battery is especially notable because very few boards in this price range are airline compliant. The LingYi FOC ESC delivers smooth acceleration and braking, which is important for safety and comfort on daily rides.
One important thing to note here: the board uses hub motors, meaning the motors sit inside the wheels. This keeps the profile clean and low, and lets you push the board manually if the battery runs out. That kind of fail-safe matters a lot in everyday commuting situations.
Deck Design and Build Quality
The deck on the Exway Ripple is one of its strongest selling points. It measures 780mm long by 240mm wide, which translates to roughly 30.7 inches by 9.4 inches. It has a slight concave shape with flared edges near the wheel wells, which gives your feet a very secure grip when carving and turning.
The deck is made from a composite of maple and fiberglass, which strikes a balance between stiffness and flex. It’s firm enough to feel stable at speed, but has just enough give to absorb minor road vibrations. The top surface has clean, minimalistic dark grip tape that covers just enough surface area for solid footing.
The underside is where the Ripple truly shows its personality. It features a colorful, glossy artistic graphic design that looks more like a traditional skate deck than an electric board.
This is a deliberate design choice by Exway, and it pays off beautifully. Most e-skates look like engineering prototypes. The Ripple looks like something you’d actually want to hang on a wall when you’re not riding it.
The build quality overall feels premium and deliberate. Every component sits flush. The enclosure housing the battery is low-profile and does not drag on the ground. The wire routing for the motors is tucked cleanly into the truck baseplate, giving the board a very traditional aesthetic that hides the electric drivetrain almost completely.
Top 3 Alternatives for Exway Ripple Electric Skateboard
Motor Performance and Top Speed
The Exway Ripple ER runs on dual hub drive motors with a combined output of 672W. In real-world riding, this translates to a comfortable top speed of around 22 mph (35 kph).
Exway has been intentionally conservative with their speed ratings in the past to meet regulations in countries like Singapore, where the legal PEV speed limit is 25 kph. In actual testing, multiple reviewers have recorded speeds closer to 21 to 22 mph on flat roads with a lighter rider.
Now, let’s be clear about what this means in everyday riding. 22 mph feels fast in a city. On a sidewalk or bike path, that kind of speed is completely practical.
You can keep up with light city traffic, overtake most cyclists, and get from point A to point B very quickly. However, if you want to race other e-skaters on group rides or push hard up steep hills, the Ripple will leave you wanting more.
Hill climbing is the Ripple’s biggest weakness. The 672W hub motors can handle gentle inclines of around 10 to 15 percent, but anything steeper will cause a noticeable slowdown or even bring the board to a stop.
Multiple testers report struggling on hills steeper than 15 percent grade. If your daily commute involves steep climbs, the Ripple is not the right board for you.
Battery Life and Range
The Exway Ripple comes with two battery options, and this is one of the most interesting aspects of the whole board. The Travel Edition battery is 99Wh, which is specifically designed to comply with FAA aviation regulations.
You can carry this battery in your carry-on luggage on most commercial flights. Always check your specific airline’s policy before flying, but the 99Wh specification puts it in the safest category for air travel.
The Cruiser Edition battery is 159Wh, which offers a significant range increase. Most airlines do allow up to 160Wh batteries in carry-on bags with approval, so this one can also travel with you on planes, though it requires a bit more planning.
In real-world range testing, the Cruiser Edition battery delivers approximately 8 miles (13 km) when ridden hard at high speed by a rider weighing around 154 lbs.
At a comfortable cruising pace, you can realistically expect closer to the advertised 13.5 miles (21 km). The Travel Edition battery provides around 5 to 7 miles depending on riding style and terrain.
These numbers are on the lower end compared to other boards at this price point. The Meepo V5 Go, for example, claims up to 20 miles on a charge. However, the Ripple’s battery trade-off is deliberate. A smaller battery means less weight, which is a core part of the Ripple’s identity.
Trucks, Wheels, and Ride Quality
The trucks and wheels on the Exway Ripple are worth talking about in detail because they are what make this board ride so differently from other electric skateboards in this price class.
The trucks are Exway’s Trist 7″ Reverse Kingpin (RKP) design. Most electric skateboards at under $400 use standard cast trucks, which are cheaper to produce but less responsive. RKP trucks are typically found on higher-end boards because they allow for much tighter, more controlled turning.
On the Ripple, these trucks make carving feel incredibly natural. You can do a full U-turn on a standard city street without needing to use the kicktail to lift the nose. The stock bushing setup is very nimble and turns sharply at low speeds.
The one trade-off is stability at higher speeds. With very loose truck settings, the board can feel slightly wobbly when you push toward its top speed. If you prefer a more stable high-speed ride, tightening the kingpin nuts or swapping to slightly harder bushings will fix this.
The motor axles on the Ripple are designed smartly. Instead of clamping the hub motors onto standard truck axles (a common and ugly solution), Exway inserts the truck axles directly into the hub motor wheels. This hides the motor wires neatly and gives the rear trucks a very clean, traditional look that most riders don’t expect from an electric board.
Remote Control and ESC System
The Exway Ripple ER uses a LingYi FOC ESC paired with the matching LingYi OLED remote. This is the first time Exway used a LingYi ESC in one of their products, and the choice was a deliberate one given the board’s price point and intended use case.
The remote is comfortable to hold and features a clear OLED display that shows current speed, odometer reading, trip distance, speed mode, braking mode, board battery level, and remote battery level. Having all of this information on the remote during a ride is genuinely useful and keeps your eyes on the road instead of hunting for an app on your phone.
The remote gives you access to 4 speed modes and 4 braking modes, which is a meaningful level of customization for an entry-level board. Beginners can start in Mode 1 for a very gentle and controlled ride, then work their way up to Mode 4 as their skills improve. The braking modes let you fine-tune how aggressively the board slows down, which is important for safety.
One downside of the LingYi ESC is that it does not connect to the Exway mobile app. Exway’s higher-end boards like the Wave and Flex allow deep customization through their app, including custom acceleration and braking curves, ride data tracking, and firmware updates. The Ripple does not offer any of this. What you get is what you get, straight out of the box.
LED Lighting and Aesthetics
One area where the Exway Ripple absolutely shines is lighting. The ER edition features built-in RGB ambient underglow lighting underneath the deck enclosure, and it is genuinely stunning at night. The light projects downward and outward, creating a colorful halo effect around the board as you ride.
You can cycle through different RGB color modes or turn the lights off completely using the remote. This is a smart design choice because it keeps everything within thumb’s reach without needing a separate button or app.
Beyond the underglow, the Ripple also has rear brake lights that illuminate brighter when you apply the brakes. This functions like brake lights on a car and gives pedestrians and drivers behind you a clear visual signal that you are slowing down. This is a genuine safety feature, not just a gimmick.
The translucent puck on the underside of the kicktail also lights up, which creates a cool visual effect especially during night rides. It’s not bright enough to serve a safety function, but it adds a fun aesthetic touch that makes the Ripple feel premium.
Is the Exway Ripple Good for Beginners?
Yes, and here’s why. The Exway Ripple is one of the friendliest electric skateboards for new riders in 2026. The four-speed modes allow a complete beginner to start at the lowest setting, where the board is very gentle and forgiving.
Top speed in Mode 1 is low enough that falling off at that speed is not a serious danger, and the smooth FOC acceleration means you won’t get thrown off unexpectedly.
The 13.1-pound weight is also a major advantage for beginners. Heavier boards are harder to control when you step off or need to carry them. The Ripple is light enough that you feel in control of the board at all times, which builds confidence quickly.
The RKP trucks are more forgiving than standard trucks when learning to balance and turn. They respond smoothly to body weight shifts, which is the most natural way for new riders to learn directional control.
The board’s short length is something beginners should consider carefully though. At just 30.7 inches, it is shorter than most longboard-style e-skates. Shorter boards require a bit more balance from the rider compared to longer, more stable platforms. If you have never skateboarded at all, you may find the first few sessions require patience.
Portability and Travel Friendliness
Portability is where the Exway Ripple truly separates itself from the competition. At 13.1 lbs (5.9 kg), it is one of the lightest electric skateboards in the market. Many competing boards at this price weigh between 15 and 20 lbs, which makes a significant difference when you need to carry the board through a subway station, up stairs, or into a building.
The compact 30.7-inch deck length also means the board fits under a standard café table, in most school lockers, and alongside a bag in an overhead bin on some aircraft. It does not require a special bag or case to transport, though one is available separately.
The 99Wh travel battery is the headline portability feature. This specific battery capacity is the threshold below which most airlines allow lithium batteries in carry-on luggage under FAA rules.
This makes the Ripple one of the very few electric skateboards that you can confidently plan to take on a flight. Always verify with your specific airline before traveling, as policies differ between carriers.
For commuters who ride to a transit stop and then take a train or bus, the Ripple is ideal. It is easy to hold with one hand while standing on public transport, and its compact footprint means it won’t annoy other passengers or get in the way.
Pros and Cons of the Exway Ripple
Every board has strengths and weaknesses. Here’s an honest breakdown of both.
Pros:
The Ripple is exceptionally lightweight at just 13.1 lbs, making it the easiest daily-carry electric skateboard in its class. The airline-approved 99Wh battery makes it a true travel companion. The Trist RKP trucks deliver excellent carving performance that feels like a traditional longboard.
The RGB ambient lighting is genuinely beautiful and adds real night visibility. The low motor resistance means you can push the board manually when the battery dies, which other hub boards often cannot claim at this efficiency level. The kicktail is functional and lets you pop curbs and do tricks. Build quality is premium relative to its price point.
Cons:
The 75mm wheels are small and will amplify rough road vibrations noticeably. The board struggles on hills steeper than about 10 to 15 percent gradient, which can be a deal-breaker in hilly cities. The batteries are not hot-swappable in the field, requiring nine screws to access.
The LingYi ESC does not support the Exway app, so customization is limited to the remote’s preset modes. The range is modest, especially on the Travel Edition battery, where 5 to 7 miles at speed is the real-world expectation.
Frequently Asked Questions
How fast does the Exway Ripple go?
The Exway Ripple ER has a top speed of 22 mph (35 kph) in its highest speed mode. Earlier versions of the Ripple were rated at 16 mph, but Exway understated this figure in some markets to comply with local PEV speed regulations. Real-world testing consistently shows speeds close to 21 to 22 mph on flat ground with a rider around 154 lbs.
How far can the Exway Ripple travel on one charge?
The range depends on which battery you use. The Cruiser Edition (159Wh) battery delivers up to 13.5 miles (21 km) under ideal conditions and around 8 miles when ridden hard at high speed. The Travel Edition (99Wh) battery provides approximately 5 to 7 miles in real-world riding conditions.
Can you take the Exway Ripple on a plane?
Yes. The 99Wh Travel Edition battery complies with FAA regulations for lithium batteries in carry-on luggage on most commercial flights. The Cruiser Edition (159Wh) battery may also be permitted with airline approval, as most carriers allow up to 160Wh. Always check your airline’s specific policy before your flight.
Is the Exway Ripple good for beginners?
Yes, the Exway Ripple is a great choice for beginners. It has four speed modes that allow new riders to start slowly and build confidence. Its light weight makes it easy to control, and the smooth FOC acceleration does not throw riders off balance. It rewards learning carving technique and builds skills that transfer to traditional skateboarding.
Does the Exway Ripple work on rough roads?
The Ripple is best on smooth paved roads, bike paths, and flat sidewalks. Its 75mm wheels are small by electric skateboard standards, which means rough asphalt, cracks, gravel, and debris will create a noticeably bumpy and uncomfortable ride. If your typical riding surface is rough, consider a board with larger wheels.
Can you ride the Exway Ripple manually without power?
Yes. Because the Ripple uses hub motors with very low resistance, you can push and ride it like a regular skateboard when the battery is empty. The motors do not create significant drag when unpowered, which makes it genuinely usable as a manual board. This is a very practical feature for a commuter board.
What is the weight limit for the Exway Ripple?
The Exway Ripple supports a maximum rider weight of approximately 220 lbs (100 kg). Riders above this weight may experience reduced range, slower acceleration, and reduced hill-climbing ability. Lighter riders will generally see performance at or above the advertised specifications.
Does the Exway Ripple have an app?
No. The Ripple ER uses a LingYi FOC ESC, which does not connect to the Exway mobile app. Speed mode and braking mode adjustments are made directly through the OLED remote. Riders who want app-based customization should look at the Exway Wave or Exway Flex, which do support the Exway app.
