Our Italian THE PACK team tested the Wayel W1 Max in Milan

Source: THE PACK ITALIA | Light, agile, compact yet welcoming and comfortable. Meet the W1 Max, the new scooter produced by Wayel, an Italian electric mobility brand belonging to the FIVE group, Fabbrica Italiana Veicoli Elettrici, an industrial company based in Bologna, specializing in the production of urban electric vehicles. We had an exclusive preview and are here to tell you how it rides, ahead of its commercial launch expected in the coming months.

The W1 Max is a scooter with a playful character: an easy, intuitive 50cc-equivalent that represents an ideal solution for everyday travel, from the daily commute to running errands around town, whenever you need a practical, nimble vehicle capable of navigating city streets without stress.

It is precisely these characteristics that make the Wayel W1 Max a true ‘urban explorer.’ With that in mind, we decided to take it on a rather unique tour, weaving through the narrowest and most historic streets of Milan to discover little-known passages that tell the story of the ancient city, just steps away from its busiest roads.

The route begins in the Brera district, one of the places where it is easiest to sense historic Milan. Within just a few meters, we turned into Vicolo Ciovasso and then Vicolo Ciovassino, two incredibly narrow passages that seem to transport you straight back to the Middle Ages. The W1 Max allowed us to enjoy these truly tight, irregular lanes; it is agile, lightweight, and we rode it with pleasurable ease. Only the front suspension showed some strain, with rather abrupt responses as we tackled the bumps of a surface still paved in stone and cobblestones, though admittedly we were pushing it to its limits. All around us, ancient buildings and refined architectural details told the story of a Milan very different from the modern one.

The name “Ciovasso,” for instance, appears to derive from a medieval term referring to a small secondary lane. Once bustling with shops and daily life, today it is a quiet spot where we rode the W1 Max comfortably and gently, respecting its calm and silent atmosphere.

From Brera, we moved toward the oldest part of the city, known as the Cinque Vie, considered the heart of medieval Milan. Here we rode along Via Santa Marta, a winding street that has retained the irregular layout typical of medieval thoroughfares.

Moving at the leisurely pace that the electric scooter naturally encourages, almost as if we were strolling, we could appreciate the stone portals, inner courtyards, and several Renaissance-era buildings. For centuries this street was a workplace for craftsmen and small traders, and it still retains a wonderfully evocative atmosphere today.

At the corner is Via del Bollo, short but rich in history. Its name dates back to the period of Spanish rule, between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when this was the site of the office where fiscal stamps were applied to official documents. At the time, Milan was a highly important administrative city, and these streets were filled with merchants, officials, and notaries. Weaving through traffic, always rather congested in this part of Milan, on the W1 Max becomes an enjoyable game, and within moments we reached one of the city’s tiniest yet most intriguing streets: Via Bagnera.

Extremely narrow, almost hidden, barely touched by sunlight, this street entered Milan’s history through a distinctly noir episode.

In the nineteenth century, Antonio Boggia, considered Italy’s first serial killer, lived here. Several of his crimes took place on this very street, which has remained notorious in the city’s chronicles ever since. Today it is quiet and almost anonymous, but knowing its history gives it a rather mysterious allure.

We then entered Via Brisa, where the remains of the Roman imperial palace can still be seen, built when Milan served as the capital of the Western Roman Empire between the third and fourth centuries. These walls and foundations are nearly two thousand years old and stand as a reminder of the city’s immense importance in Roman times.

Our route concluded on the elegant Via Gorani, which preserves one of the rare surviving examples of medieval noble architecture in the city: Casa Gorani, a fifteenth-century palazzo that once belonged to one of Milan’s noble families. Next to the building, a medieval tower is still visible, one of the few to have survived the city’s many transformations over the centuries.

The area was heavily bombed during the Second World War, but several historic buildings have been restored and continue to tell an important chapter of Renaissance Milan.

In short, Milan’s history is not found only in grand piazzas or famous monuments. It is often hidden in the narrowest of streets, those almost invisible passages on the map that nevertheless hold centuries of daily life, art, and curious stories. Exploring them on a nimble scooter like the W1 Max was the perfect way to discover them at a leisurely pace, slipping into alleyways with ease, stopping in an instant to admire architectural details, and experiencing the city from a completely different perspective.

WAYEL W1 Max in detail

While its on-paper performance, in terms of power and speed, is that of a 50cc equivalent (2kW, 45 km/h top speed, L1e category), the moment you climb aboard, the roominess and comfort give the impression of riding something far more substantial. The flat, generously sized footboard and the long saddle, slightly raised at the rear to comfortably accommodate a passenger, immediately make you feel well-positioned and at ease. Behind the saddle there is a practical metal grab handle that serves both as a passenger handhold and as a mounting point for accessories or a top case.

The scooter features clean, sharp lines that, combined with a glossy black finish, give it a rather elegant appearance. We particularly liked the exposed tubular metal handlebar, very much in the spirit of a proper motorcycle, and the LED rear light cluster, which adds a distinctly modern touch.

The Wayel W1 Max is powered by a 2kW brushless motor integrated into the rear wheel, which alongside the speed-limited 45 km/h top speed can handle gradients of up to 25%. Three power modes are available, the classic Eco, Standard, and Sport, easily selectable via a handlebar-mounted control.

Under the seat sits a 1.4 kWh lithium-ion battery using LG or Samsung cells, which, as we verified during our test, delivers a real-world range of around 50 km, in line with its purely urban use case.

For those needing extra range, a second spare battery can be stored in a dedicated compartment under the seat, which otherwise serves as additional storage for the charger or small items. On the front apron there is a small storage pocket and a smartphone charging port. Noteworthy is the inclusion of both a side stand and a center stand as standard equipment, a combination that is rarely found even on more expensive scooters and motorcycles.

The Wayel W1 Max presents itself as a modern, well-built scooter, and we are particularly pleased to note that both the motor and the battery, the heart of the vehicle, are built from high-quality components, underscoring the brand’s commitment to delivering a reliable and refined product for urban micromobility.

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Wayel W1 Max, carattere da city explorer