We Review Every Apollo Electric Scooter Ever
When I joined ESG in 2020, the first Apollo electric scooter I rode was the original Apollo Pro. Although I’d managed warehouses full of electric scooters, this thing scared me with the way its front wheel would spin every time I’d take off.
The original Apollo Pro, like the 2023 Apollo Pro, was flagship in every sense: a $2500, dual-motor, fire-breathing beast with 10-inch tires, hydraulic brakes, LG battery cells, and a suspension that let you just float at 42 miles per hour. We hadn’t seen anything else like it at the time.
Of course, the first Pro — unlike its successor – wasn’t an original Apollo design. It was a custom build for them, however, made by a Chinese manufacturer called Titan Unicool, also the maker of Zero electric scooters. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves….
We’re looking at the evolution of Apollo as a company, with a survey of the 26 models that have appeared under the Apollo name, 24 of which we’ve personally tested ourselves. You can watch our full Review of Every Apollo Scooter just above.
Read on for a brief history of Apollo Scooters, and learn how they became a leader in innovative electric scooter technology.
Apollo’s First Generation: The Rebrands
The first generation of Apollo scooters appeared in 2019, and these were not really Apollo scooters at all, but models we know under different names: The Xiaomi Mi M365, Segway Ninebot ES4, and Mercane Widewheel Pro.
It wasn’t the most glamorous beginning for a world-class company. But these scooters were not widely available outside of Asia unless you rented one, and shared scooters, you might remember, had just begun popping up in major cities around the world.
Seeing a huge opportunity in a scooter market for riders who had tried shared models and wanted their own, Apollo began importing the same scooters and rebranding them.
Their efforts paid off, and they moved on to the next phase of their development, which included the first Apollo Pro.
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Top: We Review Every Apollo Electric Scooter EverApollo Second Gen: Custom Titan Unicool Builds
In 2020, Apollo contracted with Titan Unicool to make custom versions of their popular builds. They introduced some interesting scooters with little competition at the time and did some fun experimentation that prefigured future directions.
Scooters like the Apollo Light, City, Explore, and the first Apollo Pro differed significantly from similar scooters made for other companies.
For example, take a look at the differences between the original Apollo City and the Zero scooter built on the same platform by Titan Unicool.
Notice one major key difference: warranty length. This is huge. Not only did Apollo improve and tune the scooters they imported, but they also offered superior customer service, and a 2-year warranty on products sold under their name.
Apollo also began to push the envelope with their customizations, releasing the Apollo Pro Ludicrous edition, which looked exactly like the first Apollo Pro, but had dual thumb throttles, no display at all, and an ultra-exotic Storm Core motor controller.
This was the first appearance of the “Ludicrous” name on an Apollo Scooter, and it was appropriate because it blew through our hill test so fast, we couldn’t stop at the top of the hill and broke every acceleration and speed record we had. The last scooter built for Apollo, the Ghost, was called “so powerful, it’s scary” when it came out.
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Top: We Review Every Apollo Electric Scooter EverApollo Third Gen: The True Originals
The Apollo Phantom V1: the company’s first all-original buildIn 2021, the true Apollo originals appear, scooters designed and built by Apollo from the ground up in their own factory. The first all-original was the groundbreaking Apollo Phantom V1 (or just Apollo Phantom, at the time).
This was by far Apollo’s most important scooter to date because it was their first in-house design and shared no parts in common with the scooters that came before it. The original Phantom was the most memorable scooter launch ever, and completely changed our expectations of what a sports scooter should be. (I remember 5 of us at the ESG office crowded around one monitor to watch the Phantom’s YouTube debut.)
Now in its 4th version, the first Phantom was also Apollo’s best-selling scooter to date with about ¼ million dollars in sales the first month. The Phantom V1 had a lot of firsts. While it still had tubed 10” tires like the other dual-motor sports-scooters of the time, it was the first sports-scooter to shed the ubiquitous QSS4 display in favor of a huge central display,
Also at this time appeared the 2021 Apollo Air and Air Pro, two scooters that started a whole new entry level line and changed substantially in their 2022 iterations. They were joined by a scooter now known as a waterproof commuter classic: the 2022 Apollo City single and dual-motor City Pro.
In 2023 came the Phantom V3 with Ludo mode. My favorite thing about the V3, surprisingly, wasn’t Ludo mode, but the addition of the variable regen brake lever on the left side that charges your battery as you slow down.
The V3’s variable regenerative braking is absolutely addictive. It feels like a rubber-band pulling you backward when you brake, and it has become a standard part of Apollo’s scooter tech.
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Top: We Review Every Apollo Electric Scooter EverApollo Fourth Gen: The Game Changers
The 2023 Apollo Pro (rare chrome edition)In 2023, Apollo released the first “hyper scooter,” the reborn Apollo Pro, a luxurious ride with a full MSRP of $3,999 and the most premium tech Apollo has developed in their five year history of scooter making.
The Pro’s technology has trickled down to the company’s entire line, including the scooter’s award-winning app, embedded IoT for real-time analytics and frequent firmware updates, and self-canceling handlebar-end turn signals, all features found on the 2023 versions of the Air and City.
The Pro also introduced the innovative phone-as-display option, with a highly visible stock dot-matrix display if you chose not to purchase the separate Quad-Lock phone to make it work.
Phone-as-display became part of the new dual-motor Apollo Go, a lighter, smaller version of the Pro built for commuters, showcasing all of the company’s best features and technology so far.
While we end with the Apollo Go, we know the company has a lot more in store for us in 2024 and beyond, even if we don’t know exactly what to expect from them yet.
What will they bring us in 2025? It’s hard to say for sure, but I expect we’ll see them taking scooters in a direction that makes them more vehicle-grade: increasing water resistance, improving ride quality and making scooters last longer instead of chasing eye-watering speeds.
For more details on all current Apollo models, click the link below, and use the code RIDERGUIDE to get $50 off any purchase.
Top: We Review Every Apollo Electric Scooter Ever