The Apollo Pro: A New Category of Electric Scooter

The Apollo Pro electric scooter is Rider Guide’s 2023’s Best Overall Design and Best Luxury Scooter Winner–a top choice for riders who value style, functionality, and cutting-edge technology.

Apollo Pro – $3,499

Has Apollo Scooters invented a whole new category of electric scooter? We think they have: the Luxury-Sports scooter (they call it the “Hyper Scooter”). The prototype knocked our socks off, but the final version of the Pro far exceeded all expectations.

This groundbreaking model is already revolutionizing how people perceive scooters, but it isn’t the first scooter called the Apollo Pro. The original Apollo Pro was one of our favorite dual-motor electric scooters in 2019.

In 2021, the Pro was replaced by the game-changing Apollo Phantom, Apollo’s first in-house design, and up until now, the biggest, fastest Apollo scooter ever made.

Now, late in 2023, comes the new Apollo Pro (or, more formally, the Apollo Pro V6 electric scooter), featuring some really cool tech and design innovations that are already redefining e scooter design.

Who Is This Scooter For?

The Apollo Pro is made for anyone who is dead serious about riding an electric scooter as their daily driver and their leisure ride: from commuting and running errands in traffic to hitting off-road trails on the weekends, the Pro can pretty much do it all.

It’s not the fastest scooter you can buy for the money by a long shot, but the Pro isn’t built for racing; it’s a luxurious, high tech ride made for those who care about comfort and convenience, and it’s ever-evolving tech and embedded IoT means it will stay on the cutting edge long after many scooters have gone obsolete.

Our Full Video Review

Apollo Pro: Performance

Top Speed

While most people get excited at the prospect of riding up to 60 mph, the average person rarely gets beyond 40 mph. Apollo knows that, and they made the decision to optimize their flagship scooter for speeds most commonly used by average riders, and that’s 15 to 40 mph.

That said, the production unit is fast. The scooter launches with just a touch of front wheel spin and steadily gains acceleration to a top speed of 44.3 mph, surpassing the manufacturer’s claimed 43 mph max speed.

It is faster than the test unit, which only reached 42.8 mph, and certainly faster than the Phantom V3’s top speed of 40.7.

Acceleration

An acceleration time of 6.6 seconds to 30 mph puts the Pro squarely ahead of the Apollo Phantom V3’s 7.3 seconds. And the Pro’s time of 2.2 seconds to 15 mph makes it feel incredibly fast and powerful right off the starting line.

These numbers are not as dramatic as some of the faster scooters you can buy for the price. The tradeoff is that the Pro’s lower acceleration rate makes it far easier to ride than the Segway GT2 or the Wolf King GT.

Range

The battery is fitted with energy-dense 21700 LG cells, LG’s most energy-dense cells.

There’s also a smart-BMS, or battery management system, that helps the battery have the longest possible life and safest operation. We got around 36 miles from the Apollo Pro’s 1560Wh battery, and that’s riding in “Ludo” mode, the highest speed mode, on a hilly range test course.

This range is longer than the Segway GT2’s 32.9 miles, the prototype Apollo Pro’s 32.2 miles, and Apollo’s next best scooter, the Phantom V3’s, 28.4 miles.

Braking

When we first saw it on the prototype, we called the choice of drum brakes an ‘unconventional move.’ But Paul, our resident expert, has to say:

“If you’re going to ride every day and you have disc brakes, you might wear out your brake pads as quickly as every 1,200 miles.”

• “Drum brakes as not grabby, so they don’t lock up or skid
• There’s no chance of getting bent rotors
• You don’t need to adjust drum brakes, and when you do, you don’t need tools
• Finally, the pads last longer than those on disc brakes“

With that logic in mind, and since the Apollo Pro can use 100% regenerative brake most of the time, we think the drum brakes on the Pro will last about ten times as long as conventional disc brakes.

The braking distance is longer than we’d typically see with disc brakes, with the Apollo Pro stopping from 15 mph in 12.8 ft. It’s not the best, but it is more than sufficient.

Hill Climb

We mentioned this with the test unit earlier and’ll say it again. Larger wheels are great for ride quality. However, due to fewer point-to-point rotations, they affect acceleration numbers and hill climbing. 

Regardless, the Pro has two 3536W motors and efficient Mach 2 motor controllers that deliver a peak current of 34 amps per motor, which probably explains the newfound speed on hills. The scooter reached the top of our 200 ft, 10% hill in just 8.2 seconds. 

The prototype only managed 9.3 seconds on the same hill. Now, the new unit surpasses the Phantom V3’s 8.8-second climb. That said, it still comes nowhere close to the Segway GT2’s 6.6-second climb.

Ride Quality

It’s generally very easy to ride this scooter thanks to a combination of factors, like the no-lag throttle that ensures optimal functionality. There’s also the scooter’s big, flat-resistant 12″ tubeless tires that smooth out the ride, along with adjustable hydraulic suspension in the front and polyurethane bushing suspension in the rear.

The Apollo Pro is a scooter that lets you keep full attention on the road because you’re not worried about bumpy roads or finessing the throttle to keep it smooth. And being easy to ride is really what it takes to be a consistent car replacement. Ultimately, the ride quality is truly exceptional.

Apollo Pro: Design, Build & Reliability

We got the production unit Apollo Pro in the Chrome version, and isn’t it a stunner. However, before you fall in love with this one, as we did, the Pro won’t actually be available in this finish. It turned out to be too expensive to produce, and it added a couple of pounds of weight!

Still, if you’ve watched our Best electric scooters of 2023 video, you see just how different, fresh, and modern the Pro (even the prototype we tested earlier) looks from the rest of the fold. Even the box the scooter comes in is cool. But let’s first get into just some of the nitty gritty.

• The Apollo Pro is the first electric scooter that uses your phone as the primary display (and why not?)
• Apollo also gives you a way to mount it via the quadlock case. Now, you’ll need to purchase your own case since phones come in different sizes, making it impossible to customize a one-fits-all design.
• The Apollo Pro charges your phone wirelessly while you ride, so you don’t have to worry about it draining your battery.
• Finally, if you try the phone-as-a-display and feel it’s not working for you for whatever reason, you can just use the scooter’s integrated DOT display, which is easy to read and does everything a display is meant to do. 

The dash technology certainly steals the show, but we’re just as excited about the rest of the scooter’s features. The Apollo Pro carries highly-mounted bar-end turn signals on which we ran the ESG-drop test. Even though the cover broke, the signal still works, and you can replace a cover in less than a minute without tools.

The Pro’s tool kit comes with a pump, a valve-stem extender, and some nice wrenches. But here’s the cool part–If you ever lose a screw, the tool kit includes one extra copy of every screw used on the scooter.

Plus, the owner’s manual has a map of where each screw goes and exact specs if you want to buy spares at the local hardware store. This is something that they’re adding to all of the Apollo tool kits in the near future.

Apollo Pro: Is It Worth It? Our Verdict

With its sleek design and modern aesthetic, Apollo’s new flagship is one of the best-looking scooters we’ve ever tested. Its attention to detail is evident in every aspect, from the chrome accents to the ergonomic handlebars.

The Pro is also among the most advanced scooters, featuring cutting-edge technology such as a phone-as-a-display and a built-in SIM card. Its performance is equally impressive, with a powerful motor that provides smooth acceleration and a long-lasting battery that allows for extended rides without needing to recharge.

Yes, it’s a little on the expensive side, but when you add up its postivies, it really starts to feel like something that could replace a car for most short trips, especially when you consider the added security of being able to track it and completely disable it remotely.

You can spend less for a great commuter, and you might never use some of the tech Apollo has on offer here. But the Pro is easy to ride, fast, has manageable weight, and has water resistance that lets you ride rain or shine.

You won’t want to carry it around anywhere, at 95 lbs, but with its butter-smooth suspension and large, 12-inch tubeless tires, the Apollo Pro feels like a dream to ride.