The GOTRAX GX Zero – A Powerful Dual Motor Commuter

The GOTRAX GX Zero sits at the low end of the company’s dual-motor GX performance series, but it rates very highly for speed, range, ride quality, and overall value next to similarly-priced commuters.

GOTRAX GX Zero – $999

GOTRAX has definitely proven that they can make premium dual motor performance scooters, when they want to. The GX3 ranks up there with the best we’ve tested on two wheels for under $2,000. We can say the same about the GOTRAX GX Zero (also called the GOTRAX Ares) when it comes to recommending electric scooters under $1,000.

GOTRAX is a company that knows its buyers – budget-minded commuters, students, and entry-level riders – and so they’ve made the smart move of introducing a range of dual motor scooters that let riders step up for more power and premium features, or just enjoy the benefits of a reliable dual motor ride at an entry-level price.

That’s what we have in the GX Zero – a reliable dual-motor scooter with entry-level features, at an entry-level price. There is no app (for any GOTRAX scooter, to be fair), no regenerative braking, and few options to fine tune the ride settings.

However, the stock setup is pretty great and caters to the way most people will want to ride this scooter. What do you get for just under $1K? Among other things, a 2 year warranty, hydraulic shocks, dual motors (almost 30 mph top speeds, fast acceleration and hill climbing), dual suspension, and 10″ tubeless tires.

That’s a lot – if you don’t need the added features of the GX1 for $300 more.

Who Is This Scooter For?

The GOTRAX GX Zero is for riders who want a scooter from a reputable brand and who don’t care about getting deep into their scooter’s settings; they just want to ride, hit higher speeds than most sub-$1K commuter scooters, and climb any hill they run into without slowing down too much.

While it’s not exactly a portable scooter at a little over 66 pounds, the GX Zero isn’t difficult to carry up a flight of stairs or two, and you can remove the battery, charge it inside, and lock the scooter outside.

This also makes a great entry-level scooter for heavier riders, with its full hydraulic suspension, tubeless tires, and 264-lb weight limit.

GOTRAX GX Zero Specs

Our Full Video Review

GOTRAX GX Zero: Performance

Top Speed

The GOTRAX GX Zero beat the manufacturer’s specified top speed of 28 mph by 0.2 seconds, coming in just behind the GX1 for top speed.

You can feel that this scooter’s two powerful motors can output more, and that the speed is firmware limited. This scooter has way more power than it needs for this speed.

Acceleration

Acceleration time is a much more revealing metric, and in this case it shows us just how much the the other GX scooters outclass the GX Zero in terms of raw performance.

The GOTRAX GX Zero has an ESG-certified 0-15 time of 4.2 seconds. This puts it 2.5 seconds behind the GX1 and situates it squarely in the realm of single motor commuter scooters like the similarly-priced Segway Max G2, where it competes best.

But while the GX Zero’s specs make it a more beginner-friendly commuter, like the Max G2, its added motor gives it higher speeds. A larger battery, however, does not translate to longer range than similarly-priced commuter scooters.

“The GX1 and GX2 are noticeably quicker than the GX Zero, but that also means the GX Zero has smoother acceleration, so it’s easier to ride.“

Range

The GX Zero has a 576Wh battery, significantly smaller than the GX1’s 720 Watt hours but larger than the Max G2’s 520Wh. The G2, however, gets around 26 miles of range while the GX Zero gets 19.1 miles of range – just shy of the GX1’s 19.9 miles.

These discrepancies come down to differences in voltage, weight, and motor power, and the GX Zero’s battery has to work harder to drive dual motors and more than 12 pounds of additional scooter weight.

This is the only one of the four GX scooters, by the way, to feature a removable battery. You can take it out for added security, take it with you to charge, and even use it as a portable power bank!

Hill Climb

Hill climbing is another area where the GX Zero’s limitations reveal themselves in comparison with this scooter’s larger siblings.

Although its 11.9 seconds to the top of our test hill isn’t bad, outdoing the Max G2’s 13.7 seconds, for example, if you really want to rip up hills at sports-scooter speeds, you’ll need to spend as few hundred dollars more.

Braking

The GX Zero uses unbranded mechanical disc brakes with 120mm rotors. None of GOTRAX’s GX scooters, except the GX3, have regenerative braking. This is pretty unusual for scooters like these. It might have impact on lower range numbers overall, to a very small degree, but it does not reduce stopping power one bit.

All four GX scooters have some of the shortest stopping distances on the market, with better numbers than electric scooters that cost several hundreds more.

In fact, while the GX3’s self-adjusting hydraulic brakes have a much better feel, the GX Zero out-stopped it by 0.3 feet, and out-stopped several faster, more expensive scooters by two feet or more. That’s not too shabby for an under-$1,000 electric scooter.

Ride Quality

The GX Zero has a dual hydraulic suspension, like the GX1-GX3 scooters, but this one is not adjustable at all, not even the preload.

Altogether, the suspension feels quite a bit softer than the GX1 and GX2. The scooter also has a lower rider weight limit of 264 pounds versus 300 for the GX1 and GX2. So, I think this scooter is going to be better suited for slightly smaller riders than those models, which is not to say it also won’t accommodate riders up to its weight limit.

GOTRAX GX Zero: Design, Build & Reliability

All the GOTRAX GX scooters come with two year warranties that cover all the most expensive parts of the scooter, including motors, batteries, and controllers.

All of the GX scooters have a water resistance rating suitable for riding in bad weather and all of them are have a UL2272 Certification, which means they’ve been rigorously tested against the risk of fire. (You can’t buy an electric scooter in NYC, even from Amazon, unless is has a UL rating).

Contributing to the GOTRAX GX Zero’s high reliability are its outstanding braking power and 10″ tubeless tires, which are less risk of flats than tubed tires and proved a better ride.

Indeed, aside from the decided lack of options when it comes to making user adjustments, and some quirks we reveal (and partly fix) in our video review, there’s little to fault in the GX Zero’s build.

GOTRAX GX Zero: Is It Worth It? Our Verdict

The likely question, if you’ve read this far, is which GX scooter should you buy? Is the GX Zero a good investment for the money, or should you spend the extra $300 and get the GX1 instead?

If you step up to the GX1 or GX2, you’re going to get much stronger acceleration and better hill climbing ability. The GX Zero is still going to climb most any hill you come across, but the GX1 and GX2 will do it without slowing down, whereas the GX3 will accelerate all the way to the top of the hill.

What you don’t get, however, for the extra money is better braking, longer range, or even a significantly higher top speed.

No matter which of the GX series is your favorite, these scooters all feel pretty well thought out. GOTRAX is a US-based company with a huge engineering budget. And I like to say, you can really taste the engineering dollars when you ride these scooters.