Tom's Guide Verdict
The Apollo Ghost is a frighteningly fast and fun electric scooter, but not my first choice among higher-end scooters.
Pros
- +
Very fast
- +
Great range
- +
Key lock ignition
Cons
- -
Very heavy
- -
Hard to read display in sunlight
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Motors: Dual 52v 800W
Battery: 52V 18.2aH
Tires: 10-inch pneumatic
Size (unfolded): 50.5 x 50 x 9.3 inches
Size (folded): 50.5 x 21 x 9.3 inches
Weight: 64 pounds
Top speed: Up to 34 miles per hour
Max range: Up to 39 miles
Max rider weight: 300 pounds
Charge time: 12 hours
When I first started riding the Apollo Ghost, I wondered why it wasn’t going fast. Then I hit the Turbo button and whoooooooooooooom!
Depending on how you look at it, the $1,499 Apollo Ghost — the company’s least-expensive dual motor electric scooter — is either a souped-up version of the $1,299 Apollo Explore or a souped-down version of the $1,799 Apollo Phantom. For this Apollo Ghost review, I rode it all around to test its speed, handling, and performance. Overall, it’s a great scooter, but I was left wondering if it’s too much or not enough. Either way, it’s wickedly fast.
Apollo Ghost review: Design
There’s nothing phantasmic about the Apollo Ghost. It looks as if the Apollo Explore started following Dwayne Johnson’s workout routine. It has a massive front and rear suspension, big 10-inch pneumatic tires, and 800-watt motors in each wheel.
I was hanging on to the scooter for dear life as much as I was riding it.
On the right side of the handlebars is a throttle control as well as a circular color display that shows your speed and mileage, and lets you adjust various settings. As with the Explore, it’s fairly bright but gets washed out in sunlight. Also here are two buttons: one lets you switch between using either a single motor or both motors. The other button lets you select between eco and turbo mode (eco mode limits the speed and acceleration).
I just wish these buttons would light up to know which mode you were in. Each time I hopped on the scooter, I had to press each one to figure out what mode I had activated.
On the left side of the handlebars is a keyed ignition switch. Remove the key, and the scooter doesn’t turn on. While it probably wouldn’t take too much to hotwire — I always bring a bicycle lock with me — it is a nice extra security measure. Also on this side is a small LCD panel (like a very old calculator) that shows the amount of charge left in the battery.
I was able to hit 33 mph. I know this because I was clocked by a police officer.
On the deck of the Ghost are two forward-facing white LEDs, two rear-facing LEDs which flash when you engage the brakes, and two strips of blue LEDs that run the length of the deck. I wish it also had the vertical strip of LEDs going down the front tube, like the Explore.
Unfolded, the Ghost stretches out to about 50 inches both vertically and horizontally; unlike the Explore, you can’t adjust the height of the handlebars.
And you’ll have to be as fit as The Rock to carry this thing: The Ghost weighs in at 64 pounds. That’s nearly 20 pounds more than the VanMoof S3, an electric bike I reviewed a few months back.
Apollo Ghost review: Ride
The Ghost is a very powerful electric scooter. When I pulled the throttle, I was hanging on to the scooter for dear life as much as I was riding it. Powered by two 800-watt motors, it can accelerate from 0 to 20 miles per hour in 4.3 seconds. While I didn’t quite get up to its maximum speed of 34 miles per hour, I was able to hit 33 mph. I know this because I was clocked by a police officer. At that speed, I was able to keep up with most traffic on the local streets around my town.
Yet, even at that top speed, the Ghost felt incredibly stable. In fact, it was jarring at how wobbly I felt when I switched back to a scooter with thinner tires.
Like Apollo’s other scooters, the Ghost has three “gears” which limit its top speed. In first gear, it’s capped at 15 mph; second gear is 25 mph; third gear lets you go as fast as the scooter can.
As fun as it was to rocket through suburbia, I wasn’t as big a fan of how the Ghost handled compared to the Explore. It didn’t feel as nimble as the Explore, especially when turning.
That said, the Apollo’s tunable dual-spring suspension kept me very stable as I rode over potholes and other cracks in the road.
Apollo Ghost review: Range and battery life
Apollo says the Ghost’s 52V, 18.2aH battery should provide up to 39 miles of range, similar to the expected range of the Segway Ninebot Kickscooter Max. As with all electric vehicles, your mileage may vary, depending on your size and weight, the hilliness of your terrain, and whether or not you’re using Turbo or Eco mode. I took the bike for a somewhat hilly 20-minute, 5-mile ride with an average speed of 16 miles per hour. The scooter’s battery level dipped about 10 percent.
Apollo Ghost review: Verdict
The Apollo Ghost is in the mid-high end of the company’s lineup of electric scooters, and as such, has a bit of an identity crisis. It’s slightly faster and has slightly more range than the Apollo Explore, but not enough in my opinion to justify its higher price. At $1,499, it’s $200 more than the Explore, but $300 less than the Apollo Phantom, which has a much nicer design, is faster (up to 38 mph), and has a greater range (40 miles). So while the Ghost is a very good scooter on its own merits, it’s not the first one I’d pick from Apollo.
