Today we’re going to be reviewing the Apollo City Pro 2022. So those of you who follow us for a while, you’ll know that we already reviewed the Apollo City 2022. Well, now the pro is out, the dual-motored version. There have been a few teething problems with this model, there’s been a couple of problems with stem wobble, a few Bluetooth connection issues, and a couple of other small things but the general consensus is this is a fantastic scooter.
First, we’re going to review the spec and the aesthetics, then we’re going to test it out for ourselves and see if it lives up to its billing.
Tyres, Wheels and Motors
As always, we’re going to start with the tyres first and the wheels. We have 2 x 500-watt hub motors here (500 at the back, 500 at the front), so a thousand watts nominal power which is going to be giving off up to 2000-watt peak power. That’s going to be pretty quick. That’s going to be better for the heavier riders, the ones that want to be climbing hills, that kind of thing as opposed to the standard 2022 City which has the 500-watt motor which might be more in line with regulations when they change over here in the UK.
Apollo have used self-healing tyres. They’re 10 by 2.75 so big, wide tyres with loads of grip and they are a hard ground tyre but you can there’s a fair bit of tread on there and having that grip helps you stick to the ground. The self-healing aspect is basically a layer of gunk that’s lining the inside of the tyre, they’re tubeless. If anything up to a small screwdriver size spikes into them, and pulls out, they self-heal. It will fill the hole with that gunk so you don’t get those flat tyres.
Apollo are desperately trying to limit your maintenance on these new scooters that they’re bringing out. As this is their commuter scooter, they are trying to help people not have these big problems – tyres, brakes, all that kind of thing. The things that you constantly have to be sorting on other certain brands of scooter. They’re trying to eliminate those hassles for people.
Covering the tyre is a low-profile fender, they’ve got that front and rear. It’s quite nice the way it sort of floats over the wheel, aesthetically pleasing and also that’s there to stop the muck and bits of dirt and water or whatever flicking up onto you.
Brakes
That moves us onto the brakes. Now they’ve used drum brakes because they are low maintenance. Hydraulic, disc brakes are probably more efficient, but drum brakes are still very good but there is less maintenance. What you have is a shoe that fits inside the drum. The shoe has a very big surface area, so as it opens and touches the drum to stop, you will have to change that much less than you would have to change pads on hydraulics or mechanical disc brakes. Along with the tyres, Apollo are really trying to lower that maintenance time with this line of scooters.
The brake levers for the drum brakes are pretty comfortable. When you pull them, the motor turns off so another really good safety feature as it means is you can’t have the accelerator on when you’re braking, so you’re not going to be wheel spinning off or pulling away as long as you have those brakes on.
There is a left-sided thumb throttle and that is for the regen braking. Now, on the original model with the single motor, that worked pretty well, especially on the hills, but when you want to just stop immediately with it, it wasn’t amazing, you had to use both brakes as well if you wanted to stop quickly. Having 2 motors that are going to be working for the regen, it’s going to stop a lot quicker.
I really think that’s a prominent feature of this dual-motored version. It allows your battery to regen so you can get a bit more range out of your scooter and it also aids your stopping time if you’re using both brakes and the regen as well – so 3 points of braking.
Suspension
Nice swing arms look very strong and then we’ve got orange spring front suspension. It’s just a spring, a bit like the Kaabo type style suspension, but it’s going to be very comfortable with a swing arm and these aren’t made for off-roading although we will try and test them a little bit to see what they can do.
At the back, there are 2 springs. They just have a small plastic dampener inside or rubbery dampener inside just to give that bit of cushioning. It’s pretty comfortable as long as you’re not absolutely hammering it off-road and that type of thing.
Moving up from the black swing arms, there is a really nice gun grey neck of the scooter with some very neat welding around the base there which is always a good sign.
Deck and battery
On the deck you’ll see there’s a really nice rubberised mat which is one of my favourite new additions to a lot of the modern scooters that are out now. Really comfortable on the feet but also grippy in slightly damp conditions or dusty conditions.
The deck tapers back really nicely, very aesthetically pleasing scooter. We said this on the original model, they look identical. There is a handle as well, so when it’s folded down, it’s going to be easy to pick up, from the stem which will lock down onto a latch. This is a really useful feature if you’re having to pick it up as a commuter onto public transport or whatever it may be or even just for storage, a very useful feature.
It’s a chunky deck, that is home to an 18Ah battery. Now on the City 2022, there is a 13.5Ah. In here, we have an 18Ah battery so on the previous model you get about 30 miles range they reckon. We actually had 34 miles out of ours and on this version, you’re looking up to around 40 miles range. I think it might be a bit more than that if riding conservatively. We will see.
You get a 2 amp charger with your scooter. You can get a fast charger as well so you can get the charge time down to around 3 to 4 hours with a fast charger which is always useful.
Lights
The indicator is very bright, easy to see and very large. It beeps as well and that lets you know that you need to turn it off. It doesn’t auto turn off, you have to press it off, but I actually like that because then that means you are in control of your indication.
Moving to the back of the scooter, again we’ve got a low-profile fender here but the difference at the back is there is a rear light built into this. So when the lights are on, this will be on full time but when you brake that will intensify when you brake.
Finally, they’ve added a bell. It’s not an electric bell, just a manual bell a bit like an old bicycle. Again, they’re trying to work in that commuter aspect so it has everything that you need that’s going to comply with most rules around the world for electric scooters and their legality in whatever country you’re in.
As we’ve said already, being a dual-motor 500 watt, so 1000 watt nominal, this might not be road legal in the UK when they change the laws but we will wait and see. Everything else they’ve got fitted – the brakes, the regen brake, the indicators, the tyres. All that type of thing, they’re really thinking about how safe they can make a city scooter.
Testing
We’ve tested out the City Pro on the hill. We did a brake test. We did an acceleration test. We also compared it to the City, just to see the differences in how they actually go from the spec sheet onto the road or onto the track that we’re riding on.
Initial impressions it’s nippy, much nippier than the single motor model. Very comfortable, same as the other one was the suspensions taking the bumps quite well. I tested just using the electric brake to stop and it controls my speed brilliantly and it’s recharging the battery as we go. In our country, in England although it’s been so dry at the moment, it gets very wet so that IP rating counts for a lot. When you’re looking for a scooter, especially in a wet country, scooters with IP ratings are worth their weight in gold. You do not want to fry your battery or your controllers, or any electrical part of your scooter or even just rust. You want it all sealed up and low maintenance which is exactly what Apollo are doing with this scooter.
We went over some big bumps and you do feel that, the suspension works but it’s like I said earlier, it’s not like the Nami, you don’t have that hydraulic dampen suspension. It can deal with lumps and bumps though.
You will find on your commute or where ever you’re going in your urban environment, it grips the road really well. The wide tyres have got quite a nice profile to them, they really allow you to roll as you turn. Even with the drum brakes, it’s able to skid the back wheel out, have a bit of fun. You get some wheel spin off this as well. It’s got enough power to wheel spin, not like a single motor.
Now for the brake test. It’s stopped quickly. Both drum brakes together from 25 kilometers an hour (basically 15 mile an hour). We picked that speed because that is what the road legal speed in most of countries in Europe is and also that’s likely for what the road legal limit in England is going to be once the rules change. The Apollo City 2022 stopped in 3 meters and 8 centimeters with both drum brakes.
Using just the electric brake we got 6 meters on the dot. So, double the distance it takes to stop with the drum brakes but 6 meters is very quick purely on the electric brake itself.
With both drum brakes and the electric brake together the scooter stopped in 2 meters and 84 centimeters. So, there’s a real advantage to using all the different types of braking.
We next did a quick comparison of electric brakes on the dual-motor and electric brakes on the single-motor. The dual motor stopped 4 meters before the single motor, with a slightly heavier rider as well. So it’s really interesting, the electric brakes work better, as we thought, with the 2 motors because they’re both working to stop the scooter.
Next the speed test. Its single-motor younger brother, as I call it, got about 30 mph but we were on a slight downhill. Apollo say the dual motor can go to 32 mph, but with our 70kg rider got it to 35mph (56kph). But the real difference is in acceleration. This is definitely a different beast, you feel it bite. The scooter takes you to about 30 kph very quickly.
With the climb test, it pretty effortlessly climbed our hill. It’s comfortable even though the gradient is really steep and it didn’t slow down at all.
Summary
The dual-motored City Pro is more than twice as good as the original single-motor, in my opinion. We did the hill test, we did the acceleration test, we did the brake test. It wins by miles against the single-motor version. Every category. It’s more fun to ride, although the single-motor’s going to probably fit the criteria for road legal, there’s something about dual-motor, especially on the hills. It just pulls you up.
It’s got everything that you’d need to nip around town, wherever you feel like going. Off-roading it’s limited, it handled the grass really well, handles the gravel really well when dry. The suspension is comfortable but it is limited, it’s not for real heavy off-road terrain like the Nami Burn-e.
I don’t think you get much better for a dual-motored urban scooter. It’s fantastic.
If you want to have a go for yourself, which I would definitely suggest because it looks amazing in person, come and have a go down at our shop.
Video
You can watch our full review video here:
You can purchase the Apollo City Pro 2022 here
