Let’s face it…
Most electric scooter blogs don’t mention the worst electric scooters. After all, their main source of income is affiliations, and doing so would mean that they won’t earn anything.
As an electric scooter fanatic focusing on helping thousands of electric ride riders make informed decisions, I chose to do things differently.
After interacting with different e-scooter riders in our riding groups and owning several models, these are the worst electric rides you can spend your money on right now.
5 Worst Electric Scooter Models Based On Owner Reviews
Hiboy S2 Pro
Hiboy S2 Pro has been a headache for most budget riders, and we provided the detailed problems that make it one of the worst purchases you can make right now.
Since 2022, there has been an issue about the neck snapping especially when a rider near the stated weight capacity rides it for a couple of days.
While Hiboy claims to have rectified this issue, it seems to be just but a marketing decoy. As you can see from the reviews section on their website, Adam says, “My eight year old son was riding his scooter to school One day and the front of the scooter just broke off when. I contacted highboy they didn’t even want to try to help me. I don’t have my paperwork from purchasing it so they can’t do anything about it they say I just don’t think that this company is very good and handles things appropriately when things fail like this.”
Other critical complaints are that the Quality Control is bad, and under most circumstances, the scooter never works.
There have also been multiple complaints about Hiboy as a company not responding to customer complaints, which we believe speaks volumes about the brand.
All of these reviews are available on the Hiboy S2 Pro Reviews page, and hopefully, they won’t delete them and censor other negative responses going forward.
YUME has different e-scooters for any price point and I would highly recommend them for their great price-to-spec ratio and proper customer service. I own their x11+ model for 3 years now and it serves me well.
GoTrax
While there are several entry-level GoTrax models that serve wannabes well, it’s a fact that lemons are common as well.
To begin with, GoTrax rarely does an epic job while boxing the scooters, and this means it’s not uncommon for the box to reach the recipient when beat.
Due to several complaints, it reached a point where the Better Business Bureau warned consumers about GoTrax as a whole.
The issues are still there right now, which is a clear indicator that GoTrax isn’t as perfect as some of their sponsored reviewers seem to claim.
And just so you know, GoTrax rarely does replacements whenever they send you a bad scooter. They are only keen to send replacement parts instead, which is contrary to their warranty claims.
The other issue is about spare parts. It’s mostly hard to find any GoTrax spare parts in stock.
Lastly about most GoTrax models, it’s hard to customize it. To begin with, the brake calipers in most of their models are fully covered,which means it’s daunting to adjust them yourself. The relatively customizable GoTrax models are genuinely overpriced.
Apollo
Most of the complaints about Apollo scooters are based off bad customer service.
Most social users say that they get completely ignored whenever they need parts to be sent as per the warranty, which is undoubtedly not a good thing.
What’s even worse is that Apollo tends to censor posts in their communities and decline those that touch on negative experience as shared by Grouchy on Reddit.
One issue that keeps standing out is the Apollo City 2022 model stem snapping, which is shocking. While the newer models have a better build quality, knowing this is helpful for riders who would wish to get a used City model.
EMOVE Cruiser
While the EMOVE Cruiser is praised for its long range and a high water-resistance rating of IPX6, it is still one of the worst purchases you can make.
To begin with, this is a single-motor scooter, which means should it be problematic, you will have to wait longer for it to be sent to you, replace it, and get going once more. While this rear motor usually has problems, you would be lucky to find it in stock on Voro Motors.
The controller is another problematic component and while you would assume it is easily repairable as the scooter is so customizable, it unfortunately isn’t.
The cables underneath are mostly a mess and you have to be careful to not cut the wrong one. If you aren’t handy enough, it means that you will have to bear the cost of sending it to a repair center to get it made functional.
The other issue is about the weak bolts, which Voro Motors acknowledges. Unfortunately, stem wobbles due to the feeble bolt underneath the collapsible folding mechanism are common, and these could easily lead to an electric scooter accident.
EMOVE upgraded the Cruiser and we now have the EMOVE Cruiser V2 scooter which you can buy for $50 OFF when you use ERC as your discount code. We have also featured some of the reasons why you might want to reconsider buying it.
Kaabo Mantis V2
While Kaabo produces some of the best electric scooters in the market, some of their models such as Mantis V2 are known to be problematic.
For a scooter costing more than $1500 like this one, you expect minor flaws but here we are.
One of the lowest ratings you will see on Fluidfreeride about this model is, “I don’t like writing reviews unless something is really bad. The first unit that I received came with a stem that does not fold fully, along with bent rear fender support and leaking hydraulic brake. Asked for a replacement. The second unit came with the exact same problem. The new scooter also has worse stem wobble issue and the brake is rubbing against the brake pads. I am way too fed up with their service. They don’t really care if the replacement can resolve all the previous issues. They just give you all the hassle of replacing the scooter and pray that the new one will work, which in case never does. They have zero quality checks for the scooter sent out because they don’t care. It feels like they sent the first unit back to me. Worst purchase that I have ever made.”
Before you commit yourself, go through the lowest ratings on different sellers and social forums to get better overviews from real users.