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Editorial Policy & Scooter Selection Process

The increasing adoption of electric scooters makes them one of the fastest-growing categories in the e-mobility industry. With an ever-changing landscape, information only matters if it's timely, relevant, and credible.

As a result, my mission is to separate the wheat from the chaff to help you find the best electric scooter for your needs. To do this, I hold the review process and editorial policy to a very high standard. This is achieved through the following:

  • Standardized tests that can be repeated scientifically – Learn more
  • Constant refinement to ensure the accuracy of our reporting – Learn more
  • Commitments to excellence that include expert hands-on tests, extensive research, impartial advice, value for money, and a strict editorial policy – Learn more

Josh Standing on the Apollo Pro

How will I know if Electric Scooter Insider is fulfilling its mission? Before any content (written or visual) is published, it’s heavily reviewed, audited, and edited to ensure the utmost accuracy.

In the interest of maintaining our reputation as the premier source for trustworthy, no-nonsense electric scooter reviews, I ask that you inform us whenever you find an error, spot a gap in our coverage, or have any other suggestions for improvement. Readers are part of the Electric Scooter Insider community, and the strength of that relationship is the ultimate test of our success. I promise to strive for excellence and will continue to refine our industry-leading testing and review processes.

Separating the Wheat from the Chaff

How I Shortlist & Select Electric Scooters

Our objective, precise, and repeatable testing methods – which use sophisticated GPS data loggers to measure performance – provide the comparative data and quantitative results that feed the technical analysis of our product reviews.

This, combined with the qualitative analysis from my hands-on evaluations, gives our readers, watchers, and viewers, everything that they need to know about a specific scooter to make an informed buying decision.

Video: Example of Josh testing an electric scooter's ride quality

Whether I’m working on a new buyer guide or an individual scooter review, I always place myself in your shoes to understand what information will be most helpful. That’s why I don’t publish lazy “Top 10” guides. Instead, I carefully curate content to deliver a rich and useful experience. This process involves 3 steps:

Step 1: Shortlisting the Scooters

Shortlisting the scooters isn’t an easy job, and this is because each is subject to a certain set of criteria.

Before I get my hands on new scooters to test and review, I scour and scrutinize coverage of them across the retailer’s website, third-party review platforms, and the opinions of scooter riders from Reddit. I also often schedule face-to-face calls with the retailers/brands to learn more about who they are, what they believe their scooters have to offer, and importantly, clarify post-purchase details (including customer support and warranty information).

All too often, I see electric scooters being reviewed, but the companies behind them are simply in it for a money grab and fail to provide a good level of post-purchase care. This is why I go the extra step to assess customer support in my tests.

Electric Scooter For Heavy Adults

Following the tests, the scooters are added to our database along with their key performance metrics and design specifications. This sets the foundation for the shortlisting process that’s required for the creation of my “best” electric scooter guides (i.e. best for speed, off-roading, commuting, etc).

To paint a clear picture of this process, I’ll use my guide to the best long-range electric scooters as an example.

To shortlist the best models from the entire database of electric scooters that I’ve tested and reviewed, I placed particular focus on areas of their design and performance that addressed their ability to be top performers in the long-range category.

Here, each scooter was assessed on the following:

  • Maximum range (based on optimal riding conditions)
  • Real-world range (based on real-world riding conditions)
  • Battery size (voltage, amp-hours, watt-hours)
  • Battery quality (cell type, branded vs non-branded)
  • Battery management system (the protection systems that ensure battery health)
  • Charge time (the time it takes for the battery to fully charge)
  • Ride quality (handling, comfort, and power delivery)
  • Reliability (how well a scooter holds up on long rides, i.e. durability)

Following this analysis, a pool of 55 top-performing long-range models were shortlisted.

Step 2: Understanding Your Preferences

This is one of the most time-consuming steps in the process and it’s vitally important that I get it right.

It’s not good enough to simply present a “Top 10” list of the best electric scooters. Instead, a thorough understanding of your intent is required so that I can curate the list in a way that recognizes diversity in rider preferences.

Again, to paint a clear picture of the process, I’ll use the long-range scooter guide as an example.

The term ‘long-range’ can mean different things to different people. Some may think a long-range is 30 miles, while others may think it's 60 miles. Similarly, you may be searching for a long-range scooter that can be ridden fast, whilst someone else may want one that can go off-road.

60-70 MPH Electric Scooters

I think of every possibility and address them in an easy-to-digest format. For the long-range guide, I created three overarching categories to provide a breakdown of the best models by different range classes – including long-range (20-40 miles), super long-range (40-60 miles), and extreme range (60-80 miles). Within each of these, I then added sub-categories to address riders of varying experience levels – including entry-level, intermediate, and expert.

Example: See how the top-performing long-range electric scooters have been categorized by range class and rider experience.

Example of how the best long-range electric scooters have been categorized

Taking this one step further, I categorized the scooters by use case (i.e. for heavy riders, off-roading, commuting, and so on) to give you a complete overview as to which model is best for your specific needs.

Example: See how the top-performing long-range electric scooters have been categorized by use case.

I repeat this process for all of my “best” electric scooter guides, whilst also addressing the suitability of each scooter in my reviews.

Step 3: Selecting the Scooters

Once I have an understanding of your preferences and have outlined the types of scooters that would be most suited to you, I then carefully select the best models from the shortlist.

Josh With Apollo Air Pro, Ghost, and Phantom

Depending on the guide, the number of scooters selected can vary. For instance, in my guide to the best long-range electric scooters, 9 were chosen from a total of 55 shortlisted models. On the other hand, just 6 were selected from 31 models in my guide to the best off-road scooters.

As a result of my precise approach, you can be confident that all the scooters featured in my guides are there because of merit.

How ESI is Supported

Affiliate Disclosure

To support my rigorous testing and review process, I rely on affiliate commissions. These are at no cost to you.

If you read or watch my guides/reviews, find a scooter that you like, and click through to the retailer to buy it, then I may earn a commission. Importantly, I only earn a commission if you purchase a scooter and are happy with it. If you decide that you don’t like it and return it, I don’t earn a commission.

All of my tests and reviews are independent and impartial. Retailers and manufacturers do not influence them in any way. This is extremely important as my mission is to help you find the right electric scooter and that means highlighting the good, as well as the bad to let you be the judge. You can learn more about my commitments to excellence, as well as how I stay impartial here.

Josh Frisby
Josh Frisby

From basic budget and feature-packed commuters to all-terrain trailblazers and ultra-performance behemoths, I've spent the last 5 years testing every type of electric scooter. All of the scooters that I review are put through a rigorous review process so that I can clearly distinguish where one is better or worse than another. See how I test electric scooters or check out my guide to the best electric scooters. Contact me anytime: josh@electricscooterinsider.com

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