How We Conduct Our Electric Scooter Research
Choosing an electric scooter can be confusing.
Back in 2018, I was hailing a ride through Downtown Los Angeles when I saw someone gliding through the city streets on a shared-rental scooter. I was mesmerized, and with my prior involvement in the world of transportation technologies, I could see how the emergence of electric scooters was going to completely change inner-city travel. I wanted to be a part of that.
One of the first times I saw someone riding an electric scooter
As I was hailing a ride through Downtown Los Angeles I saw this guy gliding through the city streets.
I started to research where you could buy an electric scooter for private ownership and soon realized that there were no online resources to help connect consumers, like me and you, with the best electric scooters.
And so, on 8th January 2019, Electric Scooter Insider was born.
Ever since then, our mission has been to help prospective riders, and the electric scooter community as a whole, seamlessly find, learn about, and choose the right electric scooter.
For just over 2 years, I ran Electric Scooter Insider alongside my full-time job where I squeezed in as many hours as I could to publish in-depth buying guides. After seeing the positive impact we were having by helping people find the right scooter for their needs, I had an insatiable desire to make it my full-time profession so I could help even more people.
I built a fantastic team of scooter reviewers (Coleman and Dan) and writers (Jordan, Rob, and Elise) and began working full-time (1st March 2021) to achieve our vision to be the go-to resource for electric scooters. The last couple of years have been a wild ride and we are super excited to take you along for the journey as we grow.
To achieve our mission and vision, we put you first (prospective riders and the electric scooter community as a whole). From our interactions with you, we understand the value that Electric Scooter Insider can bring in helping you make the right decision. As a result, we are underpinned by 4 core values.
Value 1: Extensive Research
Since the launch of Electric Scooter Insider, we have consistently been building and adding to a comprehensive database of electric scooters. Every time a new set of models are released, we add them to our database. At the date of writing this, we have amassed over 100 scooters in the database.
From adults to kids, fast to long-range, and cheap to premium, it plays a pivotal role in our ability to help you make the right decision.
When we review electric scooters, the database, alongside hands-on testing (where possible), lays the foundation for us to paint a clear, unbiased picture of how the scooter performs.
In all of our reviews and guides, we provide quantitative data (both real and manufacturer quoted stats) alongside our expert knowledge about how a scooter measures up in various categories of performance. Our primary aim is to give you unique insight into what you can expect from the scooter beyond the marketing material used by the retailer and manufacturer.
Here's an example:
Value 2: Substantial, Complete, and Comprehensive Scooter Review Process & Editorial Policy
Before any content (written or visual) is published, it is heavily reviewed, audited, and edited (where necessary) to ensure that it delivers a substantial, complete, and comprehensive description of the topic.
This all starts from the ideation and concept stage through to the point at which we click the ‘Publish’ button.
As mentioned, our mission is to help you choose the right electric scooter. We take this very seriously and hold ourselves to extremely high standards.
Whether we are working on a new buyer guide or individual scooter review, we use our expert knowledge and place ourselves in your shoes to understand what information will be most helpful to you. That’s why we don’t publish simple ‘Top 10’ guides. Instead, we carefully curate our content to deliver a rich and useful experience. This process is broken into 3 steps:
Step 1: Understanding Your Intent
To paint a clear picture of the process, we will use our best long-range scooter guide as an example.
We understand that the term ‘long-range’ means different things to different people. You may think long-range is 30 miles, whilst others may think it's 60 miles. Similarly, you may be searching for a scooter that can sustain long rides on asphalt, whilst someone else may be searching for a long-range ride for off-roading.
We think of every possibility and scenario, and address them in an easy-to-digest format. In practice, if you look at the long-range page you will see that we break the scooters down into 3 groups: Long-Range (20-40 miles), Super Long-Range (40-60 miles), and Extreme Range (60-80 miles). Within each category, we then further organize the scooters by increments of miles. You can then choose the mileage you’re looking for to narrow down your scooter options and see which comes out as the best in each category.
Taking this one step further, we categorize the scooters by type (including the cheapest, fastest, lightest, best for off-roading, biggest wheels, best suspension, and many more) to give you a complete overview as to which model is best for your specific needs.
We repeat this process for all of our guides and reviews.
Step 2: Scooter Selection
Once we fully understand your intent we then begin the process of selecting the best scooters based on the criteria of the article.
In the case of the long-range piece, we placed particular focus on battery power (mileage), battery management systems (battery health), charge time, durability, and ride quality/comfort. Depending on the topic of the article, the criteria change to pinpoint the factors that matter the most (more on this in Step 3).
All of the scooters we list are carefully considered, thoroughly reviewed, and compared against our database.
The selection is independent and impartial. This means that we choose how and where to place the scooters. Retailers and manufacturers do not influence our decision and reviews. This is extremely important to us as it underpins our mission to help you.
Step 3: Curate Content That Directly Addresses Your Intent
We do all the heavy lifting so you don’t have to. We don’t just pull together general reviews of the scooter but instead pay particular attention to the information that will benefit you the most.
For example, as mentioned, in the long-range guide, we focused on battery power (mileage), battery management systems (battery health), charge time, durability, and ride quality/comfort. These are the factors that matter when it comes to long-range riding.
Our high attention to detail allows us to provide rich content that delivers a substantial, complete, and comprehensive description of the topic.
Value 3: Impartial Advice
We don’t just focus on the good, we also highlight the bad to let you be the judge.
As mentioned, our work is independent and impartial. Retailers and manufacturers do not influence our scooter selection and reviews.
This is the unique value proposition of Electric Scooter Insider.
Because we put all scooters through our thorough review process, we can clearly distinguish where a scooter is better or worse than its competitors. This allows us to show you alternatives, explain which are the best for certain uses, and ultimately, identify key decision-making factors.
For example, take a look at our review of the Segway Ninebot Air T15. There was a lot of hype surrounding its release as the most compact, lightweight, and energy-efficient electric scooter to ever be introduced. But, the truth of the matter is that it is style over substance. It’s got style in spades, yet it fails to deliver on performance. We scored this scooter a miserable 3 out of 10.
We aren’t afraid to put scooters under scrutiny.
Ultimately, as part of our mission, a key role for Electric Scooter Insider is to act as a source of integrity for the electric scooter industry so manufacturers and retailers can continually improve the scooters they make and sell.
On the flip side, when scooters are good (and we mean really good) we put our stamp of approval on them. Take the EMOVE Cruiser, for example, we rate this as the best electric scooter under $1,500, or the Wolf Warrior which we praise for its excellent value for money.
Value 4: Personalized Help
We pride ourselves on our one-to-one help.
Whilst we go to great extents in our buyer guides and reviews, we understand that you may still have some questions about which scooter to pick.
That’s why I (Josh, speaking here) make myself available to answer any questions you may have.
You can email me directly at josh@electricscooterinsider.com or check out our ‘Contact Us’ page.
Here’s a handful of the people I have helped so far:
How is Electric Scooter Insider Supported?
To support our rigorous scooter review and editorial process, we rely on affiliate commissions. These are at no cost to you.
We believe in transparency and so, here’s how it works:
If you read our guides and reviews, find a scooter that you like, and click through to the retailer then we may earn a commission. We 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, we don’t earn a commission.
The commissions that we receive enable us to create more useful information, reviews, and guides to continue to help you.
Our work is independent and impartial. You can read more about this here.
Want us to Review Your Scooter?
If you would like us to review your scooter, please contact josh@electricscooterinsider.com.
