I have a pride victory xl8. Problem - was running

All scooters have a protection system built in to prevent burning up the motor, and the user, should the scooter overheat. It sounds like yours overheated. If the temp. outside was warm to hot, and your weight is near the weight limit for the scooter, and you are taxing the motors over a hill, or unstable terrain, then the scooter goes into "limp home mode", or just enough to get you a bit aways, and then it will turn off. After a few minutes to cool off, it will go again, but shut down fairly quickly because it takes a spell to let the whole transaxle-motor assembly to get cool.

Check your weight, and anything else you may be carrying with you on the scooter. Check the terrain, and incline you are going against. Throttle down for all these occassions. If you overloaded the system at some point, then you may have overheated the brushes. Remove them (2) with a standard screwdriver and see if the copper coil is still flexible and springy. If not, replace it/them.

The damage may already be done, so it may need a new motor/transaxle assembly. An expensive proposition I'm afraid.