E-scooters remain popular in Europe after their initial debut. Today GovTech looks at the past successes and future challenges of this industry.
Cities around the world are searching for ways to quickly implement sustainable transport options. Cars, for all their comfort and convenience, are bulky, loud and have a negative effect on air quality. It is in this context that the popularity of e-scooters has begun to rise. E-scooters are equally lauded and detested by city dwellers. Some say they are the key to our micro-mobility future, free from the chains of car ownership while others see them as dangerous for pedestrians and yet more clutter on pathways.
A number of years ago e-scooters went through something of a boom in Europe. Companies started popping up all over Europe offering e-scooters that the public could rent by the minute from their smartphones. One of the most important of these companies was Bolt, which launched its first e-scooter scheme in Paris in 2018. Bolt was founded in 2013 in Tallinn and was already a major player in the ride hailing industry by the time they launched their e-scooter service. Bolt has since gone on to launch other micro mobility services such as e-bikes. There was also a flurry of smaller companies launching their own offerings. One Dublin based company, Zeus, also launched their services in 2018. Since then they have expanded to 16 cities across Germany. They recently raised €5 million in an investment round and plan to hire another 20 people. Their successes and challenges are emblematic of those facing the wider industry. The company has been able to expand relatively rapidly and attract investment but have been able to launch in the country in which they are based because of stringent legislation. In Ireland, the company may sooner launch e-mopeds than e-scooters.
As the investment poured in, governments had to take notice and come to a decision on how these scooters should be regulated. Here the e-scooter boom has faced growing roadblocks. Companies have to navigate differing regulations across Europe as well as strengthening regulations. In Finland the top speed of e-scooters has been capped at 15km/h after an increase in the number of people presenting at hospitals with e-scooter related injuries. They also banned the use of the scooters between 11pm and 5am. Ireland is expected to liberalise its e-scooter regulations. As it currently stands it is illegal for e-scooters to be driven on public roads in Ireland. This has not stopped thousands of adopters from buying them and using them. It has stopped any sort of regulated e-scooter rental service from existing although it looks like the law is going to be changed in the Autumn. This has led to a scramble by e-scooter companies to position themselves to win any future tender process in what will likely be a heavily regulated market compared to other European cities.
Much of e-scooter’s green credentials rely on the fact that they are encouraging people not to take their cars. This is somewhat true but new research suggests that instead of taking people out of cars, they are used for trips that previously would have been done on foot. There are also questions about the amount of waste that scooters create. Batteries are complex to recycle and the process is dirty. One Irish startup, Zipp, is trying to clean up e-scooters’ image by only using scooters with removable batteries but most companies do not do this.
E-scooters are having an interesting effect on our cities and how we move around them. The challenges faced by the industry are in part due to the increasingly stringent regulations. In the future, governments and businesses will have to collaborate to tailor the solution to the needs of each city. It does appear that there is still room for the e-scooter market to grow.
