The Rise of E-Scooters: Challenges and Opportunities in Urban Areas
Author: Joachim Geiger
How can the mobility transition succeed with the inclusion of e-scooters? More and more cities are putting the use of the speedy scooters in question due to rising accident figures and a pronounced throwaway mentality of their users. Now is the time to guide the roll-out and use of scooters in a controlled manner.
There is a fine line between the success and failure of e-scooters in the field of micromobility for those renting out electric scooters. On the one hand, there is no uniform European framework for the use of small electric vehicles on public roads, which means that the effort required by rental companies to adapt their vehicles to the different requirements of the individual markets is high. On the other hand, the reputation and acceptance of these speedy scooters are on the brink of collapse in many areas - the level of risk involved in using them seems particularly high. “E-scooters are a preferred means of transportation, especially for younger people in big cities,” explains Luis Ancona, accident researcher at DEKRA.
The latest figures published by the German Federal Statistical Office once again point in this direction. “In Germany last year, there were 9,425 e-scooter accidents resulting in physical injury, of which 1,220 were serious injuries and 22 were fatalities. Almost 60 percent of e-scooter accidents occurred in large cities, around 80 percent of those involved in accidents were younger than 45 and around 42 percent were younger than 25,” analyzes the DEKRA expert. “Young people often underestimate the dangers that e-scooters pose,” says Ancona, who himself likes to hop on a rental scooter. So are e-scooters a danger for users and other traffic participants? You have to put the current figures into perspective, Ancona reports. Although the number of accidents involving e-scooters has increased significantly since last year, the bottom line is that they continue to play a minor role in accidents involving personal injury, accounting for 3.2 percent.
On uneven road surfaces - such as cobblestones or potholes - the risk of accidents is elevated, not least due to the comparatively small wheels of the e-scooters. The danger of falling or having an accident increases all the more if alcohol or incorrect road use is implicated - according to the Federal Statistical Office, these are the most common causes of accidents resulting in personal injury. But even trying to drive over a curb with an e-scooter can end badly. Last summer, DEKRA accident researcher Andreas Schäuble, together with the Université Gustave Eiffel (Marseille) and École de technologie supérieure (Montréal), published a study based on a DEKRA crash test that examined precisely this scenario. After 162 crash simulations, which varied among other things in the initial speed, the angle of impact with the curb and the size of the person on the e-scooter, a clear conclusion was reached: 90 percent of the simulations revealed a risk of serious head injuries.
Throwaway mentality associated with the use of e-scooters
It is not only accidents that cause problems for rental companies, but also a certain throwaway mentality among users: The scooters are often parked haphazardly on footpaths and cycle paths, disposed of in green spaces or dumped in rivers. Many cities are no longer willing to accept this situation. In Graz, Austria, for example, the authorities have completely banned the rental of e-scooters, while Oranienburg and Gelsenkirchen in Germany are following the same course.
A year ago, the city of Paris banned rentable e-scooters from the city - around 15,000 of them had to be withdrawn from the city on the Seine as a result. This decision is a delicate one because the city has an excellent reputation as a pioneer of micromobility: there is a 30 km/h speed limit throughout the city, as well as plenty of bicycle parking spaces, dedicated lanes for buses, e-taxis and bicycles and an excellent network of bike stations and charging infrastructure for electric rental bikes. So, have e-scooters already passed their peak as a mode of transport in micromobility?
A special use permit opens up new regulatory options for cities
Luis Ancona is convinced that the decisive factor for a shift in public traffic involving e-scooters will ultimately be the orderly introduction and use of the vehicles. In fact, legislation has been giving cities and municipalities in Germany a strong tailwind in this matter for some time now. Instead of having to rely on voluntary agreements with rental companies, cities like Cologne, Nuremberg, Mainz, Mannheim, and Sankt Augustin are now relying on a special use permit for the supply of commercial e-scooter rental systems, which opens up numerous regulatory options. A glance at Düsseldorf shows how this might actually work.
Making it work: Successful e-scooter management in Düsseldorf
In October 2021, the city presented a strategy for dealing with e-scooter sharing, which was intended to contain the uncontrolled growth of unregulated rental in the city. In the meantime, a proper e-scooter management system has been established that consistently holds rental companies and users accountable. Among other things, the contracting procedure limits the number of providers to three, requires them to operate the scooters throughout the city and includes foot patrols to monitor the parked vehicles. The total fleet in the state capital will be limited to 8,400 vehicles, with the individual urban areas each receiving their own contingent of vehicles - currently 1,800 units in the city center.
At the heart of the mobility concept is a data analysis platform to which the rental companies transmit data about the journeys and parking positions of the scooters. The system also enables the management of geo-data and no-parking zones. The city currently provides 156 sharing stations where e-scooters, electric scooters and e-bikes can be rented, exchanged, and parked. Most of them are in the city center and around the university campus. The network is set to grow to several hundred stations by 2030. New stations will primarily be built in district centers, at public transport stops and other places of public interest. Temporary stations can be set up for larger events. The respective parking zones are identified by white floor markings with the words “SharingStation” and a corresponding sign. Key point: The e-scooters can only be picked up and parked in the parking zones throughout the city. This requirement is guaranteed by geo-fencing in the providers' apps, which prevents parking outside the parking zones.
A draft from the German Federal Ministry of Transport regarding the Ordinance on Small Electric Vehicles could contribute to the acceptance of e-scooters in the future: “Essentially, the aim is to bring the regulations on e-scooters into line with those on bicycles wherever possible - for example with regard to the green arrow at red traffic lights and the clearance of sidewalks or pedestrian zones marked with ‘bicycle traffic free’ signs for e-scooters as well,” DEKRA expert Luis Ancona explains.