The need for affordable, economical and environmentally friendly urban mobility has already been addressed. Unfortunately, we are still bent on buying the less efficient alternatives.
Battery powered scooters have advanced to such an extent that they now offer more performance and range than many of their ICE counterparts. In the past their biggest drawback was charge time, and even that has been addressed with battery swapping technology – although that is currently limited to a single brand. Other brands have successfully pursued the fast-charging option, which may take longer than gassing up, but not much.
Yet, time and again, we choose to buy ICE scooters. Electric scooters made a lot of sense 20 years ago, 10 years ago they were already a viable alternative but today they are actually the logical choice.
Urban Mobility
Owning a car in a city can be impractical, but not owning any form of transport is even less practical. Urban mobility is a huge part of the transportation puzzle and this is exactly where electric scooters step in.
A few years ago several companies experimented with the other kind of scooters, kick scooters. Those are toys. Not really a practical means to get around, at least, not in most cities that simply don’t have the infrastructure to cope with such scoots and their tiny wheels. Vespa effectively gave us the template decades ago, but back then two-stroke engines still made sense. They were compact, reliable and pretty easy to maintain. Today, we all know the drawbacks, and that technology has run its course, but the structure of the vehicle is still very much relevant. It is easy to balance, get on and off of, and rigid enough to carry two people as well as their groceries or luggage.
Up until recently, the performance of electric motors and batteries were not able to keep up with any ICE counterpart, falling particularly flat when it comes to hills. With an inability to climb hills it rendered them useless in most cities around the world. Over the past few years that has changed dramatically, so much so that a small electric scooter that costs the same as an ICE scooter will outperform it in every respect.
Environmental Impact
Lithium Ion batteries have been in the spotlight of late, and for all the wrong reasons. The impact they have on the environment is not small, especially now that everyone needs them.
So we would be remiss to say that their environmental impact is low, but it is a lot better than the ICE scoots. Even though scooters don’t contribute much by themselves, on a global scale they actually contribute as much, if not more than cars. This is down to how inefficient small engines are, and how ineffective emissions control is at this end of the market. Even though the fuel consumption is relatively low the emissions from one small scooter is comparable to a small family car. Then you factor in how many of these scooters and small motorcycles get sold worldwide – most especially in the developing world with limited regulation – and how much of a carbon footprint their production and distribution has incurred, and we are looking at a very dirty business.
Currently the only reason these vehicles are still being made is because there is no desire from manufacturers to stop selling something the buying public wants. Electric scooters are better for the environment, but consumers are resistant because they still seem expensive to most people.
Cost Of Ownership
Cost of ownership has long since been an issue for small electric scooters, and it still is for poorer quality scooters you might find available online.
The bikes made by reputable brands like Gogoro, TVS (pictured) or Yadea are good quality products. While there still are disposable scooters that do more harm than good to the industry, the bikes made by these brands have a spares network and in the case of Gogoro, swappable batteries that never need to be replaced. Technically you replace/update them all the time and pay a small monthly sum for the service.
Others offer better quality batteries with a longer service life than that of some ICE scooters. Getting a 10 year battery warranty is as good as a lifetime guarantee at this end of the market where you can only really expect that many years of service. Suffice to say, electric scooters now have the edge here too. You need only do the math…