Electric scooters were approved in Germany five years ago – since then there has been heated debate about their safety and environmental benefits. The industry is optimistic.
Despite all the discussions surrounding electric scooters and the economic difficulties facing the industry, providers of e-scooters see no end to demand. “Shared micromobility does not even scratch the surface of the potential of what is actually possible in the future,” says Alexander Jung, spokesperson for the micromobility working group at the Platform Shared Mobility interest group. “Demand is growing year after year.”
According to the platform’s own information, it recorded around 75.1 million trips with e-scooters among its members in 2022. In 2023, there were already almost 80 million trips – and that despite the fact that a major provider, Tier, had left the association. Micromobility is the term used to describe the use of small and light vehicles, especially in urban areas.
Industry continues to undergo change
Nevertheless, the industry is still undergoing a transformation. “We see that the times of maximum growth are over. Today it is all about operating the existing fleets as efficiently as possible. Profitability is the main goal of the providers,” emphasises Jung.
Profitability is important in order to become more independent of the capital markets and public subsidies in the long term. The fleets have therefore remained largely constant in recent years despite increasing demand. The association currently estimates the number of e-scooters among its own members throughout Germany to be around 200,000.
The number of providers, however, has declined. Tier took over the Dutch-French competitor Dott in January. Jung, who also works for the sharing provider Lime, does not rule out further takeovers. “The trend towards consolidation is continuing, that is still a constant theme in the industry,” he says.
But the companies are investing a lot: in more modern vehicles, new technologies, better services for customers. “We are not a flash in the pan,” says Jung.
Gradual rethinking in municipalities
Cities and municipalities must also adapt to this. Although there is a gradual change of mindset and a greater willingness to cooperate among administrations, there is still great skepticism and even rejection of e-scooters in many communities.
Most recently, the North Rhine-Westphalian city of Gelsenkirchen linked the special use permit for providers to a mandatory identity check of users in order to be able to better prosecute abuse and misconduct.
The two companies operating there, Bolt and Tier, then stopped the service and filed a lawsuit against the measure. There is no general ban like in Paris in Gelsenkirchen and there are no signs of one in other German cities either.
Jung: New division of road space necessary
One reason for the scepticism, which is also shared by many other road users, is the way drivers handle e-scooters. Carelessly parked vehicles on sidewalks or in front of driveways and young people speeding down sidewalks are still part of everyday life.
In Jung’s view, many of these problems could be solved by redistributing road space: “The better the infrastructure, the fewer problems there are with violations while driving.” Where the speed limit is 50 km/h and there is no bike lane available, e-scooters and cyclists tend to use the sidewalk instead.
This also applies to the issue of parking. In principle, more parking spaces for the scooters are needed. These would have to be created primarily on the street – and car parking spaces would have to be converted for this purpose.
Environmental benefits controversial
From an environmental point of view, e-scooters continue to play an important role in the transport transition, from Jung’s point of view, even if studies by the Federal Environment Agency, for example, cast doubt on this. According to these studies, e-scooters are only an alternative to walking and do not replace car journeys on a large scale.
From Jung’s point of view, these analyses reflect an outdated status. Even if they only replace a few car journeys, e-scooters save more CO2 than they cause in addition, for example through production and disposal, when they are used as a replacement for walking. In addition, e-scooters have an intermodal effect, i.e. as feeder for local public transport: “Their transport benefits have long been proven.”
The German Institute of Urban Affairs, together with other research institutes, came to the conclusion in a 2022 transport project that the emission impact of scooters is approximately zero, meaning that they neither save emissions nor generate additional ones.
Source: Stern
