e-scooters

Malta to ban rented e-scooters from March

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The decision had been taken because of “intolerable abuse,” Transport Minister Aaron Farrugia said. A surprise announcement on Friday mentioned the cause as inconvenience to pedestrians. The violations are so many, doubling the number of enforcement officers overnight would not have solved the issue as per the minister. It is understood, private e-scooters will still be allowed, with incentives introduced to encourage people to buy their own. This decision makes Malta the first European country to ban rental scooters, although the French capital Paris took a similar decision after holding a referendum. Refer: https://blog.bikernet.com/paris-climate-accord-vs-paris-e-scooters/ Government earlier this year stated it will consider designated parking zones for the 5,000 scooters on the island, before banning them outright. The term e-scooter may be confusing– it is not the typical scooter such as a Vespa. Refer above images of an e-scooter. * * * * * * * * Click & know more about Bikernet’s Free Weekly Newsletter

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Electric scooters can help cities move beyond cars v pedestrians

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by Alex Hern from https://www.theguardian.com The government is showing signs of legalising electric scooters on roads, but new laws should be about safety, not horsepower If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that being hit by a scooter hurts less than being hit by a bike. That may sound like a strangely negative place to start, but it’s sort of fundamental to why I’m glad the government is finally showing signs of legalising the use of electronic scooters on public roads across the UK. The current state of the law is a mess. Its broad strokes are reasonable enough: powered vehicles require an MOT and registration to use on public roads, while unpowered vehicles do not. Pavements are for foot traffic only. Access requirements complicate matters, but only a little: wheelchairs, both manual and powered – legally, “class three invalid carriages” – can go on pavements, while some – class four – can go on roads as well. Then, in the 1980s, the law was modernised to support the first generation of electric bikes. Fitted with simple motors that aided hill climbs, it felt silly to ban them as electric vehicles, and so a new category – the “electrically assisted pedal cycle” – was invented, and the laws amended further in 2015 to remove weight limits, allow for four wheels and increase the maximum power of the motor. Which means, as the law stands, you can ride a four-wheeled vehicle of potentially unlimited weight, largely powered by a motor up to 15.5mph, on public roads without training, licensing or registration. But not an electronic scooter. Nor, for that matter, a 5kg, 10mph “hoverboard”, unlikely to hurt anyone save its rider. Looking at the laws from the ground up, the distinguishing characteristic should be safety, not how a

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Chinese Startup NIU Reveals U.S-Bound Electric Motorcycle, Three-Wheeled Scooter

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by Mircea Panait from https://www.autoevolution.com Harley-Davidson isn’t trailblazing the industry with the LiveWire electric motorcycle. Two-wheeled vehicles with e-propulsion are huge in China and a few other places around the world, but the Middle Kingdom takes the lion’s share in terms of volume. More than 30 million units are sold in the People’s Republic each year, and this causes a little bit of chaos in the urban jungle. Major cities such as Beijing and Taiwan have banned e-scooters in 2016 along with segways, but nevertheless, business is good. So good in fact, a startup called NIU decided to showcase two models at the CES 2020 for the U.S. market. Not to be confused with Chinese automaker NIO, the company plans to roll out the RQi-GT electric motorcycle and TQi-GT covered three-wheeler to places like San Francisco, San Diego, Austin, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and even Honolulu. NIU first landed in the United States with a fleet of 1,000 mopeds in Brooklyn as part of a partnership with Revel. The mopeds in question feature 60 and 80 miles or range, respectively, Panasonic batteries, and up to 3,800 watts of get-up-and-go from the e-motor. Billed as an urban performance motorcycle, the RQi-GT is capable of 160 km/h (100 miles per hour) from 30 kW and two removable batteries with a total capacity of 6.5 kWh. In other words, riders can expect up to 130 kilometers (80 miles) in one go. Thanks to that kind of range, the RQi-GT has the makings of an interesting commuter mobile. Next up, the TQi-GT is a little more special because it’s the manufacturer’s first self-balancing electric three-wheeler. As if that kind of technological wizardry wasn’t enough, look forward to autonomous driving (or riding?) functionalities such as self parking. The TQi-GT comes in second in terms of top

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Paris e-scooters under pressure to prove green credentials

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Hadjali and Gompo are part of the “urban patrols” carried out by the US start-up Lime, which says the recovered units are recycled as much as possible — though the lithium-ion batteries are usually shot. Paris – Pulling on makeshift roped hooks along a sun-drenched bank of the Seine River in Paris, Youva Hadjali and Edison Gompo fish out two electric scooters — not the most ecological fate for devices billed as a carbon-free fix for strained urban transport systems. As city officials vow to rein in the use of wildly popular e-scooters, their short lifespans, along with the energy consumed to build and service them, have many wondering if they are as good for the environment as operators say. Hadjali and Gompo are part of the “urban patrols” carried out by the US start-up Lime, which says the recovered units are recycled as much as possible — though the lithium-ion batteries are usually shot. “Overall in Paris, Lime scooters have saved the equivalent of two days without any cars at all” since they arrived 16 months ago, Arthur-Louis Jacquier, head of French operations, told AFP. Critics say such claims fail to take into account the carbon emitted in constructing the scooters and the daily collections for recharging the so-called “dockless” vehicles. Those emissions are compounded by lifespans of barely a year, due to wear and tear but also vandalism. They were a specific target of activists at the Extinction Rebellion protest in Paris last month, who gathered up a huge pile of the devices to denounce what they labelled “pointless pollution.” “Scooters don’t replace cars, they motorise walking trips,” one sign said. Studies indeed show that most scooter trips are replacing walking or biking, with just a third displacing car use, said Jeremiah Johnson of North Carolina State University.

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Shared e-scooters aren’t as environmentally friendly as other transport options

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  A new study has found that e-scooters may be greener than most cars, but they can be less green than several other options. Washington DC: People who think electric scooters or e-scooters are environmentally friendly, take note! A new study has found that e-scooters may be greener than most cars, but they can be less green than several other options. “E-scooter companies tout themselves as having little or no carbon footprint, which is a bold statement,” said Jeremiah Johnson, the corresponding author of the study “We wanted to look broadly at the environmental impacts of shared e-scooters – and how that compares to other local transportation options.” To capture the impact of e-scooters, researchers looked at emissions associated with four aspects of each scooter’s life cycle: the production of the materials and components that go into each scooter; the manufacturing process; shipping the scooter from the manufacturer to its city of use; and collecting, charging and redistributing the scooters. The researchers also conducted a small-scale survey of e-scooter riders to see what modes of transportation they would have used if they hadn’t used an e-scooter. The researchers found that 49 per cent of riders would have biked or walked; 34 per cent would have used a car; 11 per cent would have taken a bus; and 7 per cent wouldn’t have taken the trip at all. In order to compare the impact of e-scooters to that of other transport options, the researchers looked at previously published life cycle analyses of cars, buses, electric mopeds, and bicycles. Researchers looked at four types of pollution and environmental impact: climate change impact; nutrient loading in water; respiratory health impacts related to air pollution; and acidification. The performance results were similar for all four types of pollution. “A lot of what we found

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Electric scooters: threat to motorcyling or innocent fun?

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No license, no registration, no insurance, no helmet: all you need to rent and ride an electric scooter is an app on your phone. FEMA’s Wim Taal looks into why this could be a threat to motorcyclists. Especially in larger cities, a growing number of people are using personal light electric vehicles (PLEVs), to move on the streets, such as ‘e-scooters’ or ‘trottinettes’ and other devices such as Segways, monowheels and powered skateboards. Most of these vehicles are not currently subject to any form of registration, or any other regulation such as type approval, driver training and licensing and third party insurance. It is not up to FEMA to lay out a set of rules for these vehicles, but we are concerned that these type of vehicles could be categorized as powered two-wheelers. That could mean that victims of road accidents with these vehicles end up in motorcycle accident statistics, possibly causing stricter (safety) rules for motorcyclists. The fact that more and more cities are planning parking bans on sidewalks for personal light electric vehicles, can also mean stricter parking rules for motorcycles. Other than most bicycle rental schemes, the rental scooters do not need to be put in docking stations. Typically the vehicles are left all over sidewalks, left behind by the user that reached his destination. ‘If victims of accidents with e-scooters end up in motorcycle accident statistics, stricter (safety) rules for motorcyclists can follow. A parking ban on sidewalks for e-scooters can also mean stricter parking rules for motorcycles’. A number of companies have flooded cities with electric scooters that can be rented using an app on your phone. In Paris for example, over 20,000 of these two-wheelers have been introduced. From an article in the Guardian: “Broken scooters end up in some of the city’s famed

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E-scooter manufacturers turn to detachable batteries to plug charging infrastructure gap

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INDIA – As the country still grapples with providing charging infrastructure for electric vehicles (EVs), electric two-wheeler makers are turning to detachable batteries to make the charging process easier. Recent launches such as Okinawa Autotech’s i-Praise scooter (₹1,15,990, ex-showroom) and Avan Motors’ Trend E (starting price ₹56,900, ex-showroom), come with such portable batteries. “We understood the need of the hour and developed detachable batteries,” said Jeetender Sharma, Founder and Managing Director, Okinawa Autotech; Avan Motors’ Business Development Head, Pankaj Tiwari, concurred. Both Sharma and Tiwari stressed that this feature would benefit customers living in multi-storey apartments. “Charging time on our batteries is also not very high. It takes two to four hours,” Tiwari said. Okinawa’s Ridge+ (₹76,499, ex-showroom), an upgraded model of its Ridge scooter, also comes with a detachable lithium ion battery. Indigenous e-scooter manufacturers are slowly moving away from lead acid batteries and adopting lithium ion batteries, with the government’s subsidy under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric and Hybrid Vehicles (FAME) programme helping them. “We always request that the subsidy on lithium ion batteries must continue. If the subsidy comes down, it is very difficult for the consumer to purchase the vehicle,” Tiwari said. However, he also stressed that charging infrastructure development is necessary to inspire confidence among EV consumers and adopters. Localisation of parts Local component sourcing is another area where manufacturers want support from the government. “The (government) support is required everywhere for localisation. Once the volumes go up, localisation can be done more easily. Right now, the volumes are not allowing local manufacturers and suppliers to give components,” said Tiwari. However, for Okinawa, over 90 per cent parts are already localised, Sharma said. He also revealed that the company will launch a high-speed motorcycle in the second quarter of next year, which will

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