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e-scooters

Feb 01
Love0

Electric scooters can help cities move beyond cars v pedestrians

By General Posts

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 vehicle is powered. It’s hard to argue that an electric motor is inherently more dangerous than pedal power. In fact, given the variability of human strength, it’s almost possible to argue the opposite: electric motors in e-bikes are capped at 250W of power, after all, but no such limit is possible for people, where a fit cyclist can easily exceed 300W or more.

And so a set of regulations which allowed, alongside bikes, skateboards and scooters, electric vehicles of limited weight, power and speed is surely the only justifiable outcome of any consultation.

But more than justifiable, such a set of rules would be good. One of the truisms of the cycling world is that the safest thing for cyclists on the road is more cyclists on the road. It’s not all about public policy and accessible cycle lanes: sheer weight of numbers is important too, in forcing other road users to treat cyclists as a viable third transportation mode, rather than just annoying slowpokes ripe for close passes and aggressive overtakes.

Expanding that constituency, to encompass a wide variety of mid-speed vehicles, would only help push cities towards the tipping point where they can consider transport beyond a simple car/pedestrian binary. And that’s a point every city needs to reach, sooner rather than later, in the face of a climate crisis that much see car usage drastically curtailed.

But. While laws need to be rewritten to support electric scooters, they don’t necessarily need to support the peculiarly American model of dumping a load of scooters on a pavement and hoping enough people will ride them before they get stolen or damaged for the unit economics to work out favourably. That model, unfortunately, has defaulted to its present state: unregulated, unmanaged and cutthroat, with councils left fighting back with nothing but their powers to prevent littering.

Here, the trade-off is more painful. Dockless rideshare – of bikes, e-bikes or e-scooters – can be great for promoting access, but it can also harm those least able to cope, as anyone who has tried to navigate a wheelchair or pram around a pile of Uber bikes knows. Micromobility can succeed with or without the Silicon Valley business models – but it can’t succeed without being given a chance on the roads.

Jan 08
Love0

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

By General Posts

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 speed (80 km/h or 50 miles per hour) but it features a similar range as the electric motorcycle. Last, but certainly not least, 5G connectivity translates to real-time vehicle diagnostics, remote start, and over-the-air updates for the two- and three-wheeler.

NIU plans to start production of the RQi-GT and TQi-GT for the U.S. sometime in the second half of 2020, and the first deliveries are scheduled a few months after that.

Nov 13
Love0

Paris e-scooters under pressure to prove green credentials

By General Posts

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.

He and his colleagues analysed use in North Carolina’s capital, Raleigh, and found the electricity for charging was actually a pretty small contributor to scooters’ environmental impact.

But in terms of pollution, scooters most often end up causing a net increase in terms of global warming impacts.

“Forty percent of the CO2 emissions are from driving around to pick these things up (for charging), and about half of the CO2 emissions are from the materials and the manufacturing of the scooter,” Johnson told AFP.

– ‘Mass transport’ – In the coming weeks, Paris will pick just three operators allowed to keep their scooters on the streets, down from around a dozen which began flooding the city last year.

Lime, which says its charging depots run on so-called clean electricity and plans to use only electric vans for pick-ups, hopes to be one of them.

It also vows to get over some embarrassing growing pains: A few months ago videos emerged showing “juicers,” as Lime calls the freelance workers who gather scooters for charging the batteries, using gas-powered electric generators.

“In just a year and a half, we went from being a firm with innovative ideas to a mass transport company,” Jacquier said of the early decision to outsource charging, something it has since ruled out.

Even so, operators must also meet the challenge of keeping scooters rolling longer.

“If you are able to achieve a two-year lifetime, which would be a really rugged scooter and with really good anti-vandalism policies… that makes a big difference,” Johnson said.

But since September, when Lime launched its Seine searches, some 200 scooters have been pulled out, said Sonthay Detsaboun, who manages the urban patrols.

It’s a similar story in Lyon, where in September an environment group pulled out 109 scooters on just one 800-metre (half a mile) stretch along the Rhone, one of two rivers that weave through the city.

– Building a better machine – At Lime’s depot at Arcueil, just south of Paris, the din of clanking metal and power tools suggests vandalism will remain a challenge to profitability — just as it has been for the city’s pioneering Velib bike-sharing system.

Some 200 mechanics keep the place running around the clock, seven days a week, so the fleet can keep rolling.

Every day 1,000 to 1,500 scooters are put back in working order — common problems include snipped brake cables or spray-painted QR codes, meaning they can’t be unlocked.

Lime is upgrading its fleet to put bigger batteries under the floorboard, hopefully extending the life of the most costly — and environmentally damaging — component.

Those scooters can go 50 kilometres (30 miles) on a single charge, and have an improved lifespan of 16 to 18 months, Jacquier said.

“We’re aiming for a net environmental impact of zero, and therefore 100 percent positive for the planet,” he said.

Aug 04
Love0

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

By General Posts

 

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 is pretty complicated, but a few things were clear,” said Johnson.

“Biking – even with an electric bike – is almost always more environmentally friendly than using a shared e-scooter. The sole possible exception is for people who use pay-to-ride bike-share programs. Those companies use cars and trucks to redistribute the bicycles in their service area, which can sometimes make them less environmentally friendly than using an e-scooter.”

By the same token, the study found that driving a car is almost always less environmentally friendly than using an e-scooter.

But some results may surprise you. For example, taking the bus on a route with high ridership is usually more environmentally friendly than an e-scooter.

“We found that the environmental impact from the electricity used to charge the e-scooters is fairly small – about 5 per cent of its overall impact,” said Johnson. “The real impact comes largely from two areas: using other vehicles to collect and redistribute the scooters; and emissions related to producing the materials and components that go into each scooter.”

That means that there are two major factors that contribute to each scooter’s environmental footprint. First is that the less driving that is done to collect and redistribute the scooters, the smaller the impact. The second factor is the scooters’ lifetime: the longer the scooter is in service, the more time it has to offset the impact caused by making all of its constituent parts.

Jul 20
Love0

Electric scooters: threat to motorcyling or innocent fun?

By General Posts

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 gardens or are even tossed over bridges into the Seine, and the city’s pavements have become something of a battleground between riders and pedestrians. Mayor Anne Hidalgo says electric scooters have fallen into a legal grey zone and after repeated complaints and a spate of injuries and near misses, the mayor and police want to limit speeds to 20km/h in most areas and 8km/h in areas with heavy foot traffic, and prohibit parking anywhere but designated spaces. Hidalgo also plans to limit the number of scooters. Paris already imposes €135 fines for riding on the pavement and €35 fines for blocking the pavement while parked.”

In Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, police are seeing growing numbers of riders of rental scooters that use them to get home after a night on the town, whilst intoxicated by alcohol or drugs. These users face fines of up to £240.

FEMA’s considerations

Collision and injury data relating to these vehicles must be collated separately from that relating to motorcycles, mopeds or bicycles. This is a major concern for us as we do not want to have the collision data for motorcycles skewed by the inclusion of two- or three-wheeled powered vehicles which are not subject to the same regulations.

We propose to create a separate category L0 (L-zero) for PLEVs to distinguish them from bicycles, electric assisted bicycles, mopeds, motorcycles and other L-category vehicles.

Mar 30
Love0

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

By General Posts

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 be “100 per cent localised”. Currently, an important area of focus for manufacturers is growing their presence in the country. Okinawa, which currently has over 300 dealerships, plans to increase them to 500 next year. Avan, which has 33 dealerships and is present predominantly in Maharashtra and parts of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, plans to have over 100 dealers this year.

When it comes to volumes, the companies seem to be taking a steady approach. “Okinawa has sold close to a 1,000 i-Praise scooters since its launch,” Sharma added. While Tiwari did not comment on the number of scooters Avan Motors has sold, he said that the company is targeting total sales volume of 12,000 units this year and aims to double it next year.