Electric scooters may have been around in some shape or form since the mid 1990s, but it is only recently that they have become a roaring success on streets around the world. The launch of American micromobility unicorns Bird and Lime a couple of years ago jump-started the movement with their dockless rentals in the US, and riders can now scoot through most major cities for just a few dollars a ride powered by a plethora of dockless rental providers.
But scooter models for people to own have also made their way to the market — in fact, many of the original rental scooters were modified versions of the ever popular ownership Xiaomi model M365. With their rising popularity amongst college students and commuters, many people are now wondering, is it better to rent an electric scooter or buy one of your own?
Both rental and ownership e-scooters are viable alternatives with their own advantages and disadvantages depending on your individual situation and preferences, but we believe ownership offers superior benefits, and here is why.
Both are touted as green but owning is better for the environment
Electric scooters are being hailed as ‘good for the planet’ and, on the surface, this is largely true. Unlike most cars and motorbikes, they don’t produce carbon dioxide or nitrous oxides during use. But are they really as green as you think?
As with all consumer products, contaminating byproducts are created in the manufacturing and shipment of e-scooters, whether owned or rented. However, the amounts of pollutants are a hundred times smaller than those of cars. The same smaller carbon footprint is also true when it finally comes to the disposal and recycling of the scooter, due to the smaller amounts of material involved and the fact that aluminium frames are recyclable and easily processed. But rentals in particular aren’t as eco-friendly as ownership for a number of reasons.
Firstly, distribution, collection and charging are all integral parts of the dockless rental business model. Each night (and often during the day too), rental scooters are serviced by a legion of gig economy workers who — believe it or not — drive around in trucks and cars to repair, recharge and relocate the scooters to more popular locations. This appears somewhat ironic when many rental companies advertise their products as replacements for cars.
Having such a large ridership and being available for public use — and misuse — also means that rental e-scooters’ lifetimes are very short. In practice, their average lifetime ranges anywhere from 28 days to 9 months and, once damaged, scooters most often simply end up in the landfill rather than being recycled.
Remarkably, a study found that during a typical rental e-scooter’s life-cycle, it can emit similar amounts of CO₂ per passenger mile to a moped, an electric bike, or even a bus with high ridership, whereas these other methods of transport will operate for thousands of miles before being scrapped.
On the other hand, for an owned e-scooter, if properly maintained, the CO₂ generated in production is spread out across many miles and years. Therefore, ownership models are greener than cars, motorbikes and their rental counterparts due to their lower manufacturing impact and their longer usable lifespan.
It’s cheap to rent but owning is more cost-effective in the long-term
On one hand, sharing is great for infrequent use, like exploring a city on a tourist trip. Rental scooters can be unlocked with just $1 and the rest of the journey can cost less than 50¢ per minute, so the whole trip may be cheaper than a taxi ride.
On the other hand, ownership is designed for more regular travel, such as commuting. So although you might wince at the initial price tag, the upfront cost is spread over the usable lifetime of the scooter and becomes much cheaper per mile over time.
Renting appears convenient but owning is less hassle
The great thing about rental e-scooters is that they are instantly ready-to-use. Anyone with a smartphone can unlock a scooter using an app, ride away and leave it virtually anywhere.
However, when you walk out of your home or leave your office, you want to be able to ride immediately and not have to hunt around with an app chasing the nearest scooter.
Rental scooters can be dropped in an infinite number of places and with differing charge conditions of their batteries, making it very tricky for the next user to find and use effectively and for fleet operators to achieve high availability of devices in key locations and service them adequately.
How can rental scooters always be available when and where you need them? The answer is that an army of gig workers constantly drive around in trucks to relocate and return them to a recharge centre. But it is still difficult to achieve good e-scooter availability, so operators have resorted to increasing the total number of scooters within any city — a brute force solution that is very expensive and hardly sustainable as the number of users increases.
The ubiquitous availability of rental scooters creates yet another problem which has caused widespread concern amongst cities regarding whether they should be allowed on their streets at all. The culprit is urban clutter, caused by poorly parked scooters on the sidewalks which become inconvenient obstacles to pedestrians and even potentially serious hazards to the most vulnerable street users, such as the visually impaired, children and the elderly.
Another issue shared e-scooter fleets have to contend with is vandalism. While rental scooters typically have more robust, durable frames in order to withstand frequent public use, this doesn’t mean that some don’t succeed in abusing them anyway. Rental electric scooters left to litter and block public pavements are a common urban sight, as are devices ridden by more than one user at once. E-scooters have been vandalised in the most unimaginable ways by uncaring users, thrown into rivers and canals, and stolen or damaged deliberately by individuals with little regard for public property.
This host of problems is avoided completely with ownership models, which are designed to be quickly folded for easy transportation and storage. This may involve slightly more effort when arriving at your destination in terms of carrying it, but at least you know your e-scooter is immediately available when you next start travelling again — no need to waste time searching for a scooter in rideable condition or fiddle with an app because your own electric scooter is always with you when you need it. Being able to store your scooter at home or in the office and carry it when out and about also means that worrying about vandalism and theft can become a thing of the past with your own device.
Customisation is impossible for rental, but ownership offers choice
It’s needless to say that with rental models, customisation options aren’t available to the end user. While Lime have recently rolled out limited edition designs on some repaired electric scooters in Lisbon which has given them a somewhat unique flair, most models are restricted to the same uniform design for easy identification.
Conversely, with ownership models there is currently a range of sizes, colours, and designs to choose from on the market. And the customisation doesn’t end there — want to add a side mirror or replace the hand grips? You can truly stand out when you own your own electric scooter.
Conclusion
When it comes to rental and ownership, it is clear that one type of e-scooter will be more appropriate for some users than the other, depending on their needs and daily habits. Dockless rentals may be ideal for the touristic exploration of cities, whereas regular commuters will benefit from the reliability of having a personally owned vehicle at hand which is permanently at their disposal.
However, in terms of sustainability, urban clutter, safety, and reliability, ownership is demonstrably superior to rental and that is exactly why we have decided to develop our e-scooter as a durable, high quality vehicle that you can own.
References:
- Ankal and Schwär, Business Insider, A French startup is using magnetic fishing rods to pull abandoned e-scooters out of the Seine
- Lime, Lisbon Blends Art, E-Scooters To Make a Statement About Micromobility
- @birdgraveyard, Instagram
For more content like this, follow us or check out our website. Originally published at www.taur.com.
