Are shared electric scooters energy efficient?

• Published in: Communications in transportation research 2021-12, Vol.1, p.100022, Article 100022
• Main Authors: Wang, Yuxuan, Wu, Jiaming, Chen, Kequan, Liu, Pan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: E-scooters; Monte Carlo simulation; Shared mobility; Sustainable transportation
• ISSN: 2772-4247; 2772-4247
• DOI: 10.1016/j.commtr.2021.100022

Shared electric scooters (e-scooter) are booming across the world and widely regarded as a sustainable mobility service. An increasing number of studies have investigated the e-scooter trip patterns, safety risks, and environmental impacts, but few considered the energy efficiency of e-scooters. In this research, we collected the operational data of e-scooters from a major provider in Gothenburg to shed light on the energy efficiency performance of e-scooters in real cases. We first develop a multiple logarithmic regression model to examine the energy consumption of single trips and influencing factors. With the regression model, a Monte Carlo simulation framework is proposed to estimate the fleet energy consumption in various scenarios, taking into account both trip-related energy usage and energy loss in idle status. The results indicate that 40% of e-scooter battery energy was wasted in idle status in the current practice, mainly due to the relatively low usage rate (0.83) of e-scooters. If the average usage rate drops below 0.5, the wasted energy could reach up to 53%. In the end, we present a field example to showcase how to optimally integrate public transport with e-scooters from the perspective of energy efficiency. We hope the findings of this study could help understand and resolve the current and future challenges regarding the ever-growing e-scooter services. •We include idle energy loss in the energy consumption analysis of e-scooters.•Monte Carlo simulation is conducted based on field data.•We propose an optimal solution to integrate public transport and e-scooters.