Charging stations for scooters and electric bicycles as an element of a modern, efficient city

Apart from their popularity, over time more and more disadvantages of this technology began to be raised. Today one of main concern is that daily collection and distribution of e-scooters for charging requires long travel distances (made mostly by cars), which is not environmentally sustainable. Hollingsworth et al. (2019) stated that 43% of life cycle carbon emissions are due to daily collection for charging. Their findings indicated that the environmental impact of dockless e-scooters over their entire lifecycle is greater in terms of global warming than using buses. Because of that full potential of e-scooters can only be realized with the strategic implementation of charging stations (which can be used for scooters or bikes). These charging stations are pivotal in addressing some of the most pressing urban challenges. In this article the importance of scooter charging stations is delivered as a transformative element in building modern, efficient cities (Lambros etal. (2023)).

Scooters are a practical solution for the "last-mile" challenge in urban transportation. Edel et al. (2021) showed that 55.6% of e-scooter users ride them jointly with public transport. They effectively connect commuters to their final destinations after disembarking from train or bus. By strategically placing scooter charging stations near public transit hubs, cities ensure that the last leg of a journey is both convenient and efficient. This encourages more individuals to use public transportation, as they know they can seamlessly transition from a train or bus to a scooter for their final destination.

Charging stations for scooters represent a cutting-edge solution for sustainable urban mobility. Electric scooters produce zero tailpipe emissions, making them an eco-friendly transportation option. By ensuring accessible and dependable charging infrastructure, cities can promote a shift away from gasoline-powered vehicles, ultimately reducing the carbon footprint of urban transportation. E-scooters are particularly well-suited for short distances. Basing on US examples the average trip distance on e-scooters was estimated to be approximately 1.6 km in San Francisco, 1.85 km in Portland, 2.4 km in Chicago (Abouelela et al., 2021) and 1.0–1.4 km in Nashville, depending on the purpose of the trip (Ziedan, Shah, et al., 2021).

Scooters are not only eco-friendly but also accessible and affordable. Edel et al. (2021) addressed the economic impacts by evaluating the savings when using e-scooters combined with public transport, car and public transport. E-scooters combined with public transport reduced user costs by 69% per kilometer compared to car use and increased the cost by 35% compared to the exclusive use of public transport. The cost increase occurred mainly because e-scooters tend to replace first/last mile trips which are often being walked or cycled. Locating charging stations at transfer hubs may
therefore increase the number of passengers using public transport, which is extremely important from the perspective of its operating costs.

In densely populated cities, the demand for parking spaces is a constant challenge. Traditional vehicles require substantial parking real estate, contributing to congestion and urban sprawl. Electric scooters, on the other hand, occupy significantly less space but often in a very disorderly manner. Scooter charging stations serve as organized hubs where scooters are stored, charged, and made available for use, ensuring an efficient and space-saving approach to scooter storage. This reduces the burden on urban infrastructure and frees up valuable space for other urban development projects. Irregular parking and high life cycle global warming impacts of e-scooters due to dockless operating system cause a tendency from dockless systems to charging stations. (Oruc et. al. 2022). It is a great convenience when charging stations can use, for example, solar panels and do not require a dedicated power connection, which may be time-consuming to obtain and thus significantly hinder the expansion of the station network.

Traffic congestion is a major issue in most of the cities, leading to wasted time and economic losses. Scooter charging stations play a significant role in alleviating this problem by promoting scooter use for short-distance trips. As electric scooters can efficiently navigate through traffic, cities can encourage commuters to opt for scooters, reducing the number of private cars on the road. This, in turn, leads to smoother traffic flow and less congestion, resulting in quicker and more efficient commutes.

The construction of a charging station system is one of the tools enabling the inclusion of scooters in the city's transport system, and at the same time contributing to greater order in their parking in the city. Additionally, this is the only way to actually reduce greenhouse gas emissions by riding electric scooters. Hence, in the ongoing process of building charging stations for electric vehicles, it is worth planning charging stations for electric scooters and bicycles as well. Scooter charging stations should become indispensable elements in the modern urban landscape just like the presence of scooters in cities is.

Sources:
Abouelela M., Haddad, C., &, Antoniou, C. Are young users willing to shift from carsharing to
scooter–sharing? Transp. Res. Part D: Transp. Environ., 95 (2021).

Edel F, Wassmer S, Kern M. Potential Analysis of E-Scooters for Commuting Paths. World Electric
Vehicle Journal. 2021; 12(2):56. https://doi.org/10.3390/wevj12020056

Lambros M., Eirini S., Panagiotis T., Christos K., Konstantinos K., E-scooter micromobility systems:
Review of attributes and impacts,Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Volume 21, 2023.

Oruc A., Sedat Y.,Siting charging stations and identifying safe and convenient routes for
environmentally sustainable e-scooter systems, Sustainable Cities and Society,Volume 84, 2022.

Ziedan A., Darling W., Brakewood C., Erhardt G., Watkins K., The impacts of shared e-scooters on bus
ridership Transp. Res. A Policy Pract., 153 (2021), pp. 20-34.