The Environmental Impact of Dockless Scooters

Dockless scooters have been taking America by storm; There are now over 85,000 of these electrically powered, phone-unlocked mini-vehicles on U.S streets. In 2018, they surpassed bicycles as the country’s leading form of dockless transportation technology. In the same year, riders took them on approximately 38.5 million individual trips.

While often touted as carbon neutral, e scooters actually do have a measurable impact on the environment. This isn’t all that surprising, given the energy inputs associated with their manufacturing, and the electricity required for their nightly charging.

The question that now needs answering is how well these scooters compare to other types of urban transportation technologies from an environmental standpoint.

Understanding the effects e scooters have on the environment requires an analysis of their entire life cycles. While relatively light and small, they must carry a battery in addition to their basic frame and electronic systems. The production process of these batteries is far from environmentally friendly, but might well be a necessary evil given the many benefits of electric transportation. In addition to the battery, the aluminum used to create the scooters’ frames and the rubber for their tires are the most environmentally unfriendly materials required for the production process.

Studies of scooter lifecycles estimate that manufacturing accounts for approximately 50% of a single scooter’s total environmental impact (as measured in greenhouse gas emissions).

The other major contributor to e scooters’ lifecycle emissions, accounting for 43% of their carbon footprint, is the process required to collect and charge them every night. In general, e scooters are charged by freelance workers called “juicers.” At the end of each day, these juicers take scooters off the streets and bring them home, and use outlets in their houses as charging sources. Seeing as the majority of juicers have gasoline powered cars, this charging process is a long way from being carbon neutral.

Scooters are currently about twice as efficient as the average car in terms of per passenger miles per gallon (units of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere per passenger carried a distance of one mile). However, if a car is carrying more than one passenger, it can reach the same or even better levels of efficiency as an e scooter. Buses, when fully loaded, easily beat scooters in terms of per passenger efficiency, and bicycles easily beat buses.

However, scooters don’t look to be leaving our streets any time soon. Several companies are making massive investments in scooter technology, and a large number of people are frequently using them to reach urban destinations. Thankfully, despite their surprisingly large environmental footprint, scooters can become more efficient in the future.

One of the simplest ways that companies can make scooters greener is by engineering them to have longer natural lifespans. It would also be beneficial if companies took measures to prevent scooter vandalism, which is currently a big problem. Another excellent strategy for companies to pursue would be increasing the efficiency of the nightly pick up and charging schedule to which all dockless scooters are currently bound.

Even if companies fail to take these measures, scooters will automatically become less impactful on the environment as time goes on. This shift will occur as they are increasingly charged with renewably generated energy, and collected by juicers driving electric cars.

As a consumer, you can improve the situation by using scooters to replace car trips, but refraining from using scooters in lieu of riding your bike or a bus.

If you’d like to learn more about the strange economics of scooter startups, watch the video below: