While e-scooters have been around long enough to become a common sight in cities around the world, some questions remain about their performance and use.
CEE Professor Chris Cherry is an expert in a variety of methods of e-transportation, and recently helped tackle one of the biggest unknowns about e-scooters in particular: How long is their lifespan?
Voi, a Sweden-based e-mobility company, wanted not only an answer to that question, but also a better understanding of the factors that contributed to e-scooter life cycles, from wear and tear to battery function.
They commissioned Brightside, which does studies on all things related to urban mobility, to find their answers.
In turn, Brightside teamed up with Cherry and an additional independent consultant, on that report, “How Long Do E-Scooters Last? A New Approach to Measuring Micromobility Lifespan.”
According to Cherry, better understanding and improving e-scooters and other e-mobility options is key to their continued and improved adoption by users.
“While the shared electric scooter industry had some early missteps, I am convinced operators like Voi are on the right track, and hope that cities will take note and do more to support the continued expansion of small electric vehicles,” Cherry told Forbes in a feature on the work.
Information from the report also helped Voi in planning its next version of e-scooter, with the company setting a goal of reducing waste by 50 percent by 2025.
With the number of e-scooter users projected to increase, any improvement could also be felt by users across UT, as well.