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Since 15 June 2019 e-scooters are admitted under certain conditions to ride the roads freely. There are now 6 international sharing providers, which are the big players in the industry right now. In cities like Berlin, Cologne or Hamburg you can already find thousands of electric scooters around the city centers, just waiting for environmentally conscious users to login and start riding.
Many private users are already using electric means to navigate their cities.
But what exactly do electric scooters actually do? For whom are they suitable?
What do e-scooters have to do with corporate benefits?
What insights can be drawn 6 months into their debut?
Throughout the course of this article lets collect facts, figures to find the answers to these and more questions.
Are e-scooters on the rise?
There are currently about 30,000 e-scooters in Germany alone. The highest concentration is in cities like Berlin, Cologne, Munich and Hamburg. The eye-catching electric scooters seem to be on every corner. The idea behind electric scooters is primarily sustainability and convenience. Those who choose to do without cars and instead use the energy of electromobility obviously are protecting the environment. But, is this really the truth? After all, the CO2 emissions of e-scooters at around 125 grams per kilometer is about half that of a car in city traffic.
The use of public transportation is particularly environmentally friendly. However, the sharing providers of electric scooters rely on providing flexibility that people in the city are used to. They want to get quickly from A to B, but they do not always want to use public transport. The alternative: e-scooters. Animal Mobility thought so too. The Berlin-based company started its e-scooter rental in Germany. However, the acceptance of electric scooters over the summer months was sobering for all providers: on average, one of the 30,000 scooters was rented 5 times a day.
As summer is long gone and winter is here one can imagine it is the hope of all providers that they survive the winter season. Tier has come up with something very special: the Berlin company has had its own winter scooters made so that people find a safe scooter even in the cold winter months. At 29 kilos, the Winter edition weighs 8 kilograms more than its summer counterpart. This makes the scooter much better on the road, especially on snow and slippery roads.
In addition, the tires of the winter scooter are larger and the front light radiates much stronger. In addition, the winter-compatible scooters are equipped with a rear-wheel drive. But the other providers are also concerned about the extent to which e-scooters will pay off in the coming winter. Should winter occupancy decline as expected, costs to some providers may soon be very low. For most providers, about half of all spending is on wear, staff, and the picking up, loading, and returning scooters.
Animal tries to counteract this and has made it superfluous. The further development of the electric scooter itself and the logistics behind it are already adapting to the needs of the environmentally conscious users as well as the local weather conditions. And yet, few people use this form of flexible electric mobility. But why?
For whom are e-scooters of lime, animal and Co. suitable?
The sharing providers have created a sustainable and environmentally friendly way of mobility with their e-scooters. Such electric scooters can be found on every corner in many major German cities. The rental itself as well as the handling of scooters is very easy. You only need the app of the respective provider. Next link your credit card or PayPal account and can drive off after a few minutes with the scooter. The one-time activation fee is 1 euro for most providers.
For each driven minute costs in the amount of 0.15 € to 0.25 € (depending on the provider). The scooters are particularly suitable for those who like to be mobile within the large city centers. For many the desire is to quickly get from one place to another, without having to resort to public transport. Whether for a stroll through the city, to visit friends or for the way home after an evening in the city - the electric scooters offer plenty of uses. And you can also make excellent use of this type of electromobility for the daily commute to work and back.
What advantages do electric scooters offer?
In the search for suitable employee benefits, e-scooters and e-bikes are clearly on the rise. More and more companies are focusing on e-mobility and offer their employees with sharing services a sustainable option in the area of corporate benefits. Especially for centrally located companies with little or no parking space, e-bikes and e-scooters are becoming more and more popular.
For companies, this type of employee support offers two decisive advantages: First, they score with the idea of environmentally conscious energy use among their existing and potentially new employees, while at the same time avoiding parking space shortages. On the other hand, companies with e-bikes and e-scooters have decisive advantages in terms of year-end business and tax-saving models. Those who use e-scooters as corporate benefits for their employees benefit from attractive tax benefits.
How about a flat rate in the field of e-mobility?
We at ePilot offer corporate customers the opportunity to use a flat rate pay structure for various e-mobility vehicles. Starting with e-bikes and e-scooters, companies will be able to offer their employees a classic flat rate in which they can use the electric bicycles and scooters indefinitely.
In addition to the standard model, there is also the opportunity to expand the offer on electric scooters and cars. Especially in terms of corporate benefits, we want to create a platform that combines the range of we-share options in the field of electromobility. With us, you can easily determine the electromobility budget for your employees by choosing two, three or four vehicle types that your employees can use in advance.
