12.01.2022

Why we have a love-hate relationship with electric scooters


Some cities are rolling out ambitious electric scooter sharing schemes, while others have banned them outright. Just how green, and how safe, are e-scooters?



You might have started seeing more of them on streets and in parks, gliding past you with a faint electric hum. As lockdowns lift and people avoid public transport, e-scooters – stand-up, electrically powered scooters – are becoming more popular.


The easing of lockdowns has highlighted the importance of individual, emission-free, socially distanced transport as governments try to prevent spikes in car use and pollution. But the story of e-scooters is one of both a popular tech gadget and a contentious form of transport. While they offer a seemingly fun and environmentally friendly option for short journeys, a range of questions about their safety and sustainability have emerged in the past two years.


So how did e-scooters go from risky tech novelty to a green travel solution for the coronavirus recovery? And are they really so good for the planet?


E-scooters have been available to privately buy for over a decade but many remain prohibitively expensive. It took the affordable, accessible option of shared, dockless models – which can be rented by the minute using a smartphone app – for their popularity to skyrocket. In 2018, shared e-scooter startups Bird and Lime rapidly introduced them to US cities (sometimes without permission). Soon after, the companies – along with a proliferation of other startups, including European-based Voi and Tier – began to rapidly expand across cities internationally.


Now, e-scooter sharing schemes are available in more than 100 cities, across at least 20 countries, from Chile to South Korea to New Zealand – although Europe and the US continue to dominate in terms of use. Research suggests that by 2024, 4.6 million shared e-scooters will be in operation worldwide, up from 774,000 in 2019.


But with the rise of e-scooters has been the rise of related accidents – some of them fatal. On pavements, e-scooters pose dangers to pedestrians and wheelchair users – and particularly people who are blind and partially sighted. But using the scooters on roads without sufficient infrastructure such as cycle lanes is also risky, especially due to lack of regulations. Even when not in use, e-scooters can be hazardous: most sharing services are dockless, resulting in scooters being discarded on footpaths, causing obstructions.



Is Citycoco Legal in European Countries


Citycoco is a Harley style electric scooter with unique shape and strong performance, which is becoming more and more popular. Many buyers will have a question before placing an order, is Citycoco legal in my country? Can it ride on the road?


Different countries in Europe have different regulations for citycoco. So you need to comply with these regulations to make it legal to ride a city coco scooter


We checked the regulations of some European countries on whether citycoco Harley scooters can legally ride on the road.


Citycoco in Germany


In Germany, scooters with speeds exceeding 20 km/h require a driver's license. And the owner must be at least 15 years old. The driving license is mandatory.


According to stVZO regulations, the scooter must be equipped with necessary lighting equipment. A helmet is required when riding.


On the sidewalk, the riding speed is not allowed to exceed 6km/h.


At the time of registration, you do not need any other proof to obtain insurance and license plate number except for the COC. The license plate will allow the authorities to easily identify vehicle owners and insurance companies.


Citycoco in France


In France, the law of Citycoco scooters depends on its speed. When buying this electric scooter, you need to choose different speed versions according to your needs


What Is an E-Bike? Here's Everything You Need to Know


The first thing you should know about electric bicycle is that they're here to stay. Electric bike sales jumped by an incredible 145 percent from 2019 to 2020 alone, according to the market research firm NPD Group. It's a nearly $244 billion industry as of last year, and there's no sign of a slowdown.


Some view the rise of e-bikes as a threat, as though standard bikes will go the way of the penny-farthing once everyone goes electric. But fear not: E-bikes aren't here to rob us of our human-powered way of life. In fact, they may very well enhance it—especially as travel and commuting habits change following the global pandemic and shift of work commuting. So as we roll our way into peak riding season, here's everything you need to know about the electric revolution.


1. E-bikes make pedaling easier.


Generally speaking, e-bikes are bicycles with a battery-powered "assist" that comes via pedaling and, in some cases, a throttle. When you push the pedals on a pedal-assist e-bike, a small motor engages and gives you a boost, so you can zip up hills and cruise over tough terrain without gassing yourself. Called "pedelecs," they feel just like conventional bikes—but better, says Ed Benjamin, senior managing director at the consulting firm eCycleElectric. "You control your speed with your feet, like with a regular bike," he says. "You just feel really powerful and accelerate easily."


In addition to the pedal-assist feature, some e-bikes come with a throttle that engages the motor with the press of a button. These belong to a separate class of e-bike that, obviously, doesn't offer a pure cycling experience; they're also illegal in some municipalities. Interestingly, Benjamin says, people who aren't already "cyclists" tend to gravitate toward throttle bikes at first, but then turn around and choose a pedal-assist for their next purchase.


2. They go pretty fast… to a point.


The harder you pedal, the bigger the boost, the faster you'll ride—to a point. Electric city bike lets you hum along at a brisk clip, but they aren't motorcycles. You'll never hammer down the road at 45 mph. The motor is governed to stop propelling you further when you hit 20 to 28 miles per hour, depending on the bike. So you'll save time on your commute (I shave about three minutes off a five-mile trip) but still enjoy the scenery.


That's because, like it or not, e-bikes are fun to ride. Long, slow climbs become quicker. Lunchtime rides become more interesting because you can ride farther and see trails that otherwise wouldn't have been possible in such a short time. And whole new trail systems are accessible as the assist opens up terrain that would be too steep, loose, rocky, or brutal on a standard pedal bike. In short, rather than be afraid of e-mountain bikes, we should see them for what they are: a new tool. In the same way you'd choose an enduro bike for shredding supergnar descents or a cross-country bike for all-day endurance epics, an e-mountain bike is simply another arrow in the quiver for situations when standard pedal bikes might not be as much fun.


For clarity, the electric mountain bike in this review are electric-motor-equipped bicycles that only go forward if you pedal them. Officially, they are categorized as Class 1 e-bikes, which means they have no throttle and a top-assisted speed of 20 miles per hour. (Class 2 and Class 3 varieties have throttles and/or different top-assist speeds. We're limiting our coverage to Class 1 because most of the advocacy for trail use is currently for these models.) Though critics like to try and characterize all e-bikes as motorcycles, this couldn't be further from reality. All of these bikes generate less than one horsepower, and they do it only when you are pedaling, akin to riding with a strong tailwind.


I took a fleet of the latest out on a range of trails throughout New Mexico and was amazed by how much these machines have advanced since my first ride back in 2013. Like all technology, these bikes are going to continue improving. But if you're in the market and can swallow the high price tag, I feel they have come far enough that they're well worth buying.


The batteries are the most important electric bicycle parts, because (if you don't do any pedaling) they contain all the power that will drive you along. Typical electric bike batteries make about 350–500 W of power (that's about 35–50 volts and 10 amps), which is about a quarter as much as you need to drive an electric toaster. In theory, you could use any kind of battery on a bicycle. In practice, however, you want to use something that stores lots of power without being too heavy—or you'll be using half your power just moving the battery along! That tends to rule out heavy lead-acid batteries like the ones that start cars, though some electric bikes do use them. Lightweight lithium-ion batteries, similar to those used in laptop computers, mobile (cellular) phones, and MP3 players, are now the most popular choice, though they're more expensive than older rechargeable battery technologies such as nickel-cadmium ("nicad"). Typical batteries will give your bicycle a range of 10–40 miles between charges (depending on the terrain) and a top speed of 10–20 mph (which is about the maximum most countries allow for these vehicles by law). You can extend the range by pedaling or free-wheeling some of the time.


Electric motor


In the theoretical electric bike we considered up above, we had the dynamo/motor driving the back wheel directly, simply by pressing on the tire. Most electric bikes work a different way. They have compact electric motors built into the hub of the back or front wheel (or mounted in the center of the bike and connected to the pedal sprocket). Take a look at the hub of an electric bike and probably you'll see it's much fatter and bulkier than on a normal bike. You can read more about how these motors work in our main article about hub motors.

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