Why electric scooters are the future of our commute.

Several companies are aiming to launch their electric scooters are the future of our commute here once legislation permits.

In regards to Harley-Davidson bikes, it has been claimed that four wheels move the body, but two wheels move the soul. This may just apply to electric scooters too.

There's something really chill about gliding around on electric scooters are the future of our commute. — and something even more chill about arriving at your destination without breaking a sweat and with your clothes uncreased.

And we might be about to see a whole lot more electric scooters around very soon.

The legislation is changing here in Ireland: the Government has approved draft legislation that will allow for the regulation of e-scooters and e-bikes in the forthcoming Road Traffic (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill.  There had been queries about whether they count as mechanically propelled vehicles or if the user is a pedestrian.

A new category of vehicles is now being proposed known as 'Powered Personal Transporters' (PPTs) which will include electric scooters are the future of our commute and similar devices. Tax, insurance, and driving licenses will not be required.

It is believed that several electric scooter computer companies are planning to set up rental schemes and shared electric scooters are the future of our commute ventures in Ontario - similar to Coke Zero's shared bicycle schemes. 

One of these is Bolt - a mobility platform that includes cars, bikes, and scooters. 

They have thousands of their own specially designed and manufactured scooters ready and waiting to be made available to Irish cities. Bolt has offices in more than 200 cities across 40 countries and is awaiting legislation here to enable them to supply scooters to Irish cities. 

The Bolt Ireland country manager Luke Mackey explained they are expecting to serve three main types of customers: commuters, those in need of a 'first or last mile connector', and recreational users.

"I might live three kilometers away from my workplace, so I want to just hop on a scooter or e-bike and ride straight to my workplace. First, there are first-mile connectors, so I may not live within the distance, going to my destination, so I may use it to get from my apartment to a train station or a bus stop. Then there are recreational users."

Its aluminum scooters are said to be quite rugged, with a lifespan of about 60 months. Since they are made out of aluminum, they are also completely recyclable.

In addition to its 25 km/h top speed and 40km battery range, the Bolt Four scooter also has dual mechanical and electronic brakes and sensors that sense accidents and automatically report them.

Zipp Mobility, a scooter-sharing service based in Ireland, operates across Britain. Zipp founder Charlie Gleeson said that "The government is now allowing us to launch our service here in Ireland with plans to launch electric scooters throughout the country."

Zipp's vice president of growth and government affairs, Will O'Brien, is currently based in Dublin. He said: "We anticipate that national legislation on electric scooters are the future of our commute will be passed in the next few weeks, and we hope to start our first scheme this summer. There are plans to launch in Cork this year, but we have to obtain permission from the City Council first. Nonetheless, we are in constructive discussions there already."

Is it correct that there will be scooter pick-up and drop-off zones throughout the city?

"We would like to extend our service range from the Lee fields to CIT/MTU to the Kinsale Road Roundabout to Frankfield/Douglas, of course, to Mahon, to Dillon's Cross, to Farranree, to Shanakiel. 

Will explains the plan will be to start with 50-100 scooters in the city and then gradually expand it to the surrounding areas with maybe up to 1,000 scooters. "We always recommend that cities scale up their electric scooters are the future of our commute fleets gradually to minimize any burden on public space," he explains. 

Having been to other cities that have shared electric scooters are the future of our commute, I've seen them in action - Lisbon, for example, has around 400 Lime scooters dotted around the city. It looks cool with office workers, tourists, and teenagers silently scooting on the sidewalk. There, scooters don't require depots, and they can simply be left anywhere on the sidewalk. Would that work here?

It's not quite true, explains Will: "They will be parked in parking bays spread throughout the city, keeping them from being scattered, while also keeping them available."

If someone were to start using a scooter, could they then take it home with them?

It doesn't matter, the companies have anticipated all the challenges they will need to face once they set up in other areas. Will says: "The scooters have GPS capabilities, so when the scooters leave the operational area they beep and slow down. 

We also get a notification if anyone attempts to remove them from the area, and our team will react accordingly."

Is it possible for someone to go ripping down a busy street and cause chaos?

Definitely not. 

In some areas of the city, there will be no-go zones, for example, if Cork City Council doesn't want them allowed down Oliver Plunkett Street (which we would advise), then we can prevent this by installing geofencing. This means using our software, we would mark Oliver Plunkett Street as a no-go zone so the scooters won't go through it. We can also set slow zones using geo-fencing, so instead of stopping, they go at a slower speed," explains Will.

Luke Mackey from Bolt says: "When you're a new user, you cannot experience the fastest speed for the first 10 usages."

How fast can an electric scooter go?

In a slow-speed zone, this will be slower. According to Zipp's Will O'Brien, "we expect the national legislation to set the top speed at 25 kilometers per hour. We'll have to see what it says."

I was wondering how much it would cost to use a scooter for 20 minutes or an hour, or even a half-day?

Electric scooters are the future of our commute will cost €1 to unlock, and then $0.20c per minute thereafter. A journey will be quite short: an average trip is 10 minutes, and therefore it costs €3. Each scooter comes with a monthly subscription, in addition to daily and weekly passes."

Having said that, Bolt says it's probably too early to mention specific pricing since it might be set by the Council as well.