Electric scooter as a personal transport
Now new vehicles are appearing around us, which so far are perceived more as toys for pleasure than transport. But, perhaps, within a fairly short time there will be a change in attitude towards electric scooters, monowheels and other light and affordable electrical devices. For convenience, perhaps it’s worth combining them all with one name - a personal portable electric vehicle.
Let's look at the pros and cons of using personal electric vehicles, calculate the approximate cost of use and reflect on the topic of whether we could use it as a utilitarian transport, and not just to ride on a weekend in the park.
There are 2 main scenarios for using personal portable transport:
1 - we need to get from point A to point B. We travel all the way on our personal vehicle. Everyone has their own preferences regarding the maximum possible distance, suitable weather, mood, fatigue. My personal experience is this:
Then, the normal distance for me will be about 15 kilometers in the conditions of the city, which I can gladly overcome by bike or electric scooter, preferring such a transport to a car or metro. He traveled many times along this route:
2 - we need to get their point A to point B, the distance between which does not allow you to comfortably travel on your personal electric transport - too far, too bad weather, not prepared infrastructure (for example, there is only a roadside highway without alternative detour routes).
In this case, the path is divided into three sections A-B BC and CD, where A-B and CD are the sections where we move “under our own power” and BC is the section where the metro, monorail or electric train carries us.
Actually, this use case is the way by which most of those who cannot / do not want to drive there in their car get to work every day in large cities.
Vehicle requirements will vary according to usage scenario. If you need to move according to the first scenario, then, in general, it will almost not matter what type of vehicle weights and portability (unless, of course, affect the features of storage / parking, the presence of an elevator at home, etc.) But overall driving comfort and mileage will be important single charge and maximum speed. Most likely, the best means of transportation for the first scenario will be a full-fledged electric bike with a large battery and a powerful engine.
For the second scenario, the very possibility of changing public transport becomes very important, so weight and folding will be more important parameters than maximum mileage and speed. The optimal means here are not large, light and folding structures: monowheels, electric scooters, hoverboards.
Here I want to say right away that the calculation is rather hypothetical, this is due to the fact that it was not possible to find complete statistics on the resource of various personal electric vehicles. For an approximate calculation, I will take a fairly expensive and high-quality electric scooter, the owner of which I am. To consider it as a “spherical horse in a vacuum” I will not indicate the model and manufacturer, we will consider the characteristics and price.
From the scooter, it still blows with reliability, and I quite seriously count on 600 full-fledged cycles of use. What will fail earlier - I don’t know, we'll see: maybe it will be a battery, maybe wheels or shock absorbers. The cost of a scooter is 60,000 rubles. It turns out 100 rubles per cycle or, if you drive 25 km between charges, then 4 rubles per kilometer.
The cost of electricity is negligible in this case: the battery capacity of half a kilowatt hour, even if you take the charging efficiency as 50%, will make the charge cost equal to 3 rubles at the most expensive tariff, that is, no more than 3% of the cost of the resource.
Private car
With a personal car, of course, the most difficult to compare - the cost of using different cars can vary by an order of magnitude. If we consider the cost of using a budget car for daily trips using a very approximate formula: (fuel cost) x2 when the same amount that we spend on fuel is delayed for maintenance, insurance, replacing a car with a new one, then again, approximately, in the city cycle 100 kilometers will cost us about 700 rubles (350 for fuel and resource costs).
Total one km - 7 rubles.
Taxi
According to Yandex taxi:
The average trip distance is 23 kilometers;
The average cost is 560 rubles.
We get the average cost per kilometer of 20 rubles.
Minibus / bus / trolley bus
Average cost of the trip - 40 rubles
Average distance - 5 kilometers
Total 8 rubles per kilometer.
So, the considered electric scooter (I remind you that one of the most expensive on the market) is cheaper to use than any classic alternative.
According to subjective impressions, trips up to 5 km are unambiguously faster than by car (where time is wasted to start / warm up / leave the parking lot / parked) and all the more faster than public transport (where you need to get to the stop, wait, get from the stop) .
In my estimation, at a maximum speed of 30 kilometers per hour, the average speed is about 20 kilometers per hour: time loss occurs at traffic lights and underpasses. Of course, it depends heavily on driving style and road conditions.
The average car speed in Moscow is 55 kilometers per hour, but including the MKAD at night and central alleys during morning or evening rush hour, this is an insufficiently detailed parameter.
According to, again, personal observations at those moments when so many cars accumulate at traffic lights that they do not have time to drive in one traffic light cycle, moving on a scooter becomes faster than a car.
With a few assumptions, it can be argued that traveling by electric scooter is cheaper and comparable in terms of time spent in a metropolis with a car, taxi and public transport.
Expensive compact models can be used for both typical scenarios (both trips from point A to point B, and trips when personal transport is used to overcome the “first” and “last mile” with high-speed public transport in the middle).
Cheaper or specialized models, it may be more efficient to use to solve only one problem - either relatively long trips from point to point on a heavy resource electric bike with high maximum speed, or, conversely, only short trips in the style of “to the metro and from the metro ”On a simpler electric scooter or hoverboard.
The main thing is to rebuild your perception of 11 kilogram toys. It is possible not only to drive along cycle paths in the park with pleasure, but also to move very efficiently in a daily mode.
In the comments, I am pleased to learn about your experience in using personal electric vehicles to solve everyday problems.
Let's look at the pros and cons of using personal electric vehicles, calculate the approximate cost of use and reflect on the topic of whether we could use it as a utilitarian transport, and not just to ride on a weekend in the park.
Use cases
There are 2 main scenarios for using personal portable transport:
1 - we need to get from point A to point B. We travel all the way on our personal vehicle. Everyone has their own preferences regarding the maximum possible distance, suitable weather, mood, fatigue. My personal experience is this:
- need plus temperature
- lack of heavy rainfall
- good mood
Then, the normal distance for me will be about 15 kilometers in the conditions of the city, which I can gladly overcome by bike or electric scooter, preferring such a transport to a car or metro. He traveled many times along this route:
2 - we need to get their point A to point B, the distance between which does not allow you to comfortably travel on your personal electric transport - too far, too bad weather, not prepared infrastructure (for example, there is only a roadside highway without alternative detour routes).
In this case, the path is divided into three sections A-B BC and CD, where A-B and CD are the sections where we move “under our own power” and BC is the section where the metro, monorail or electric train carries us.
Actually, this use case is the way by which most of those who cannot / do not want to drive there in their car get to work every day in large cities.
Vehicle requirements will vary according to usage scenario. If you need to move according to the first scenario, then, in general, it will almost not matter what type of vehicle weights and portability (unless, of course, affect the features of storage / parking, the presence of an elevator at home, etc.) But overall driving comfort and mileage will be important single charge and maximum speed. Most likely, the best means of transportation for the first scenario will be a full-fledged electric bike with a large battery and a powerful engine.
For the second scenario, the very possibility of changing public transport becomes very important, so weight and folding will be more important parameters than maximum mileage and speed. The optimal means here are not large, light and folding structures: monowheels, electric scooters, hoverboards.
Use Cost Calculation
Here I want to say right away that the calculation is rather hypothetical, this is due to the fact that it was not possible to find complete statistics on the resource of various personal electric vehicles. For an approximate calculation, I will take a fairly expensive and high-quality electric scooter, the owner of which I am. To consider it as a “spherical horse in a vacuum” I will not indicate the model and manufacturer, we will consider the characteristics and price.
- Battery Capacity - 500 Watts
- Maximum speed - 30 km / h
- Mileage from a single charge (in greenhouse conditions, plus temperature, not many rises, no strong wind) - 35 kilometers
- Full charge time - 2 hours
- Weight 11 kilograms
- Folds quickly to a very compact state
From the scooter, it still blows with reliability, and I quite seriously count on 600 full-fledged cycles of use. What will fail earlier - I don’t know, we'll see: maybe it will be a battery, maybe wheels or shock absorbers. The cost of a scooter is 60,000 rubles. It turns out 100 rubles per cycle or, if you drive 25 km between charges, then 4 rubles per kilometer.
The cost of electricity is negligible in this case: the battery capacity of half a kilowatt hour, even if you take the charging efficiency as 50%, will make the charge cost equal to 3 rubles at the most expensive tariff, that is, no more than 3% of the cost of the resource.
Comparison of the cost of use with other methods of transportation: private car, taxi, minibus / bus / trolley
Private car
With a personal car, of course, the most difficult to compare - the cost of using different cars can vary by an order of magnitude. If we consider the cost of using a budget car for daily trips using a very approximate formula: (fuel cost) x2 when the same amount that we spend on fuel is delayed for maintenance, insurance, replacing a car with a new one, then again, approximately, in the city cycle 100 kilometers will cost us about 700 rubles (350 for fuel and resource costs).
Total one km - 7 rubles.
Taxi
According to Yandex taxi:
The average trip distance is 23 kilometers;
The average cost is 560 rubles.
We get the average cost per kilometer of 20 rubles.
Minibus / bus / trolley bus
Average cost of the trip - 40 rubles
Average distance - 5 kilometers
Total 8 rubles per kilometer.
So, the considered electric scooter (I remind you that one of the most expensive on the market) is cheaper to use than any classic alternative.
average speed
According to subjective impressions, trips up to 5 km are unambiguously faster than by car (where time is wasted to start / warm up / leave the parking lot / parked) and all the more faster than public transport (where you need to get to the stop, wait, get from the stop) .
In my estimation, at a maximum speed of 30 kilometers per hour, the average speed is about 20 kilometers per hour: time loss occurs at traffic lights and underpasses. Of course, it depends heavily on driving style and road conditions.
The average car speed in Moscow is 55 kilometers per hour, but including the MKAD at night and central alleys during morning or evening rush hour, this is an insufficiently detailed parameter.
According to, again, personal observations at those moments when so many cars accumulate at traffic lights that they do not have time to drive in one traffic light cycle, moving on a scooter becomes faster than a car.
Conclusion
With a few assumptions, it can be argued that traveling by electric scooter is cheaper and comparable in terms of time spent in a metropolis with a car, taxi and public transport.
Expensive compact models can be used for both typical scenarios (both trips from point A to point B, and trips when personal transport is used to overcome the “first” and “last mile” with high-speed public transport in the middle).
Cheaper or specialized models, it may be more efficient to use to solve only one problem - either relatively long trips from point to point on a heavy resource electric bike with high maximum speed, or, conversely, only short trips in the style of “to the metro and from the metro ”On a simpler electric scooter or hoverboard.
Subjective conclusion
The main thing is to rebuild your perception of 11 kilogram toys. It is possible not only to drive along cycle paths in the park with pleasure, but also to move very efficiently in a daily mode.
In the comments, I am pleased to learn about your experience in using personal electric vehicles to solve everyday problems.