Are shared electric scooters energy efficient?

作     者：Yuxuan Wang Jiaming Wu Kequan Chen Pan Liu 

作者机构：Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Urban ITSSchool of TransportationSoutheast UniversitySi Pai Lou#2Nanjing210096China Department of Architecture and Civil EngineeringChalmers University of TechnologyGothenburgSE41296Sweden 

出 版 物：《Communications in Transportation Research》 (交通研究通讯（英文）)

年 卷 期：2021年第1卷第1期

页      面：182-192页

学科分类：07[理学] 070202[理学-粒子物理与原子核物理] 0702[理学-物理学] 0823[工学-交通运输工程] 

基　　金：VINNOVA 

主　　题：E-scooters Shared mobility Sustainable transportation Monte Carlo simulation 

摘      要：Shared electric scooters(e-scooter)are booming across the world and widely regarded as a sustainable mobility service.An increasing number of studies have investigated the e-scooter trip patterns,safety risks,and environmental impacts,but few considered the energy efficiency of e-scooters.In this research,we collected the operational data of e-scooters from a major provider in Gothenburg to shed light on the energy efficiency performance of e-scooters in real cases.We first develop a multiple logarithmic regression model to examine the energy consumption of single trips and influencing factors.With the regression model,a Monte Carlo simulation framework is proposed to estimate the fleet energy consumption in various scenarios,taking into account both trip-related energy usage and energy loss in idle status.The results indicate that 40%of e-scooter battery energy was wasted in idle status in the current practice,mainly due to the relatively low usage rate(0.83)of e-scooters.If the average usage rate drops below 0.5,the wasted energy could reach up to 53%.In the end,we present a field example to showcase how to optimally integrate public transport with e-scooters from the perspective of energy efficiency.We hope the findings of this study could help understand and resolve the current and future challenges regarding the ever-growing e-scooter services.