In this concluding post on how e-scooters are on their way to the German cities, I report about my very personal experiences with these little city speedsters. Yes, it is true, the use of e-scooters in German cities is currently prohibited. In recent weeks, however, I have taken the plunge with my micro electric scooter in some Bavarian cities on roads, cycle paths and pedestrian routes. Not secretly quietly, but quite consciously equipped with helmet and lights. Happy children’s eyes, astonished drivers, cool greeting scooters and motorcyclists, all that included.

Our series on the global ‘e-scooter invasion’ in the cities has highlighted the obstacles in Germany and the very opposite gold-digger mood in the US cities. The large and heavily financed US mobility groups are growing into the scooter and e-scooter market in these weeks. This happens either through cooperations, investments in e-scooter providers or by including this vehicle type in their own portfolio. The e-scooters can now be booked via app, as we have been used to do with cars or bicycles for years.

As a consequence, we expect the arrival of American providers in German cities at the latest with the release of the e-scooters by the Federal Ministry of Transport as officially recognised vehicles according to §1 of the road traffic regulations. What this might mean for our cities, we currently see in the bike sharing market. Not a day goes by without a photo with scrap mountains of sharing bikes from any world metropolis. My experience with the e-scooter was therefore very deliberately focused on how we can introduce these vehicles into our cities in such a way that we can avoid this type of mountains of electronic waste on German or even European roads.

My personal experiences with e-scooters in German cities

My experience with the e-scooter in the city of Bavaria is great. With my Swiss micro E-Scooter I had great fun in Augsburg, Munich and various smaller cities in Upper Bavaria. Quietly humming like a bee, the electric sound accompanies you on your way through the city centres. Elderly people usually look at you with skepticism and yet curiosity. Young people and members of Generation Y usually lose a’is that cool’. The riders of electric sharing scooters (in German Elektroroller like coup or Emmy) are the most spontaneous: at least one in two of them waved to me. A smile on their faces included. It’s the fun factor that apparently makes my e-scooter a favourite vehicle in town, and not just for me.

More entries in our series ‘E-scooters’:

But in addition to the fun, this little e-scooter is incredibly efficient. In my various tests no car can beat me in the last three kilometres, and not only in rush-hour traffic. Small, manoeuvrable, great acceleration – all these features make the e-scooter the perfect companion for the last mile.

An example – here you go? In the morning in the ICE from Augsburg to Munich, the e-scooter folded up my companion with my coffee in the dining car. Arrived on the platform in Munich I push the e-scooter open at my side, too many people are still around me. But at the latest on the Munich station forecourt a start, briefly turned at the handle and already I purr in pleasant drive past the cars waiting at the traffic light. As I said: I gladly accept the challenge: on the last three kilometres in a city centre my micro E-Scooter beats every car in time comparison – promised.

My wish list for the cities?

Of course, the introduction of e-scooters as the last mile in passenger transport depends on the positive decision by the Ministry of Transport. Here is my wish list: I would like to use the e-scooters on dedicated roads: they should be smooth, well cleaned and have a clear distinction to the car tracks. The newer cycle paths in the cities seem to me to be well suited, expressways, dedicated bridges like in the Canadian cities would be optimal.

But even in German cobblestone old towns, such as Augsburg’s old town or in Zurich’s Niederdorf, the e-scooters work. The fewer cobblestones, the better, but if necessary a narrow strip of larger stones through the ‘old part of the city’ helps. The use of helmet and lighting is certainly a must (sorry Y-generation). Similar to riding a bicycle or an electric bike, these props are intended to protect you from accidents with cars that don’t notice you or see you too late.

And how can the mountains of scrap metal known from bike sharing be avoided? Isn’t the risk even greater with the smaller scooters and e-scooters? If you follow the reports from the US cities, you get exactly this impression. On their Instagram accounts, the industry giants Lime and Bird repeatedly and more or less successfully point out that vehicles cannot be disposed of in rivers or on trees. The people of Munich were even referred to in the media as bike-sharing hooligans of mobike and obike bikes. So this cannot mean an easy entry for scooters in the weeks to come.

Another smart idea comes from the USA. Zagster, as the bike share company behind the Pace brand, is launching a pace parking concept. This is a parking platform for bicycles, electric bicycles and electric scooters. Pace recently launched it in Chicago, Austin and Bloomington, Indiana. This parking platform was specifically developed for the dedicated parking of smaller sharing vehicles such as JUMP bicycles and skip-scooters. In cooperation with cities, private landowners and local businesses, the aim is to ensure that the municipalities have an appropriate park infrastructure.

Zagster’s CEO and co-founder Tim Ericson says: “With the rapid rise of dockless bikes, e-bikes and scooters in the US, our cities are now in the early stages of a massive change in the way people move – as important as the personal automobile of the 20th century. Imagine a city with tens of thousands of cars you can’t park anywhere – that’s the big challenge every big US city faces right now.”

I see this problem of a lack of infrastructure for mobility parking (besides reasonable lanes for the bikes and scooters) as a big challenge. Pace is the first company to do something about this in the US market. It sees itself as a pioneer of lock-to-dockless bike sharing. “The cities were willing to experiment with dockless bicycles that didn’t hold on to anything because they didn’t have enough bicycle parking spaces and until Pace had no partner who was willing to install this infrastructure for free. We need such thinking in German cities too.

The battle for supremacy among e-scooter providers

The competition for supremacy among e-scooter providers will certainly be interesting. Is it the company with the widest range of products that will win? So, for example, a sharing service must be able to offer access to all modes of transport from one app? In addition to e-scooters, Lime also rents e-bikes and normal bicycles, for example. On the other hand, the big car sharing providers like Uber and Lyft are reaching for the smaller vehicles. In the end, this market position also determines the answer to the question of which supplier controls the data generated by the millions of vehicles.

Bird, Lime and others rarely use such information to improve their services themselves. But the data itself could become a by-product. Ofo, a Chinese pioneer in rental bikes, collects a lot of data and plans to sell it to developers and local retailers. The bike-sharing giant Lime believes that one day his scooters could become mobile sensors that could collect data on everything from pollution to road conditions.

What can we learn for the introduction in Germany?

What do we learn from this for the introduction of e-scooters in Europe? Without a clear concept for parking and simultaneous charging of the e-scooters, a sharing model of these vehicles will not work in German cities. Of course we will see privately used e-scooters in the cities, but the large-scale introduction with the claim of sharing and thus the use by many drivers in the day sale will not work without a parking concept. And these considerations will be carried out this year not only by the manufacturer

At the same time, I am curious to see which German or European providers can succeed in confronting the American mobility giants. Do we really want Bird and Lime to provide us with data on road conditions or air pollution in German cities? Isn’t a parking concept and data analysis better in the hands of Deutsche Bahn? What role could Bosch play, the company that already supplies its drives or accessories to the majority of mobility providers worldwide? And what role, for example, can Deutsche Post/DHL play? They are now successfully building its own electric distribution vehicle with its street scooter?

I am really looking forward to the e-scooters in German cities. However, the pressure on decision-makers in German cities is enormous. Because no city wants to take on an image damage, like recently by the Bike Sharing ‘urban scrap metal mountains‘. At the same time, the use of e-scooters in traffic on the last mile is incredibly effective. Time is of the essence! How far has your city got with these new means of transport? In addition to the fun factor, the city superiors should also be attracted by the efficiency of urban passenger transport. Let’s go.