Are electric scooters the future of our commute? Everything you need to know 

E-scooter companies are primed and ready to launch here once legislation permits

Features writer, Caroline Delaney, tries out a ZIPP Mobility electric scooter for use on roads and cycle lanes, at The Marina, Cork.

It's been said about Harley-Davidsons that 'four wheels move the body but two wheels move the soul' and that might just work for electric scooters too.

There's something really chill about gliding around on an electric scooter — 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.

Zipp Mobility scooters

It is now proposed to create a new vehicle category which will be known as ‘Powered Personal Transporters’ (PPTs) and will include e-scooters and similar devices. And no, tax, insurance, and driving licenses will not be required.

There are a number of electric scooter computer companies looking at setting up rental schemes and shared scooter ventures here — similar to the Coke Zero shared bicycle schemes. 

One of these is Bolt — it's a mobility 'platform' as it has cars, e-scooters and e-bikes. Bolt is based in more than 200 cities across 40 countries and is waiting for the legislation here to allow them get their scooters into Irish cities. They have thousands of their own specially designed and manufactured scooters ready and waiting to be made available. 

Luke Mackey, Ireland country manager for Bolt, said they expect to have three main types of customers: the commuter, the 'first or last-mile connector', and recreational users.

"I might live three kilometres from my office and I just want to just hop on a scooter or an e-bike and go directly to wherever I work. The second one would be the first or last mile connector 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 to a bus stop. And then the recreational users."

Luke Mackey, Ireland Country Manager for Bolt

Mackey says their custom-designed scooters are quite rugged and would each be expected to have a lifespan of around 60 months and are all completely recyclable as they are made of aluminum.

The Bolt Four scooter has a maximum speed of 25 km/h and a 40km battery range — and it has dual mechanical and electronic brakes and sensors to detect and automatically report accidents or falls.

Charlie Gleeson, is the founder of Zipp Mobility. Zipp is an Irish-based scooter-sharing company currently operating across Britain. He said that "As the legislation is now changing here in Ireland, we plan to bring our service home with plans to launch e-scooters across the country."

Zipp's VP of growth and government affairs, Will O'Brien, is currently based in Ballincollig. He said: "We expect national legislation on e-scooters to pass soon and are hoping to launch our first schemes this summer. We are hoping to launch in Cork this year but will have to receive permission from the City Council but we are having productive discussions there already."

Will O'Brien of ZIPP Mobility, with an electric scooter. Picture: Larry Cummins

So will we really have pick-up and drop-off scooter depots or zones all around the city?

"It depends on how big the operational area is but we would like to be able to offer a service that extends from the Lee fields to CIT/MTU to the Kinsale Road Roundabout to Frankfield/Douglas to Mahon to Dillon’s Cross to Farranree to Shanakiel. We will start with something small like 50-100 scooters in the city and then scaling that up to the surrounding areas with possibly up to 1,000 scooters. We always recommend to cities that the e-scooter fleet be scaled up slowly to avoid burdening the public space," explains Will. 

I've been in other areas with shared scooters and have seen them in action — Lisbon, for example, has around 400 Lime scooters around the city. They do look really cool with office workers, tourists and teenagers almost silently purring about the streets. There, they don't use depots and the scooters can just be left on the footpath. Would that work here?

Not quite, explains Will: "They will be found in parking bays distributed across the city. The parking bays help prevent the scooters being scattered while also making them accessible."

Features writer, Caroline Delaney, tries out a ZIPP Mobility electric scooter

But could someone start using a scooter and then just take it home with them?

Maybe not, the companies have anticipated a whole bunch of these issues for when they set up in other areas. Will says: "The scooters are GPS-enabled so when they leave the operational area they will beep and slow down and come to a complete stop. We also get a notification on our end if someone tries to remove them from the area and our team on the ground will react accordingly."

Or can someone go ripping down a busy street and cause havoc?

Again, that's a no. 

"There will be no-go zones in areas across the city for example if Cork City Council would not like them being allowed down Oliver Plunkett Street (which we would advise) then we can prevent this by doing something called geo-fencing, this means using our software we would set Oliver Plunkett street as a no-go zone and the scooters would not work on that street. We can also set slow zones using geo-fencing. These are similar to no-go zones but rather than stopping, they just go at a slower speed," says Will.

And Bolt's Luke Mackey says: "When you're a new user on our app we don't allow you go up to the top speed for the first 10 usages."

Bolt e-scooters

So, what is top speed for an e-scooter?

"We expect the national legislation to set the top speed at 25 km/h so we will have to see what it says. This will be slower in slow-speed zones," says Zipp's Will O'Brien.

And while we're talking figures, how much will it cost to use a scooter for 20 minutes or an hour or even a half-day out?

Zipp: "It will cost €1 to unlock a scooter and then €0.20c per minute after. Our average journey is 10 minutes and this costs €3. When we launch in Cork we will also have a monthly subscription and the option to buy daily and weekly passes."

Bolt: "It's probably too early to say because that pricing might be set by the Council as well."

Trialling a Zipp e-scooter at the Marina in Cork

And can you say how much the scooters themselves are worth?

Zipp: "These are industrial-grade scooters and are very different to the ones you can buy for personal use. Therefore they cost much more than your average e-scooter which costs €400-500. It depends on the number of scooters we buy but we opt for a more high-end scooter than other scooter-sharing companies that costs around €800. We expect our scooter for Cork to have all the bells and whistles including a coat/bag hook, a noise device to alert the visually impaired of an oncoming scooter, a bell, triple-braking system, airless tires to prevent punctures, swappable batteries with a 50km range, notifications when a scooter is tipped over, bright lights, license plates to identify users misusing the service, etc. We are also trialing putting cameras into the actual scooter that can sense when someone is not using a cycle lane, or riding on the footpath or if there is an obstruction in the way."

And if the scooters are doing all the transport work for me, what do they run on?

"They are powered using a rechargeable and swappable battery. At night we will go around Cork in our electric vans (we run a zero-emission operation) and on our cargo bikes swapping batteries and moving them into high demand areas such as near Kent station or UCC," said Will of Zipp.

I know it's been said that you never forget how to ride a bike but what if you've never been on a scooter — or if the last scooter you were on was a pink push one with a unicorn picture on it? 

"Zipp understands that electric scooters are a new technology, therefore for the 2-4 weeks before we launch in Cork we will hold training days in multiple locations across the city. At these events, we will give people lessons on how to use the scooter, free helmets, and discount codes/vouchers."

Charlie Gleeson, CEO and Founder, Zipp Mobility. Picture: Nick Bradshaw

Councillor Des Cahill is on Cork City Council's Roads & Transportation Committee. He said that the view is to 'embrace the future' and they are keen to see the devices properly legislated for and working within that framework.

Anyway, I didn't want to give the scooter back when I had finished playing with it. They are quite easy to balance on — even for someone who has broken an ankle tending a hanging basket and who has been likened to Mrs Doyle falling off a ladder on more than one occasion.

Standing upright means your office or 'going-out' clothes don't get rumpled and you don't work up a sweat either. And it's just so lovely to have the breeze in your hair and have time to look around while moving along. 

Don't sweat it: e-bikes

The cycle-to-work scheme can be used to buy electric bikes.

For ebikes and related safety equipment, the limit is €1,500. For other bicycles and related safety equipment the limit is €1,250.

GIANT, Cork

e-bikes in stock to test at their store in Ballincollig commuter, Greenway, road and mtb e-bikes 

021 428 9596 

[e-mail] giant-cork.ie

The Bike Shed

thebikeshed.ie

Unit 12, College Commercial Park, 6 Magazine Rd

086 6028228

Greenaer

greenaer.ie

Celtic Park, Unit 1, Monahan Rd, Cork

01 67 47 849/ 021 202 8247

City View Wheels

Blarney Street, Cork Ireland

021 4304547