Evaluation of electric scooters as an alternative transportation mode for home-work trips in France

Abstract

In France, the transportation sector is responsible for a third of greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, in 2020, 72.8% of nationwide home-work trips were made by car. This presents a challenge on how to reduce the associated emissions and an opportunity to promote cleaner modes of transport, for example e-mobility options such as electric scooters. The assumption being that a modal shift of car-users towards e-scooters should result in improved environmental and societal benefits. The paper follows the methodology and actions taken to evaluate the program: a) selection of users for the experimentation, b) analysis of technical specifications and GPS monitoring of e-scooters, c) continuous user-surveys to understand travel habits, and d) the development of an analysis tool to assess the environmental impact compared to other forms of transportation based on their energy consumption (kWh), CO2, NOx and PM10 emitted. The paper presents the initial results of a pilot project in France, which aims to evaluate the influence of micro-mobility to reduce the environmental footprint of home-work trips, and identify user-behaviour challenges and opportunities in the shift of transportation modes.