While the world is looming under the threat of environmental issues and global warming, some innovations are not going to of great help in the longer run. One such innovation is the e-scooter, which the German Environmental Agency (UBA) has said, isn’t going to be perky choice against, fumes and emissions after all.

It is a fact that most busy streets of Singapore, Malaysia and the rest of southeast Asia and Europe is gradually shifting to the battery-powered scooters. They are therefore increasingly available for hire for urban commuters and tourists through service providers like Uber, Lyft and Curb. However, these e-scooters are making little contribution to environmentally-friendly urban mobility and are, in fact being considered worse than bicycles.

“eScooter companies tout themselves as having little or no carbon footprint, which is a bold statement,” says Jeremiah Johnson, author of an August 2019 study from researchers at North Carolina State University in the US.

“We found that the environmental impact from the electricity used to charge the scooters is fairly small – about 5% of its overall impact,” Johnson says.

“The real impact comes largely from two areas: using other vehicles to collect and redistribute the scooters, and emissions related to producing the materials and components that go into each scooter.”



Environmentalists feel it would be a good idea to have these e-scooters running on the outskirts where longer distances cannot be covered on foot, bicycle, rail and bus routes. They will help cut costs.