Electric scooters could be on roads by June, leaving UK last major European country not to have approved use

Germany’s upper house of parliament is due to vote on Friday on whether to allow electric scooters on to the country’s roads, following a feverish debate spanning everything from road safety to air quality.

The transport minister is behind the plan, but he has faced a barrage of protests from lobby groups, representing both car drivers and bike riders, who have warned of chaos and accidents if the so-called e-scooters – known locally as e-rollers – are allowed.

Even those who argue the ecological benefits of persuading people out of cars and on to the fun and speedy slimline vehicles are not necessarily behind the scooter push. Tarek Al-Wazir, the transport minister for the state of Hessen who is from the Green party, has called them “a stimulus programme for the nation’s A&E surgeons”.

But Germany is lagging behind most other European countries. E-scooters areavailable for rent in around 20 cities in 10 countries and have proved hugely popular. Those in Germany who argued they would be hazardous in snowy conditions or on cobbled streets have been largely proved wrong in trials taking place across the country. They even go uphill without losing much speed, users in hillier parts of southern Germany have reported.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Electric scooters in Place de la Concorde, Paris. Photograph: Charles Platiau/Reuters

The Bundesrat will be under pressure to allow the e-scooters on the country’s roads and cycle lanes when it votes on Friday. “They will not want to look like the killjoys who hindered the introduction of a hip form of transport as has become common in many European cities,” wrote a commentator this week.

But Germany’s cyclist association, the ADFC, has warned that Germany’s cycle lanes are not sufficient to cope with existing cycle traffic, let alone a new form of transport. “If we end up with a wave of e-scooters rumbling through our inner cities, we will experience some very unpleasant scenes,” the ADFC’s chief executive, Burkhard Stork, warned this week.

Car driver lobbies have in turn argued that they already struggle to cope with the manoeuvres of bicycle riders.

But e-scooter sharing firms queuing up to enter the German market argue that Germans are missing out. They blame both Germany’s love of cars and their cautious nature for the fact it has taken so long to persuade its lawmakers.

“It’s a great alternative to the car, and a perfect complement to public transport,” says Bodo von Braunmühl of Tier Mobility, a Berlin-based e-scooter firm.

“Forty million car rides a day in Germany are less than three kilometres in length, and this is exactly the distance we focus on for our scooter journeys, hoping that people will be able to swap the car for the scooter,” he says.

Subscribers can sign up for €1 and thereafter a journey costs 15 cents a minute.

The company, which recently celebrated its one millionth e-scooter journey says it hopes to contribute to an ongoing debate about future urban planning and how to make it more ecological.

“We’re not in competition with the cyclists,” he said. “We want to be jointly fighting with them for space on the roads that accommodates the alternatives to cars. We certainly see ourselves as having a political role.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The UK’s road system is as yet not seen as able to cope with the new vehicles. Photograph: Robert Stainforth/Alamy

Opponents are keen to point out an apparent lack of safety, citing the 200 accidents that have occurred in Vienna alone since the introduction of the e-scooter there last October. A 90-year-old woman died on the outskirts of Barcelona last year after a collision with an e-scooter. In Paris this April, an 81-year-old man was struck by an e-scooter – or trottinette as they are known locally – and died, prompting the mayor’s office to summon the scooter firms, who were forced to sign a good conduct agreement and risk a ban if they fail to abide by it.

But von Braunmühl says regrettable as the accidents are, “there was never a vehicle in the history of mobility which was not involved in an accident.” Around 65% of e-scooter accidents involve beginners, he says, which is why Tier encourages its users to wear a helmet and to take its introductory tutorial.

The company is expecting the Bundesrat to give the green light. If and when it does, Tier has over 10,000 e-scooters ready and waiting to be put into service from mid-June, ensuring the e-scooters are likely to become a summer talking point.

Once Germany rolls out the scooters, the UK will be the last major European country not to have done so, largely because its road system is as yet not seen as able to cope with the new vehicles.

Are ride-share electric scooters the future of urban transport? Read more

In a trial run of the e-scooter given to the Guardian in a start-up workspace in south west Berlin, von Braunmühl recommended pushing off with the left leg and then pressing a green button on the handlebars. With a gentle hum of its battery, the e-scooter soon reached the maximum speed allowed, 20 kmph, offering the pleasant sensation of a breeze through the hair.

It proved easy to weave between the workers’ beanbags and climbing wall before whizzing down the 20-metre-long corridor.

But unlike a high-speed bike ride, there is no benefit of a raised heartbeat because of course the e-scooter does all the work.

“That’s true,” says von Braunmühl, “but you are enjoying the fresh air. And guys in particular are prone to imagine as they swerve about that they’re on the ski slopes or wind surfing.”

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