Environmental impact of shared e-scooters in three Swedish cities : insights from big data

• E-scooter sharing has rapidly gained popularity in the past few years, but its actual impact on the environment remains unclear despite numerous discussions. Specifically, the environmental impact of shared e-scooters is intrinsically tied to the usage patterns of travelers, and the degree to which shared e-scooters replace other modes of transport. To this end, we collect data in Sweden and develop a universally applicable framework to quantify and evaluate the effects of shared micro-mobility on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions based on field trip data. Our results suggest that the primary modes replaced by shared e-scooters are walking (64.1%) and public transport (24.7%). A systematic comparison among Swedish cities indicates that, on average, each shared e-scooter trip generates an additional 85g of carbon dioxide when considering the entire life cycle.  Our raw dataset consists of trip data of shared e-scooters between 1 January and 31 December 2022, from two companies (TIER and VOI) in Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmo, which are the three biggest cities in Sweden. Based on the trip starting timestamp and coordinates and ending coordinates, the replaced transport mode for every single trip of using e-scooter sharing is inferred using a travel behaviour model (i.e., multinomial logit model). Additionally, the GHG emission factors of different transport modes are estimated through life cycle analysis (LCA) considering different life-cycle components such as production, operation, and disposal of shared e-scooters. Afterwards, the emission reduction due to every e-scooter-sharing trip is quantified. Aggregated level analysis considering all trips in a city over a year is conducted as well. Our results suggest that the substituted travel modes will differ from the location and travel distance of the OD pairs in the transportation system. More importantly, the substituted transport by shared scooters matters in terms of reducing GHG emissions. If users use e-scooters for a trip instead of cars that have high emissions, it will generate GHG emission reduction. In our cases, the negative emission reduction is observed in the central regions of urban areas, indicating that shared e-scooters will increase GHG emissions compared to the scenario without e-scooter sharing. 

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Samhällsbyggnadsteknik -- Transportteknik och logistik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Civil Engineering -- Transport Systems and Logistics (hsv//eng)

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

kon (subject category)