Sustainability of Shared e-Scooter Services in Riga

Abstract

This study examines the shared electric scooter usage patterns in Riga across 2021 and 2022 and assesses the potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the city’s urban transport system. Analysing 3.9 million scooter trips over the two-year period, the research highlights a tripling in the use of shared scooters and a shift towards shorter rides, resulting in an average use of only 7 km per day per scooter. This trend has resulted in CO2 emissions to 54.16 g CO2 per passenger kilometre, raising the total emissions from shared scooters in 2022 to 163.3 tonnes, and in fact increasing the net transportation CO2 emissions in Riga by 49.2 tonnes, by largely replacing zero-emission modes of transport like walking. In response to these challenges, the research explores the implementation of photovoltaic (PV) energy-powered charging docks as a method to maintain scooter operations. While energy consumption is not the largest contributor to the scooters’ CO2 emissions, by also eliminating the need for scooter transportation for charging the adoption of on-site generated PV energy could yield a substantial CO2 emission reduction of up to 34 %. This approach could hypothetically result in a 71-tonne reduction in CO2 emissions from electric scooters, thus potentially establishing scooters as a net positive influence to Riga’s transport emissions, producing a net 11 tonne CO2 emisssion reduction.