Published at 11/11/2019

unu launches Global Scooter Sharing Market Report 2019

47% growth for scooter sharing in Germany in 2019 – 164% worldwide.

For the first time, unu publishes a global scooter sharing market report and also announces its own first step into the scooter sharing market as a hardware and service provider for local fleet partners. The report, which deals exclusively with shared mopeds, contains comprehensive data on the international market, its players, users and recognizable developments in the e-scooter segment. The included information was gathered from 54 providers in 21 countries.
The report shows: In just one year, the number of scooters worldwide in use for sharing rose by 164% from 25,000 to 66,000, while the number of users rose from 1.8 million to almost 5 million. In Germany alone, the number of scooters has increased by 47% to 4,200.
The mobility of the future is currently being widely discussed. The report provides information on the extent to which e-scooter sharing already contributes to the change in urban mobility and how this phenomenon will impact the market in the coming years.

Berlin, November 12th 2019

Our cities are facing various crises – climate change, traffic congestion and poor air quality are just a few of the challenges we are confronted with today. New urban mobility solutions play a decisive role in relieving cities of this pressure. E-mobility company unu is launching its first global scooter sharing market report, in order to take a closer look at one of the key trends in new mobility and to be able to assess its functionality and future prospects.

The report investigates the status quo of the global scooter sharing market in 2019. Based on publicly available data and self-conducted market research, this report focuses on stakeholders, distribution, users and key industry trends. It includes the activities of 54 scooter vendors from 21 countries. The report was prepared by an unu team led by Felix Jonathan Jakobsen, Director of Mobility Services, and Sharing Research Lead Enrico Howe, who specialized in shared, digital and electric mobility during the past six years in order to advance national and international transport projects. Prior to joining unu, Enrico Howe created and published scooter sharing reports for the German Innovation Center for Mobility and Societal Change (InnoZ) in 2017 and 2018.

An extract from the most important figures at a glance:

In 2019, the number of sharing scooters worldwide rose by 164%, from 25,000 in the previous year to 66,000. In Germany alone, growth of 47% – to just under 4,200 scooters – was recorded in this period. "Germany remains one of the most important individual markets, whose special feature is the many cities that offer scooter sharing with mopeds. In addition to metropolises such as Berlin, Hamburg, and Munich the model can also be found in medium-sized and small towns such as Bielefeld, Tübingen and Meppen," says Enrico Howe.
The number of users worldwide rose by 166% to just under 4.8 million in 2019. By comparison, in 2017 there were only 350,000 users.
82% of scooter sharing cities are located in Europe. Madrid, Paris, and Barcelona lead this ranking of the cities with the most scooter sharing. "While in Southern Europe, the scooter sharing market is rather growing in volume and particularly in a few cities, the German market with a total of 17 cities is growing more broadly. This shows a wider interest and a clear pioneering role. In Germany, not only the main providers in capital regions understood that this is a sustainable mobility opportunity. Instead, innovation is driven from many different sides," adds Felix Jonathan Jakobsen.
There are currently 34 manufacturers worldwide supplying the sharing market with scooters – eight more than in the previous year. Of the models made available, 70% are electric, in Europe even 99%.
In 2019, Govecs (used by eCooltra, Emmy, Cityscoot and felyx), Gogoro (used by Coup), Niu (used by Indigo Wheel, felyx and goUrban) and Askoll (relevant in Italy, Spain and Portugal) were the most important manufacturers in the sharing business.
On average, one scooter is rented 8-10 times per day with respective rental period of approximately 15-20 minutes. “While the vehicles are mainly used during rush hour on weekdays, they are typically used all day during the weekends,” explains Enrico Howe.
Further strong growth is expected in 2020. "Scooter sharing is rapidly leaving its niche existence and growing into a real mobility alternative. In the last 12 months, the market has more than doubled. With 6 out of 10 deployed scooters worldwide, the most important market remains Europe," says Enrico Howe.

On the website share.unumotors.com, which is especially dedicated to MaaS, unu will publish numerous other industry-relevant articles in the future, such as “What are the biggest cost saving potentials for scooter sharing operators”. The results of the report and the content of the website play a crucial role for mobility services, sharing providers, scientists, urban planners, consultants, municipalities and journalists. All dedicated data, sources and results of the report are freely accessible and can be downloaded from share.unumotors.com immediately.

unu enters the next business phase

In May 2019, unu launched its second product generation, enabling various sharing scenarios. Thanks to digital key sharing via the unu App, the new scooter is easily shareable for smaller groups, such as companies, shared flats or families. For sharing providers, unu offers an arbitrarily scalable white label solution. The company doesn’t aim to become a sharing provider itself, but the new product will help unu to establish its position as a strong partner in the MaaS sector. This is the first time a scooter has been developed specifically for the needs of sharing services.

unu’s turnkey solution offers them a full service package, including not only the fully connected hardware with smart features but also proprietary and easy-to-integrate software for fleet management. The scooter’s service-friendly design creates cost advantages, which are reflected in an attractive price-performance ratio. These characteristics are intended to simplify the business model for partners in the sharing segment and help them to handle all sharing processes simply and efficiently. This way, they’re immediately ready to go: "The unu Scooter will be the starting point for an urban mobility system based on the sharing principle. We will offer the scooter as a fleet solution for sharing partners and are excited to start with the first European partnerships this year," says Pascal Blum (co-founder and CEO unu).

By entering this new business segment, unu has not only heralded the next step in the company's evolution but has also been able to gather a great deal of information, which is now manifested in the global scooter sharing market report. "Scooter sharing with mopeds is not yet taken sufficiently into consideration when we talk about different forms of shared mobility. It requires less space than cars and enables door-to-door mobility without having to search for parking spaces or emitting local emissions. We also see less vandalism than with kick scooters or bicycles, which are often used for shorter distances," says Enrico Howe about the advantages of scooter sharing. “We’re convinced that scooter sharing is a very sustainable approach to current Mobility as a Service (MaaS) offerings and that it will be an essential part of urban mobility," adds Felix Jakobsen.