In recent months you may have noticed a huge boom in people riding an electric scooter on the streets of the UK. The Covid-19 helped the people ditch public transport and use electric scooter like Xiaomi, Slide Rideon, Citycoco Harley, Ninebot Segway, Pure Air and other. The good news is, the Great Britain government has legalized the Electric bike, Electric Kick Bike from 4th July. People now can roam around, go to work with a personal or rental e-scooter. The Department for Transport (DfT) has also published a guideline for e-scooter rental operators.
What is an E-Scooter actually?
E-Scooter or Electric Scooter is a two-wheeler, with an electric motor attached under the leg plate. It has become a very popular vehicle around the world especially for a person who has to walk alone to go to a certain place. This vehicle reduces the cost of travelling to a short place. In this year of Pandemic, e-scooter has proved itself useful to keep a safe distance with other people.
People can now hire an e-scooter from a rental store directly or using a smartphone. It is also available to buy personally in the UK online and in stores.
What are the features of an E-Scooter?
Pricing for £100 to over £1000 are available in the UK market. There are different sizes, colours, digital display and many more features. Some models even have KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) to collect the energy while braking and feed the energy to the battery. Bluetooth functionality can help see the user more details about the e-scooter like battery percentage, distance covered. Recent research revealed that 1 in 5 UK adults are willing to try and ride an e-scooter. Though nearly 93% of them have never ridden one. And this is an indication of people trying to escape mass transport due to the pandemic.
Are E-Scooters legal in the UK?
Currently buying, renting and riding e-scooter is legal. But right now, it is forbidden to use it on the UK’s public road, cycle lane or pavements. Though e-scooter is a fantastic option for people to have a safe ride, this vehicle can run by a battery and runs at over 15 MPH. As a result, e-scooter is classified as PLEV (Personal Light Electric Vehicle). I think this is the reason why DfT has made it illegal to use on UK roads and pavements. An e-scooter can only be ridden on Private land and Property.
But the pressure is mounting on the government to review the Highway Act as other European countries like France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria are encouraging people to increase electric scooter usage. Good news is, this summer the UK government has agreed to run a rental trial for e-scooters. It’ll allow a member of the public to pay and rent an e-scooter. But still, publicly owned scooters will be prohibited to be used on roads and pavements.
Transport Minister Rachel Maclean said the trials would allow the government to test whether e-scooters could offer "clean and cost-effective travel that may also help ease the burden on the transport network, provide another green alternative to get around and allow for social distancing".
Are e-scooters safe?
Electric Scooters are limited to 15 MPH (24.9 KM/H) but it can exceed 30 MPH (48 KM/H). An Electric Scooter can be called safe if only it is built strong. It must have some key safety features and well maintained. And most importantly you have to ride it well.
If you are willing to buy a brand-new e-scooter, buy it from a recognized retailer which will provide proper warranty as well as repairs. And if you are a retailer, then fill out this form to buy world-class and A+ rated Electric Kick Scooter, City Coco Scooters or Hoverboards. Smack Mobility by Kirest offers 2 years of Guarantee for after-sales service and parts. With express delivery, we’ll hand over the products to you within 2-4 days throughout Europe.
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