Plenty of cities have had issues with e-scooters, the popular electric personal transport that’s popped up all over. Too many companies. Too many scooters. Scooters abandoned on roadways or bike paths. Pedestrians hit by scooters. But up to now, no one has accused them of ramping up pollution.
But a study at the Free University of Brussels has accused each shared scooter in Brussels of generating more CO2 than the cars or public transport they presumably replace. The study bases its calculations on the carbon output of the scooters’ manufacture in China, and the vehicles that are used to place them on the streets, collect them and charge them.
A senior executive with scooter company Lime, the dominant operator in Brussels, disputes the idea, claiming that the operation is carbon neutral, starting with the manufacturing operation, presumably through offsets. He also disputed the reports claim that the life-cycle of scooters is only 7.5 months before it must be replaced; he said that in Brussels vandalism is so low that the scooters last more than 18 months and that the company recycles 97% of parts from scooters.
So, you can either grab that scooter with clean hands and a pure heart, or with a guilty grin on your face, depending who you believe.
