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Charging electric scooters is a cut-throat business

theatlantic.com

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Re: Charging electric scooters is a cut-throat business

#51

Post by jorleif »

eriken wrote: post #42
joosters wrote: post #38

Bird talk about making transportation more environmentally friendly, yet it turns out people are driving the scooters to and from their locations every day... it wouldn't be surprising if the scooters are traveling more miles in the back of a gas powered vehicle than they do each day in actual rides.

This is an awesome example of how tricky it is to innovate and regulate towards cleaner environmental behaviour.

This is commercial enterprise, not regulation. Taxation could simply make driving them around too expensive.

Re: Charging electric scooters is a cut-throat business

#52

Post by isostatic »

eriken wrote: post #42
joosters wrote: post #38

Bird talk about making transportation more environmentally friendly, yet it turns out people are driving the scooters to and from their locations every day... it wouldn't be surprising if the scooters are traveling more miles in the back of a gas powered vehicle than they do each day in actual rides.

This is an awesome example of how tricky it is to innovate and regulate towards cleaner environmental behaviour.

Tax the fuel to cover the total externalities

Re: Charging electric scooters is a cut-throat business

#53

Post by RainaRelanah »

geezerjay wrote: post #35
danso wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Riders can locate and unlock scooters using the company’s smartphone app, and after paying the $1 unlocking fee are charged 15 cents per minute during use.

Back of the napkin calculations suggest that, in order to break even just from the charging costs alone, each scooter needs to be ridden for at least 2 and a half hours. Based on some quick googling (but without taking into account the terrain and the rider's weight and riding style), a scooter with a full load can be ridden for about 6 hours.

6 hours is nowhere near accurate, it's closer to 2 hours in ideal circumstances. 1-1.5 hrs in most usage scenarios. 6 hours is about how long it takes to charge.

Re: Charging electric scooters is a cut-throat business

#54

Post by gambiting »

piokoch wrote: post #40
Illniyar wrote: post #10

Doesn't seem at all out of control. Seems like an awesome idea and the process needs to be refined to dissuade bad behavior. Considering the company was founded about a year ago is probably a lot of room for improvements and innovation (and angering your contractors in the process).

Is it legal in US to use electricity at home for business purposes? In some countries that's against contract with electricity provider, as they have different tariffs for business.

Even in the regulation-stricken UK, it's fully legal to work from your private home (so called "clerical" work).

And fyi, something being against the contract is not automatically illegal.

Re: Charging electric scooters is a cut-throat business

#57

Post by dufferzone »

Faaak wrote: post #45
piokoch wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it legal in US to use electricity at home for business purposes? In some countries that's against contract with electricity provider, as they have different tariffs for business.

In general business tariffs are lower, so I don't see the problem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYf_TBLnPQE

Re: Charging electric scooters is a cut-throat business

#58

Post by gambiting »

isostatic wrote: post #52
eriken wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an awesome example of how tricky it is to innovate and regulate towards cleaner environmental behaviour.

Tax the fuel to cover the total externalities

Going forward we'll have to figure out how to tax electricity used for charging electric cars(probably special chargers that have a car-taxed tariff).

Re: Charging electric scooters is a cut-throat business

#59

Post by joosters »

CalRobert wrote: post #49
joosters wrote: post #38

Bird talk about making transportation more environmentally friendly, yet it turns out people are driving the scooters to and from their locations every day... it wouldn't be surprising if the scooters are traveling more miles in the back of a gas powered vehicle than they do each day in actual rides.

Even if the _only_ thing Bird does is enable people not to use parking spaces, and thereby permit the land for such to be allocated to other things (housing, retail, parks, etc.) that is a huge boon. It should also mean reduced vmt (for cars at least) meaning more lives saved, especially those of people walking or cycling since these scooters are in city centres, where cars are especially dangerous. Similarly one van…

I challenge you to find just one example of land that has been repurposed from parking spaces into something else, because of Bird or some other scooter company.

...and will this land, if it even exists, be larger than the amount of sidewalk space that Bird has repurposed into scooter parking spaces?

Re: Charging electric scooters is a cut-throat business

#60

Post by RainaRelanah »

bischofs wrote: post #37

I hope this scooter thing takes off in all cities, what a great idea to move people more effectively and also bring down the cost of battery cells so I can buy a tesla. We might have finally found something that fat americans can tolerate that's not a hummer h1.

The weight limit of the model being used is around 220 lbs, and it struggles to handle that. Most Americans that you'd call obese wouldn't be able to use these. The model (Xiaomi M365) was originally designed for Chinese consumers (who tend to be shorter/weigh less).
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