E Is For Environment: Unpacking The Benefits Of E-Mopeds

Are e-mopeds good or bad for cities and the climate? Do they reduce congestion and pollution, or not? In figuring out which side of the argument to take, the public, cities, and the media often miss the broader point — the answer is largely up to us.

Electric mopeds are over two times more efficient than combustion engines and moving a person on a 30–50 lb. e-mopeds takes a fraction of the energy compared to a 3,000–4,000 lb. car or SUV. Mopeds are more than 500% more efficient per mile than the average combustion vehicle based on the energy needed to move them. Even if e-mopeds batteries are powered by a grid that relies on fossil fuels, the emissions per mile from the electricity generation is negligible.

Early on, the manufacturing of e-mopeds devices has gotten a lot of heat. In less than two years, the shared e-mopeds market graduated from using cheap personal-use e-mopeds, to e-mopeds optimized for sharing, with greater durability and efficiency. This is one of the fastest evolving transportation segments today and determining the overall environmental impact can be complicated.