GOVERNANCE & INTEGRATION
Micromobility
SUPER DESIGN, SUPERPEDESTRIAN
Carefully considering shared vehicles and programmes at the design stage can help bridge transit deserts, connect left-behind communities, and build financially sustainable services – this, at least, is the take of Superpedestrian. In this article, Haya Verwoord Douidri tells us how micromobility can only work for all when it is designed to do so
Micromobility vehicle design is often overlooked and undervalued when it comes to transport equity © Superpedestrian
Micromobility is booming in towns and cities across Europe. Small, electrified vehicles offer the potential to help residents leave behind polluting, space-intensive cars, supporting cities to fight climate change, clean up air quality and reduce congestion.
However, shared micromobility programmes – and, specifically, shared e-scooter services – rarely venture into all parts of the urban landscape, even though they seem to be the perfect solution for connecting places under-served by rail, road, or bus networks. Why is this – and can this be solved?
Designing for all
The short answer is “yes” - micromobility vehicle design can help solve the problem. But it is an issue that remains largely overlooked and little understood at present. Here’s one example. Some communities will have a higher proportion of taller people, or heavier people, or shorter people. Some areas will have more older people. These riders will have different needs when it comes to ergonomics, power settings and load ratings - the height and width of the handlebars, the length and width of the footboard, the acceleration profile, the suspension travel and so on.
Different riders have different needs when it comes to ergonomics, power settings and load ratings © Superpedestrian
Superpedestrian engineers spent two years making sure the ergonomics of their micro-vehicle suit upwards of 97% of the entire population. The development process included extensive testing in small towns and larger cities, as well as 67 automotive-style stress tests. The company also designed a chassis that could accommodate riders weighing up to 130 kg – some 30% more than industry convention. This up-front research and development does not come cheap of course. The LINK e-scooter represents around $75m investment. But by considering the rider first – not the windscreen sticker price – micromobility companies can provide vehicles that suit whole cities and not just specific neighbourhoods. This is even more true when those companies themselves feature high levels of diversity - including ethnicity, age and gender - which helps them better understand the communities they wish to serve. This begs the question: who are designing the shared e-scooters thronging European towns and cities? Superpedestrian’s LINK model, for example, is developed entirely in-house and was extensively road-tested in contexts similar to those in which it would operate. Some shared e-scooter models, however, are not developed this way. Whether these vehicles are truly suited to the needs of a broad cross-section of European riders and European cities is very much an unanswered question.
Upfront research and development does not come cheap - LINK is the result of US$75m investment © Superpedestrian
Another area where vehicle design can help is one that may not seem like it, at first glance: geographic coverage. Recently, one large US city required that operators make a real effort to include areas of social justice. What was the result? The city’s own transport department reported that one of the world’s largest micromobility operators saw just 1.4% of journeys start or finish in these areas. And that was the best of all the providers in the city – with the exception of Superpedestrian. Is there a better way forward? In the aforementioned city, Superpedestrian’s own figure for journeys originating or finishing in areas of social justice was 14.9% - 10 times higher than the next-nearest provider. This is partly a programme design issue – that is, operators avoiding specific areas through deployment and parking strategies – but it is also a matter of vehicle design. Often, outlying urban areas are not served at all by shared e-scooters due to woeful battery range. It is common for models on the market today to last little more than 30 km before requiring a recharge, and those figures plummet in very high or low temperatures, when climbing steep gradients, or with a heavier rider on board. Superpedestrian solves this with a 98 km-range battery and with a policy of intentionally including areas of lower population density and lower income. These factors mean the company includes left-behind communities in their service. It also means they can serve much smaller places, such as Silvi in Italy, a town with a population of just 15,000.
Baking-in affordability
It is one thing having the right vehicles available in the right places, but they will not appeal to a broad demographic if the service is too expensive. Micromobility companies have grappled with this issue with varying degrees of success. The hard truth is that building a profitable business with conventional shared e-scooter models, while keeping prices accessible, is very difficult. There is a reason why the largest providers in the world continue to rely on venture capitalist cash even after years in business and with hundreds of cities in their portfolios.
Vehicle design can have a dramatic impact on safety, sustainability, and long-term financial viability of shared programmes © Superpedestrian
Coventional shared e-scooters commonly survive just a few months before they are too worn out to continue. In operation, parts require frequent repair or replacement. With extremely high capital expenditures, operators will always struggle to keep prices for consumers low enough to tempt all but the wealthiest sections of society. Vehicle design can help here, too. Robust hardware that is truly fit-for-purpose lasts years, not months, and onboard intelligence that introduces predictive maintenance reduces the likelihood of component failures. These two factors alone can drive a dramatic decrease in vehicle turnover, slashing capital expenditure and making the unit economics of shared systems suddenly make sense.
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When an operator fields a vehicle with a long lifespan, low servicing requirements and intelligent vehicle health monitoring, there is an increased up-front cost for the vehicle. However, the resulting vast savings in operation can both build a more financially sustainable business and reduce rates over the long term for customers, while enabling operators to focus on small and medium-sized towns instead of just the largest metropolises, or the most affluence or most densely populated neighbourhoods. When they prioritise inclusivity at the design stage, micromobility businesses produce more equitable shared vehicles and more accessible sharing programmes, which lead to healthier and more liveable communities.
Prioritising inclusivity at the design stage leads to happier and healthier communities © Superpedestrian
Haya Verwoord Douidri is VP (Global market expansion, strategy & policy) at Superpedestrian.
You can contact her at: haya.douidri@superpedestrian.com