Electric Scooter Sharing – Is It Better Than Buying Your Own?

Today we discuss Electric Scooter Sharing. Owning your own personal electric scooter certainly sounds like a great idea. Having your own vehicle that can take you wherever you want around town is not only convenient but exciting. Buying electric scooters has become more and more popular as the years go by but the same can be said about sharing them too.

More cities around the world are opening up public access programs where people can rent electric scooters in advance for the days that they need them. If you’re unsure whether you should save up for your own or take advantage of this new form of public transit then read our breakdown below of owning vs. renting electric scooters.

Why You Should Consider Buying an Electric Scooter?

Owning your own electric scooter is really not much different from having your own bicycle. It’s a small vehicle that you maintain and use on a frequent basis that is both convenient and fun to use. Electric scooters are great tools for traveling relatively short distances and best of all, they’re all yours.

So if you’re not the type of person who enjoys sharing your stuff then saving up for an electric scooter ought to be the path for you. The only problem of course is that electric scooters can be a bit pricey for some people, which means that “saving up” is the keyword. The best electric scooters can cost over $1000 but they are designed to last for many years even with daily usage.

If you’re the type of person who would use your electric scooter on a daily or near-daily basis then buying your own would be the right decision.

However, there are some caveats to consider that may turn off others from purchasing their own. For one thing, electric scooters come with their own maintenance. It’s nothing as severe as maintaining a car but electric scooters do run on batteries. This means that you will have to charge your scooter battery just about every single day you use your scooter.

This can be a deal breaker for some people as the daily grind of checking battery life will be too tedious for some.

While using your electric scooter often will result in many charges, the worst thing about owning one is actually not using it enough. No one wants to spend several hundred dollars on a device that will get little use. This means that before purchasing your own electric scooter you will have to be sure that you will use it often enough to get your money’s worth.

On the other hand, owning an electric scooter gives you the ability to use it whenever you want. With your own personal scooter in your home, you can instantly use it right out of the door without having to walk to a scooter station. You also won’t have to worry about rental schedules or returning the scooter to someplace that isn’t your home.

The bottom line is that owning your own electric scooter is a great thing to do if you plan on using it very often. The price ranges may be a little high but it will undoubtedly be a great investment that will last you many years.

Why You Should Consider Renting Electric Scooters

If you are already convinced that owning your own electric scooter isn’t for you this doesn’t mean that you can’t benefit from sharing one. Renting scooters can give you the convenience of owning an electric scooter without having to worry about the cons that come with it.

Sharing electric scooters has become more of a viable option these days depending on where you live. To this day, more and more cities around the world are releasing public access programs where people can rent scooters in advance and retrieve them from designated locations.

This kind of service has become common in many different countries all around the world. There are also a number of commercial services that provide electric scooter sharing, such as Lime.

These sharing services are very clever in that they’ve allowed people to experience both the utility and the joy that electric scooters offer without having to save up to own one. Additionally, these sharing services also only give you the best part about owning one, which is being able to ride it.

Never Worry About Vehicle Wear, Maintenance

With shared scooters, you never have to worry about things like maintenance or charging the battery. All you have to do is pick up the scooter, use it, and return it when your time is up. It simplifies the entire process which is why it is so convenient.

One of the most obvious benefits of sharing electric scooters is saving on costs. Renting scooters is much cheaper than buying your own. As mentioned earlier in this article, electric scooters can become expensive. Some are even priced at $1000 or more. While they’re undeniably useful and fun, they won’t be worth that price to everyone.

That’s where sharing electric scooters has the advantage. If you’re the type of person who only needs to use them every once in a while then you – and your wallet – will be much better off going with a public rental service instead.

But there are of course positives and negatives to this. There are some things you can’t do when sharing electric scooters. For one thing, these sharing programs often use scooters with designated speeds. That means that if you want to ride an electric scooter that can go faster than 20mph, you’ll probably be out of luck.

While sharing is cheaper, one of the main reasons why that is is because many electric scooters that are for sale have functions that aren’t available on rentals. If you want a scooter that isn’t just fast but looks stylish and has the most responsive brakes on the planet then you’ll need to buy one for yourself.

Shared scooters for rental are not cheap by any means but they are usually lacking in the bells and whistles department, so to speak. They work perfectly for simple transportation needs but anyone who is looking for more than that will end up dissatisfied.

Final Thoughts

Whether owning your own electric scooter will be more convenient than hassle really depends on your mindset, and the same is true for sharing. The fact is that different people have different needs so not everyone will benefit from the same plan.

If you love the idea of having your own scooter all to yourself and plan on using it multiple days per week then saving up for one will surely be a great idea. Or alternatively, if you want the coolest and fastest commuter scooter on the planet then you can, but you’ll have to spend some extra money to get it.