Beyond personal vehicles: How electrifying scooters will help achieve climate mitigation goals in Taiwan

Electrification is considered a key enabler for decarbonizing road transportation. Recently, increasing attention has been directed to the deployment of electric two-wheelers in cities across the globe. However, climate change mitigation potential across the diversity of today's available scooter models is still missing in the existing literature. With a focus on Taiwan-the world's highest density of scooters-we comprehensively examine the performances of 156 scooter models on the market to understand the potential cost and carbon trade-offs among two-wheeler purchase options. We find that such a trade-off does exist when choosing scooters with different powertrain technologies. Compared to gasoline scooters, low-carbon-emitting electric scooters are more costly to own but not necessarily more expensive to purchase-because battery-swapping techniques convert the capital cost of the battery itself into an operating expense. Surprisingly, all the Phase 7 emissions standard internal combustion engine scooters appear to meet the near-term climate goal for 2030 in Taiwan, providing a less-costly transition from liquid fuels to electrification. While all the e-scooters supplied with the current electric power meet the 2040 emissions reduction target, deep decarbonization of electricity generation is also required, along with a large-scale adoption (at least 90%) of electric scooters to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

Automated summary

Electrification is crucial for reducing carbon emissions in road transportation. The deployment of electric scooters in cities worldwide has received increasing attention. However, the existing literature lacks an understanding of the climate change mitigation potential across various scooter models. To address this, we comprehensively analyze the performances of 156 scooter models in Taiwan, where scooter density is the highest globally. Our findings show that there is a trade-off between cost and carbon emissions when choosing scooters with different powertrain technologies. Gasoline scooters are cheaper to own, but low-carbon electric scooters can be more affordable due to battery-swapping techniques. Surprisingly, all Phase 7 emissions standard internal combustion engine scooters in Taiwan meet the near-term climate goal for 2030, providing a less costly transition from liquid fuels to electrification. However, achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 requires deep decarbonization of electricity generation and widespread adoption of electric scooters.