The Shortcomings of Electric Scooters

By Hu, Fan（胡凡）

Nowadays, the problems of pollution are getting more and more serious. Many governments and companies are working hard to find ways of reducing pollution. So, the electric scooter has become a hot topic and many people have gained an interest in buying electric scooters.

Although the electric scooter research has been a great success, there are still many problems that need to be solved for it to become a popular choice.

First of all, riding the electric scooters can’t avoid pollution. Professor Jung-Ho Cheng （鄭榮和） said,” The advertisements which claim that the electric scooter is completely pollution-free is wrong. The electric scooter use electricity. Power generation is not environmentally friendly, especially thermal power.” If the power generation mode does not change, pollution can’t really be reduced.

Another problem of electric vehicles is the battery life. Take the commercially available electric scooter as an example, the mileage of the electric scooter is 100KM. If you want to ride an electric scooter from Taipei to Kaohsiung, you have to change the battery three times on the way. “I think the problem is anxiety about mileage. Because you have to find a charging station before the battery runs out,” said Professor Jung-Ho Cheng （鄭榮和）. And if the charging method is a direct charge, instead of replacing the battery, people have to wait until  the battery is fully charged.

The lack of charging stations is also one of the shortcomings. Construction of the charging station requires a lot of money and the company can’t invest a lot of money in the early time. Professor Jung-Ho Cheng （鄭榮和） said,” The problem  is like chickens or eggs : which came first? The companies will build more charging stations after selling more electric scooters. However, the customers don’t want to buy electric scooters if the number of charging stations is insufficient.” Building the charging stations with the help of governments maybe a solution to this problem.

Because of the lack of money and technology restrictions, the electric scooters can’t be widely accepted in a short period of time. Maybe you can consider more before buying one.