Over 900,000 electric scooters sold in 2021

With 908,000 sales in 2021 according to FP2M, electric scooters are taking off in France and widening the gap in the e-bike market.

How distant the days when scooters were just a toy for children, becoming a outdated object for only a few users. But it regained popularity in the 2010s. In 2016, 38,000 units were sold, then over 100,000 the following year!

And that was just the beginning, with sales more than doubling to 233,000 units and then 479,000 in 2019! But the COVID-19 crisis brought a slight halt, along with new legislation. In 2019, scooters officially joined the highway code and must follow certain rules. Non-motorized versions, meanwhile, remain on pedestrian terms, on sidewalks.

The rebound of electric scooters in 2021

After recording 640,000 sales in 2020 (+34%), the market surged to 908,000 in 2021, according to a study by FPMM. This is a growth on an even better trajectory, at +42%.

“Today, we observe a clear change in user motivations, with more and more people using electric scooters for regular or daily commuting to and from home,” explains Grégoire Hénin, vice-president of FPMM. “These new uses, observed during the health crisis, have accelerated since the rise in fuel prices.” Indeed, 49% of 2.5 million users have replaced their car or motorcycle trips with micro-mobility according to the government’s Mobility Survey.

Electric scooters thus increase the gap with electric assist bikes. E-bikes, which had surpassed scooters in volume until 2018, saw the market stabilize. From 278,000 units in 2017, this sector only grew to 388,000 in 2019.

But under the influence of urban policies, the national cycling plan of 350 million euros, strikes related to the Yellow Vests movement, or the permanent bike lanes created during the pandemic, cycling has suddenly become popular again, including electric bikes. In 2020, sales jumped to 515,000 (+29%) units, and then to 700,000 in 2021 according to the cycling industry report by Guillaume Gouffier-Cha.

The scooter is more accessible than the bike

Not yet at the level of electric scooters, which are expected to surpass one million units in 2022, while e-bikes are likely to wait until 2025. This is because they only account for 19% of the bike market. Moreover, the investment isn’t the same, with an average of 2,079 euros for an electric bike compared to 341 euros for a good model of scooter (Xiaomi, Ninebot, Onemile, E-Twow, etc.).

But their prices are rising, driven by demand. “Regular users renew, in nearly 80% of cases, their personal mobility device* for a more robust and durable product, better suited to their usage,” emphasizes Grégoire Hénin. They are almost willing to spend around 700 euros for this.

*Personal Motorized Transportation Device

Shared scooter rentals as a showcase

Furthermore, shared rentals started in France in 2018, in Paris. It was a bit the Wild West, with about ten brands with exotic names from nowhere. Quickly, some didn’t survive the fierce competition and the municipality cleaned up the market.

But this didn’t scare scooter enthusiasts, far from it. The need for micro-mobility persisted, with operators Dott, Tier, and Lime remaining present in 2022. Other major cities followed suit in Lyon, Bordeaux, Marseille, and recently Angers via Bird urban mobility services.

Also read: Lucy Mobility offers scooters to company employees