E-Scooter, rent or buy?
E-Scooter, rent or buy – we did the math for you.
Today they are a part of almost every metropolis’ urban lifestyle. The large rental companies like Lime, Circ, Voi and CO. in particular can be found everywhere. According to an international Study of the UC Berkeley from 2019 the market development of the E-Scooter-business was estimated to be at a volume of 42 billion USD till 2025 by its associate Haas School of Business. An online survey by the YouGov polling institute, commissioned by Swiss Life Select, already 36% of all adults asked considered buying their own E-Scooter. 48% of all participants stated they would use it for shopping, 36% could imagine using it for commuting to work, school or university, and 34% intended to use if to cover the distance to public Transportation.
Renting or buying, that is the question. From an economic point that depends on how often you intend to use the E-Scooter. If you live in a city and plan to use the E-Scooter only occasionally, renting may well make sense. For regular use this changes quickly though and the cost of renting adds up quickly. In many cases you catch up with the cost of buying quickly. Almost all rental companies use a similar cost model. Unlocking a scooter comes with a base charge of 1€. Regardless of how long you use the vehicle, this fee is on the bill already. On top of that there are the varying costs per ride. Those usually are not calculated on the distance. Most sharing companies base this charge on minutes. The price per minute varies between 0.15€ and 0.25, depending on the city. We have based the following calculation on the common figure of 0.19€ per minute.
Here’s an example for commuting to work (1€ Base fee, 0.19€ charge per minute), 21 workdays per month,
Number of rides: 42 (there and back), Trip to place of work: 10 min
Base charge/month 42,00 €
Charge per minute 79,80 €
Total/month 121,80 €
Total/year 1.461,60 €
Minus holiday (30 days): 71,40 €
Total cost/year: 1390,20 €
As reference:
Cost of buying to compare with cost of renting:
Trekstor EG 40610: Price approx. 649€ - break even after: 5,3 months
Egret Ten V4: Price approx. 1349€ - break even after: 11 months
Segway-Ninebot ES2: Price approx. 385€ - break even after 3,2 months
On top of that there are the costs of charging and for insurance.
Die TOP 5 Dinge, die Du NUR mit einem eigenen Scooter machen kannst:
- In den Urlaub mitnehmen
- Einen Ausflug an den See (außerhalb der Gebietsbegrenzung)
- Dein Lieblingsmodell aussuchen
- Freunde am Stadtrand besuchen (außerhalb)
- Zusatzfeatures anbauen (Taschen, Körbe, Licht, Smartphone Halterung)
Zusammenfassung
Solltest Du häufiger auf einem E-Scooter unterwegs sein, ist der Kauf oftmals die günstigere Variante. Als Pendler oder bei regelmäßigen Fahrten zum Einkaufen übersteigen die Mietkosten schnell den Kaufpreis eines Neufahrzeugs. Zudem bist Du mit Deinem eigenen Gefährt wesentlich flexibler in den Entscheidungen wann und wo Du hinfahren möchtest. Für Fahrten in den Außenbereich der Stadt, in denen Leihscooter oftmals nicht mehr abgestellt werden dürfen, bei Ausflügen auf´s Land oder zur Mitnahme in den Urlaub gibt es zum eigenen Flitzer kaum Alternativen. Und was gibt es schöneres, als sich am Urlaubsort auf dem eigenen Flitzer an der Strandpromenande den warmen Wind um die Nase wehen zu lassen.
