Is it even climate-friendly to drive an e-scooter that has been transported so far?

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The question is often asked as to whether it is still climate-friendly to drive an e-scooter manufactured in China once it has been sent across the world's oceans to Europe. So when does it actually become environmentally friendly to drive an e-scooter instead of a petrol scooter?

We did the math!

For our comparison, we assume that you live in Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm, near Ingolstadt. Why? Because this place is pretty much between the port of Hamburg and one of the last European factories still producing 50cc petrol scooters. Almost all scooters in this class are also produced in China or Taiwan, which actually invalidates the question in the title.

Let's assume that an e-scooter such as the NIU is produced in Changzhou, China. Its gross weight (including the packaging frame, packaging box, protective films, operating instructions, etc.) is approximately 133 kg. Added to this is the weight of the container. A 40-foot container weighs 3,900 g and holds 38 e-scooters. This adds 3,900 / 38 = 102.63 kg proportionately. So we expect a weight of approx. 236 kg per scooter.

The scooter is transported in a container approximately 200 kilometers from Changzhou to Shanghai. Trucks have CO2 emissions of around 110 g/tkm (i.e. 110 g per ton and kilometer transported; Source ). On the journey from Changzhou to Shanghai, an NIU “generates” 200 × 110 × 0.23623 = 5,197.06 g CO2.

Then we go by sea. From Shanghai to Hamburg it is around 12,000 kilometers by sea. A seagoing ship has a CO emissions of around 8 g/tkm. From Shanghai to Hamburg, the e-scooter now generates 12,000 × 8 × 0.23623 = 22,678.08 g CO2.

So far the scooter has generated 5,197.06 + 22,678.08 = 27,875.14 g of CO2. We don't need to calculate the route from Hamburg to Pfaffenhofen, as the petrol scooter has the same distance. Now it remains to calculate how many kilometers have to be covered with the e-scooter until the CO2 emissions are equalized compared to a petrol scooter.

The petrol scooter has a CO2 emissions of 65 g/km. For example, the NIU N1S (45 km/h) has a stated power consumption of 31 Wh/km. We also add minor losses (e.g. waste heat from the charger when charging), i.e. around 33 Wh/km (or 0.033 kW/km).

First of all, let's start with the German electricity mix, which produces 410 g of CO2 per kWh (very high in European comparison) ( source ). The NIU “generates” 0.033 × 410 = 13.53 g of CO2 per kilometer and saves 51.47 g compared to the gasoline scooter.

We now divide the 27,875.14 g created during transport to Germany by 51.47 g and get 541.58 km. You would have to cover this distance with your electric scooter for it to have a positive CO2 balance compared to a petrol scooter.

Let's assume that you are particularly environmentally conscious and have of course long since switched to green electricity, which, as we know, produces 0 g of CO2 per kWh. This means you save a full 65g per kilometer compared to a petrol scooter. We now divide 27,875.14 g by 65 g and see that you only have to drive 428.85 km with your NIU until it has a positive carbon footprint.

But what if your electricity is particularly “dirty”. You get your electricity exclusively from coal, which produces 1,080 g of CO2 per kWh. It is not known that there is such a dirty electricity supply anywhere in Europe (the dirtiest electricity mix can be found in Poland with 650 g CO2/kWh), but we want to assume the worst. Your electric scooter would then produce 0.033 × 1,080 = 35.64 g CO2 per kilometer. That's a lot, but still 29.36 g less than the petrol scooter.

If we now divide 27,875.14 g by 29.36 g, we see - certainly astonished - that even with the dirtiest power generation, an electric scooter from China has a better CO2 balance than one after only 949.43 kilometers, i.e. even after less than a thousand kilometers Petrol scooter produced in Europe.

Note: Container ships, trucks, caloric power plants and petrol scooters of course produce other environmentally harmful exhaust gases. However, the calculations were reduced to the climate-damaging CO2 because it is practically impossible to evaluate different pollutants and there is no reliable data available for the many other exhaust gases.