More and more people are choosing sustainable mobility, whether for ecological reasons, to avoid depending on public transportation schedules, or to save time by not circling for hours to find parking spaces.
It seems that both electric bicycles and electric scooters are here to stay and become part of our daily lives, but they come with a challenge: where can we find a charging station to safely leave the electric bike and scooter?
Stay here reading; we will help you resolve any doubts you may have.
What is a charging station?
First of all, we need to know exactly what a charging station is. There are many types of charging stations, but to simplify, let’s define it as a place that provides electrical power for the fast and efficient recharging of the batteries of Personal Mobility Vehicles (PMVs).
We can identify charging stations for electric cars, electric bicycles, and electric scooters.
When we think about electric charging stations, whether for electric bicycles or scooters, many questions arise. Where to find charging stations, how long it takes to charge, whether they are free, and, conversely, how much it costs to charge the electric bike or scooter at a charging station. We will help you with all your doubts.
How long does it take to charge?
On average, an electric scooter with a 25 km range takes approximately 4 to 5 hours to fully charge. For electric bicycles, the time is similar, with a full charge taking between 4.5 and 5 hours.
Normally, when we use the electric scooter or bicycle, we tend to have it charged. Therefore, in a short time and thanks to the scooter charging stations and bicycle charging stations, we can quickly have it back at 100% battery.
How much does it cost to charge the PMVs?
There are many charging stations, typically owned by private companies, so we associate their use with an economic fee.
However, despite the truth that in some charging stations, we must pay for their use, there are also free ones—yes, you read it right, FREE. The latter are usually located in places such as universities or shopping centers, where using an electric scooter or bicycle is not allowed or is very inconvenient. If you want to learn more about how parking for PMVs works, we invite you to read this article: How do electric scooter parking lots work?
Personal PMV vs. rented PMV
We already know that both electric bicycles and scooters are booming, but now comes the million-dollar question. Is it better to buy or rent them?
All of us always think about having the greatest convenience and not worrying about anything. For that reason, we all lean towards renting electric scooters or bicycles. It doesn’t matter where to leave them, and we don’t have to worry about recharging the battery.
However, in the long run, our wallet would be affected. Unlocking the scooter costs money, approximately 1 euro, depending on the company, and on average, it usually costs around 0.20 cents per minute of use. A 20-minute trip on an electric scooter or bicycle would cost us 5 euros. Money that not everyone is willing to pay.
However, more and more companies are opting to install charging stations, where not only can we securely leave the electric scooter or bicycle, but we can also charge them. Therefore, in the long run, buying an electric scooter or bicycle turns out to be more economical.
Let’s take an example: If a person goes to work for 30 days and needs to take 2 trips of about 20 minutes each during those 30 days, and knowing that a 20-minute trip costs 5 euros, it will cost them approximately 300 euros per month to take the rented electric scooter.
On the other hand, if that same person buys an electric scooter, which can currently be found starting from 250 euros, it will be much more cost-effective for them to buy it.
Seen in this way, and with the conveniences we now have thanks to charging stations, where we can also save money on electricity costs, it is more cost-effective to have our own PMV.
Where to park and charge PMVs?
Now that we know what charging stations are and have seen what is more cost-effective economically, it’s good to know where we can park our electric scooters and bicycles—meaning, where we can find charging stations.
Currently, depending on the city we are in, we may find more or fewer charging stations. Nowadays, they are pioneering, and we are increasingly coming across more charging stations scattered around the world.
Is a charging station safe?
We’ll leave you with these two articles that will surely provide answers to all your questions about where and how to park safely. ‘How and Where to Park Safely and Legally‘ or ‘Where Can I Park a Scooter in a Shopping Center?
If you want to stay up to date on everything important about sustainable mobility, I invite you to visit our blog. You’ll find tips and advice for optimizing the charging of electric scooters or the keys to mobility and transportation in a sustainable city. You can also contact us for any questions you may have.
