North America Electric Two-Wheeler Sharing Market Overview
The North American electric two-wheeler sharing market is projected to grow considerably in the coming years, owing to growing demand for quick and affordable last-mile connectivity, ease of availability, improvements in the energy storage systems, and significant technological advancements needed for efficient fleet management and vehicle sharing systems.
Based on the vehicle, the North American electric two-wheeler sharing market has been categorized into scooters, kick-scooters, bikes, and others. The bikes category had a significant share in the market in 2017, owing to their early introduction as compared to other categories. In addition, heavy investments made by leading vehicle-sharing companies into electric bike-sharing start-ups is further expected to boost the market during the forecast period. For instance, in April 2018, Uber Technologies Inc. made a $200 million acquisition of bike-sharing start-up JUMP and further plans to bolster the start-up through significant investment. Such investments helped various electric bike-sharing start-ups to establish a sustainable business model and increase their consumer base, thereby driving the demand for electric bikes. However, kick-scooters are expected to be the fastest growing category during the forecast period.
The U.S. leads the North American electric two-wheeler sharing market, owing to the growing number of electric two-wheeler sharing start-ups in the country and wide acceptance/adoption of electric two-wheelers for short commute or last-mile connectivity in the country. Also, these start-ups are being heavily backed up by investors, thereby allowing them to expand their business models to other cities/states in the country and increasing their consumer base. For example, Lime, a U.S.-based electric scooter sharing start-up, is backed by Uber Technologies Inc. and Alphabet Inc. to expand its reach to other cities in the U.S.
North America Electric Two-Wheeler Sharing Market Dynamics
Growth Drivers
The growth of the North American electric two-wheeler sharing market is predominantly driven by rising demand for quick and low-cost last-mile connectivity, ease of availability of the shared electric two-wheelers in the region, advancements in the energy storage systems, and technological innovations in sharing business models.
As per World Bank, the urbanites in the U.S. made up 82.06% of the total population in 2017, while the same stood at 81.35% in Canada. With the urbanization on the rise, ground transportation is getting saturated with vehicles in urban region, thus, leading toward a sharp collapse of the urban transportation industry. The growing congestion in the traffic has been reduced to a little extent with the arrival of car sharing, ride hailing, and ride sharing services in the recent past. Electric two-wheeler sharing is helping mitigate the problem of growing traffic congestion, which is also helping the North American electric two-wheeler sharing market grow.
Also, the ease of availability of electric two-wheelers under various vehicle sharing business models is helping the North American electric two-wheeler sharing market grow. With the advancements in the technology and growing popularity of mobile apps for ease of business, the electric two-wheelers can be booked at finger-tips, and that too without any complication, thus, helping the industry grow.
Challenges
With the electric two-wheeler sharing being cheap and quick and also being a hit in the region (especially in the U.S.), the number of such start-ups are increasing rapidly, and so is the number of electric two-wheelers swarming on roads. Such a sudden unstructured influx of electric two-wheelers could have a negative impact on the market. As the high growth of vehicle sharing business models could out-turn the loss of sidewalks and streets for the non-riders and increased congestion on the streets and sidewalks, it could prove challenging for the business owners to manage the efficient operation of such sharing models. Thus, the rapid and unorganized uptake of these vehicles, after reaching saturation, could serve as hindering block for the growth of the North American electric two-wheeler sharing market.
Citing the similar reason, earlier in 2018, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) had banned such business models. But recently, the SFMTA decided to uplift the ban on such business models, and sanctioned one-year permits to only Skip Scooters and Scoot Networks to operate within the city. As per the permit, a maximum of 625 scooters are allowed to be operated by each company in the first six months, which can be potentially increased to a maximum limit of 2,500 in seven to twelve months after the SFMTA’s approval. Thus, unplanned, unorganized, and rapid influx of such business models can prove to be a crucial challenge for the North American electric two-wheeler sharing market to survive.
North America Electric Two-Wheeler Sharing Market – Competitive Landscape
The North American electric two-wheeler sharing market is dominated by the vehicle sharing start-ups and is marked by the growing number of acquisitions, and financial backings or investments. Some of the key players in the market are Scoot Networks, Skip Scooters, Bird Rides Inc., Lime, and Spin (formerly known as Skinny Labs Inc.).
