Concerns about safety of e-scooters up 8X in 7 months: LocalCircles survey

Concerns regarding safety of electric scooters grew over eight times in seven months among household consumers, according to LocalCircles, a digital community-based platform. About 21 per cent of households are interested in electric scooters but are staying away due to safety, performance, and infrastructure concerns, the survey found.

In a similar survey conducted in August 2021, only 2 per cent of households were concerned about the safety and performance of electric scooters. This percentage has increased in the last 6 months to 17 per cent as people report of losing confidence about the performance of electric scooters.

Notably, percentage of people not convinced about infrastructure available for electric scooters was 11 per cent in August 2021. This number has declined to 4 per cent in March 2022.

In the survey with 11,515 respondents, people were asked, "If you or your family do not plan to buy an electric scooter in the next 6 months, what is the key reason for it?” In response, 17 per cent of household consumers said they would “like to buy but not convinced about safety and performance of electric scooters”.

 

About 13 per cent of those surveyed said they would “like to buy but do not have funds to spend on an electric scooter”. Most electric scooters are priced just above Rs 1 lakh in India. Ola’s S1 Pro and Ather’s electric scooter are priced at around Rs 1,30,000.

Furthermore, 4 per cent would “like to buy but not convinced about infrastructure available for electric scooters where I live/work”.

The majority or 45 per cent of consumers said they “do not drive scooters” and 11 per cent said they “have enough vehicles at home”.

Meanwhile, only 2 per cent of consumers said they are “definitely planning to buy an electric scooter in the next 6 months” while 1 per cent of respondents have “already bought an electric scooter in last 6 months and no plans to buy another one”. There were also 2 per cent of household consumers who believed that “electric scooters are a fad and will go away”.