E-bikes carry a much greater crash risk than e-scooters

E-scooters are often portrayed as more dangerous than e-bicycles but new research from Chalmers University of Technology has found that e-bikes carry a substantially higher crash risk than e-scooters when exposure is properly accounted for.

Based on trip distance, the risk of injury was calculated to be over eight times higher for e-bicycles than for e-scooters.

Marco Dozza, Full Professor in Active Safety and Road-User Behaviour at Chalmers said: ‘Previous studies have often compared apples with oranges. They have lumped together e-bicycles with ordinary bicycles, and haven’t taken into account where, how and how much these vehicles are used – or whether they are rented or privately owned. When we took all these factors into account, we found that e-scooterists actually have a lower rate of crashes than e-cyclists.’

Using rental vehicle data from seven European cities, the study analysed 686 e-scooter crashes and 35 e-bicycle crashes reported between 2022 and 2023.

Although e-scooters were involved in more crashes overall, they were also used far more frequently. When exposure was measured – through trip number, duration, and distance – the crash risk for e-bicycles was consistently higher across all metrics.

Dozza said: ‘When we calculated using trip distance, it turned out that e-cyclists were eight times more likely to have a crash than e-scooterists. It’s a result that surprised us.’

Previous comparisons often combined private and rental vehicles, mixed urban and rural contexts or grouped e-bicycles with conventional bicycles, leading to skewed results.

The Chalmers research avoided those pitfalls by focusing exclusively on rented vehicles from the same operator, restricted to urban centers with geofencing. On top of this, the use of high-resolution GPS data allowed for precise measurement of exposure, making this the most equitable comparison of its kind to date.

Dozza said: ‘Previous studies have grossly underestimated the safety of e-scooters in relation to e-bicycles. 

‘This in turn could have consequences for how cities regulate and plan micromobility. In some cities, attempts are being made to steer micromobility towards e-bicycles, which are considered to be better because previous research has created the idea that all types of cycling are safer than all types of e-scootering.’

‘Now that it turns out that isn’t correct, decision-makers may need to think again. The results might also affect consumers’ decisions if they have rented e-bicycles instead of e-scooters because they believed it’s safer.’

Looking ahead, the researchers recommend that all future micromobility safety analyses incorporate GPS-based exposure data and larger, more balanced datasets – particularly including more e-bicycle trips and data from regions outside Europe. Their work underscores the need for cities to base micromobility policy decisions on accurate, context-sensitive evidence rather than assumptions or incomplete comparisons.

Dozza said: ‘With more detailed data, we can make better decisions about transport for the future. And to achieve that, it’s important that we compare apples with apples.’

The full research can be read here.

Photo: moovi_escooter