Study on Micromobility in Munich: Booster for Jobs and CO2 Reduction

As analysis by EIT InnoEnergy, which claims to be a global innovation driver and investor in sustainable energy and mobility solutions, shows, micro-mobility could create up to one million jobs across Europe by 2030 and make a significant contribution to reducing CO2 emissions. This is provided it follows a systemic approach and is more geared towards sustainability, as the provider stipulates. The analysis used existing data on micro-mobility behavior in the city of Munich as a basis. This was combined with a series of validated scenarios and assumptions and extrapolated to over 100 European (large) cities. In this way, the potential of a systemic rollout of electric and shared micro-mobility vehicles by 2030 could be calculated, the study authors report.

Current vehicle types unsuitable for many purposes

Looking at the current situation, the analysis identifies major obstacles to broader use of micro-mobility. The current vehicle types are simply unsuitable for a variety of applications, the judgment says. These include, for example, transporting groceries, picking up children, for example from school, or delivering packages. Added to this is the short lifespan of the vehicles coupled with high operating costs, especially related to charging and repositioning, as well as a lack of integration into the existing urban transport system. As a result, currently less than 0.1 percent of all inner-city trips are made with micro-mobility vehicles.

"The first generation micro-mobility fleets were rushed to market. Far too little thought was given to how they could be integrated into our overarching transport system," says Jennifer Dungs, head of transport and mobility at EIT InnoEnergy and author of the report.

As a result, the vehicles are currently making only a small contribution to addressing existing challenges in urban areas, such as air pollution, traffic congestion, high noise levels, or lack of space. In fact, new problems have emerged that have harmed both the perception and the economics of micro-mobility, Dungs criticizes.

To overcome these hurdles, the company recommends pursuing a systemic and sustainable multi-stakeholder approach in the future. This would include switching to high-quality components with improved maintenance capabilities – particularly in motors and batteries – more local manufacturing, consistent recycling, focusing on the development and use of new, application-optimized vehicle types, establishing data analysis platforms for repositioning and charging, and regulatory facilitation for micro-mobility.

A quarter of traffic energy demand could be saved

This, the authors believe, could create nearly one million (990,000) direct and indirect jobs in the micro-mobility value chain in Europe by 2030, while also saving over 30 million tons of CO2 emissions and reducing electricity consumption by up to 127 terawatt-hours per year. This equates to around 12.5 percent of the CO2 emissions of the German energy sector in 2019, or about 23 percent of the energy consumption of the German transportation sector in 2018. Because almost one billion person-hours (999 million) of traffic jams could be avoided through a systemic micro-mobility approach, an increase in the annual European economic output by around 111 billion euros would be realistic according to the analysis – more than the gross domestic products of Malta, Cyprus, Latvia, and Estonia combined.

Clear the way: Micro-mobility could declutter cities

Additionally, 48,000 hectares of inner-city land could become available for new usage concepts, which is more than four times the total area of Paris.

"If we want micro-mobility to play a prominent role in the much-needed redesign of our cities and their transport systems, a restart is necessary. Innovations in the vehicles themselves or the increased use of battery swapping stations are part of the solution," Dungs continues.

Equally important is establishing platforms for structural exchange between city administrations and providers, to accompany and guide this process. Given the enormous potential for urban quality of life, the environment, and our economy, it is in everyone's interest to support and accelerate this change, appeals the micro-mobility specialist.