Paris To Ban Rental Electric Scooters After 90 Percent Voting Against EVs

Paris has almost 15,000 electric scooters across its streets, operated by companies including Lime, Dott and Tier and the three companies will now have to pull their fleets out of the city by September 1, 2023.

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The city of Paris has decided to ban electric two-wheeler from the streets after an overwhelming 90 percent votes were received against the EVs in a referendum. Paris, the capital of France introduced the electric scooters in 2018 as a part of a larger drive to reduce pollution and congestion from the famous Parisian streets. However, a recent spree of road accidents involving these electric scooters resulted in a public referendum to decide the fate of e-scooters. An overwhelming around 90 per cent of votes cast supported a ban, official results showed.

In a referendum organised by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo on April 2, 2023, residents voted 89 per cent against keeping shared e-scooters in the city. The city, a big tourist and fashion hub has almost 15,000 electric scooters across its streets, operated by companies including Lime, Dott and Tier. The three companies will now have to pull their fleets out of the city by September 1, 2023. 

Although 90 percent votes were received against the electric scooters, only 103,084 people turned out to vote, which is about 7.5 per cent of registered Paris voters. Dott, Lime and Tier said in a joint statement that the low voter turnout affected the results of the referendum, reported IANS.

The vote is seen as a big blow to the electric mobility market, not only in Paris, but globally. Hidalgo, initially in favour of the electric scooters, advocated against the rising incidents involving the two wheelers and also said the business model is too expensive.  

As reported by IANS, Hidalgo said that scooters are the cause of a lot of accidents and that the business model was too expensive to be sustainable, with a 10 minute ride costing about 5 euros. Hidalgo, originally welcomed shared e-scooters to Paris, making the capital more livable with a 15-minute reach anywhere approach.

According to media reports, a 31-year-old Italian woman was killed in June 2021 after being hit by an electric scooter with two passengers onboard while walking along the Seine.