Sustainability of Electric Scooter Sharing Services

In recent years, a variety of new urban micro-mobility services, such as electric scooter sharing, has emerged. These new service business models are seen to contribute positively to the environment and to the society. The objective of this qualitative paper is to analyse, how electric scooter service models contribute to sustainability, and what kind of controversies or obstacles exist in sustainable value creation and capture. The analysis frame is based on sustainable business model archetypes. The data consists of semi-structured interviews and web pages of electric scooter operators. The preliminary results indicate that while the primary business models focus on delivering functionality over ownership, firms have developed and adopted several other sustainable business models (e.g. extending life-cycle of electric scooter fleets, offering second life solutions to consumers, closing the loops by recycling, using clean energy, and encouraging substitution) that contribute to the overall sustainability.