Mobility platform: E-scooter sharing

The transport sector accounts for a large share of emissions and resource consumption in our city. In order to noticeably change mobility in Aachen, the Mobility Broker, the “Aachen Mobility Platform” exists in Aachen. It is the first platform in all of Germany on which different types of mobility can be booked under one user account. One of the new mobility types will be electric scooters (cf. Vespa model). Others will follow.

Added value of electric (seat) scooters

Currently, many of the main traffic arteries in Aachen are heavily frequented by cars and often overloaded. It is a similar situation with the parking spaces within the city. Public transport is only suitable to a limited extent to meet individual transport needs and to reduce the number of trips by car. E-scooters can reconcile both goals: flexible, individual mobility while reducing the number of inner-city car trips.

Free-floating sharing

For the most comfortable user experience, the e-scooters will be offered in a free-floating model in Aachen. This means that the scooters can be parked freely in the city area. The scooters can be found via app and can be conveniently booked and opened via mobile phone. Helmets can be taken from a helmet box that can also be operated digitally. After the ride, the scooter can be parked anywhere within the city in compliance with road traffic regulations. The normal rules of the road traffic regulations apply to driving an e-scooter. A class B driving licence is required to drive a scooter. The minimum age is 18 years.

Financing and profit use

As part of the “Mobility from Aachen for Aachen” approach, the project team has opted for a unique form of financing in Germany. Within the framework of business crowdfunding, Aachen-based companies are offered the opportunity to participate in the mobility project as investors.
In the model, the companies finance a scooter (or half a scooter or several scooters). The sharing is then operated centrally by Velocity. Innoloft organises the crowd-funding campaign as project manager, Moqo takes care of the technical interface management. The scooters are offered on the Aachen mobility platform via the Mobility Broker App (ASEAG, RegioIT). Users pay approx. 23 cents per minute of travel time. The costs for operating the scooters are deducted from the revenues. Any margins accrue to the community of investors (the Aachen companies). They can then decide individually whether they want to be paid the margin or reinvest the profit from sharing in sustainable urban development projects. In return for their investment, each investor receives their logo on a scooter. In the case of jointly financed scooters, both logos will be printed. In addition, the employees of the investor companies are granted favourable conditions for the use of the scooters.
The chosen form of financing deliberately dispenses with the choice of an external provider. In this way, the added value can be completely tied up in Aachen and any profits will benefit Aachen.
Join in!
Be part of the new mobility in Aachen. Finance half a scooter (€2,420), one scooter (€4,840) or several scooters. Get attention using vehicles with your logo in the city area and help to change Aachen sustainably.

Pledges and further information: Sven Pietsch, Managing Director Innoloft GmbH, Head of Think Tank Smart City

Investment plan (preliminary figures, depending on the number of scooters)

Preliminary business plan (150 scooters, from 2021)