Today was a big day in Europe as the Upper House of Germany's Parliament voted to make eScooters legal across the country, and were declared a "genuine additional alternative for cars" by Andreas Scheuer, Germany's Minister of Transportation.
Berlin, Germany. Photo: Ingo Joseph
Regulations
Although the eScooters were made legal, Parliament made sure to set out a list of regulations to ensure safety for the riders and the public across the country:
- You must be 14 years or older, and do not need a license
- The vehicle must be electric in nature
- The vehicle must have a handlebar of a particular specification
- The vehicle must not weigh more than 121 pounds
- Maximum Speed: 12.4 miles per hour
- Self-balancing vehicles may have a motor consuming a maximum of 1,400 watts of power, while all other vehicles must be limited to 500 watts
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One Final Step
One final step that has to be done before this takes effect is waiting for the federal government to make some planned slight changes to the ruling, which are to take place in the next cabinet meeting. Once they give their final approval, it will be legal to ride. This is expected to take place in the very near future.
With the new ruling, Germany is effectively expanding into new forms of more green transportation by adopting eScooters. One of the biggest draws for eScooter riders is that they can commute for very little money with their micro mobility vehicles. Depending on the vehicle and its' draw of power, many riders have advertised that they're able to travel 20 miles on 5 cents' worth of power. Adopting more green forms of transportation also means what could potentially be a significant drop on relying on oil which Germany is gradually moving away from, much like many other countries in Europe.
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