The objective of this project is to promote battery swap stations for electric bicycles and electric scooters located in New Taipei city, Taiwan. In response to the executive Yuan’s decision, the EPA (Environmental Protection Administration) implemented a cleaner vehicles plan. The Taiwan Electric Scooter Development Association (TESDA) has rented 100 e-scooters certified by the TES (Taiwan E-Scooter standard) and 118 e-bicycles allocating at 10 selected service centers, so that individuals and organizations can sign up to test drive the e-scooters or e-bicycles of free. Furthermore, 1 opening ceremony and 10 exhibitions were set up to promote and market e-scooters and e-bicycles to the public. Exhibition attendees were introduced and encouraged to sign up for a free trial ride on an e-scooter. To effectively promote the 30 battery swap stations, each rider was encouraged to sign up for the longest free trial period provided by the program. Individual could sign up for one week and if satisfied could sign for one additional week with a maximum trial period of 14 days. Organizations could sign up for a 15 day initial trial period and if satisfied could sign for an additional 15 days for a maximum of 30 days. The lengthy trial periods gave the e-scooter or e-bicycile operators ample time to gain experience using the battery swapping services provided free of charge. These experiences gave the trial riders an opportunity to understand, adapt, and overcome any battery charging and driving range limitations with the assistance of helpful and knowledgeable staff at 10 of the 30 stations. Twenty of the 30 stations are self-service only. After returning the e-scooters, each trial rider had to fill out a questionnaire. Their feedback which included personal opinions is statistically significant and the information will be used for developing recommendations to improve future e-transportation projects.

battery swap station, electric scooter, electric bicycle