ELEVATE is an ‘e-micromobility’ research project (e-bikes, e-cargo-bikes and e-scooters) led by researchers at Leeds, Brighton and Oxford Universities and funded by the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council.

There are a wide range of electric vehicle technologies for active travel, including e-bikes, e-scooters, e-cargo bikes, e-skateboards, e-trikes, e-quadricycles, e-hoverboards, etc.  Compared to other countries, the UK is not as far in its uptake of electric micromobility vehicles compared to other countries. There is great potential for reducing transport-related energy demand and carbon emissions, and there is potential to generate health benefits for electric micromobility users. However, there is uncertainty about how people in different types of places would actually use these methods of travel and their uptake would affect overall travel behaviour, physical activity and energy demand in the real-world. Thus, ELEVATE’s primary aim is to understand the potential of existing and new forms of e-micromobility, including identifying the people, places and circumstances where they will be most useful in the UK, in order to reduce mobility-related energy demand and carbon emissions while improving people’s health. 

So far, ELEVATE has:

• Undertaken interviews with people who own and use their own scooters in the UK, which is currently illegal but increasingly commonplace.  This forms part of our work to understand the demand side of e-micromobility, i.e. the utilisation pathways, barriers to adoption, expectations and experiences of existing (early adopter) users, through surveys, interviews, analysis of online material, and evaluation of case studies. 
• Designed surveys and research trials which ran in Leeds, Brighton and Oxford in 2023 and 2024. We have gathered and are analysing both quantitative and qualitative data from these surveys and trials to build an understanding of the potential for households who have access to e-micromobility vehicles to reduce their transport carbon emissions, given the context of their neighbourhood and other available modes of transport.

With this research, we hope to:

• Develop a transport energy environment systems model for calculating the life cycle energy use and carbon emissions of light electric vehicles for active travel, and assess the potential for emission and energy savings when these substitute for other modes of transport.
• Help to expand the World Health Organisation’s Health Economic Assessment Tool (HEAT) to include e-bikes and other forms of e-micromobility.

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