The
Challenge
Seeking to establish a long-term presence in Paris, YEGO responded to the tender issued by the city of Paris as part of its policy to promote ‘soft mobility’. This is an attempt to tackle congested cities, air pollution and climate change by providing faster, cleaner transport alternatives to single-occupancy vehicles. To regulate the shared scooter market, the City of Paris limited the number of operators to three in its tender. As the city pays close attention to environmental criteria, YEGO asked EcoAct to conduct a life cycle assessment (LCA) of its scooters. Our EcoAct experts carried out a life cycle assessment based on the entire product cycle, the so-called “cradle-to-grave” perimeter, i.e. from the extraction of raw materials to the product’s end of life.
For each stage, they considered the following elements:
- Manufacturing: Extraction and processing of raw materials
- Assembling: Energy consumption (electricity) related to the assembling of the components
- Transport: Transport of the different components to the final assembling site and from the assembling site to the delivery platform
- Operation: Energy consumption (electricity) for battery charging
- Maintenance: Consideration of the manufacturing of the materials used for maintenance, the energy consumption (electricity) related to the company’s service, as well as the transportation of the scooters to the YEGO platform to perform maintenance and battery change
- End of life: Waste treatment steps according to the different waste categories.
The biggest challenge was obtaining the most accurate supplier data to provide an advanced level of detail on each of the scooter’s components. The data collection was carried out by YEGO’s teams, in collaboration with their component and energy suppliers, to record all the stages, from manufacture to end of life. The objective of the data collection was to be as accurate as possible in terms of consumption (materials and energy) in order to limit assumptions. All YEGO departments were mobilised to share key data transparently, such as the number of battery changes per day, the distances covered by spare parts, or the type of paint used to cover the bikes.
YEGO’s scooter hire scheme has been operating for several years in major French and Spanish cities, promoting low-carbon transport to their 500,000 users through their electric engines. YEGO’s mission is to facilitate and rethink access to sustainable and responsible micro-mobility, in harmony with cities and their inhabitants. They contribute to the development of soft mobility through a solution adapted and designed to meet financial, technical, and practical constraints. YEGO also encourages more shared transport as the scooters have two seats, for a driver and one passenger. YEGO’s responsible approach is based on long-term solutions, especially in terms of design and maintenance to increase the lifespan of the scooters on the market.
