Stuttgart ride-share program purchases additional electric scooters

The city of Stuttgart has expanded its ride-share programme Stella by an additional 25 electric scooters for the coming season, starting at the end of March. Their fleet will total 100 at that point, which is a leap from its humble beginnings with 15 Emco scooters. 

Stella-Sharing, which is owned by the city of Stuttgart, now counts 5,800 registered users, who have driven the electric scooters for a cumulative 185,000 km. For the new season, Stella not only plans to expand its fleet, but also will add additional motor performance for steep drives.

A further update will take place in the payment scheme. The daily rental price will be lowered from 29 to 23 euros. However, drivers will in turn be asked to pay 10 rather than 5 cents for every minute they are standing still. The driving costs themselves will remain unchanged. The changes are aimed to push users to drive more and park less, according to the managing director Olaf Kieser.

The project initially started with 15 bright blue scooters in August 2016. Since then, the hilly topography of the city has necessitated several adjustments, such as transitioning the fleet to free-floating, which entailed an area of operation around 48 km².

For the coming season, Stella-Sharing aims for a better that is more efficient use of the existing fleet, hence the new tariff policy. Additionally, another vehicle loaded with batteries will be sent out as of March to exchange the electric scooters’ batteries as well.

As Stuttgart is expanding its ride-share initiative, the region is also working on electric car adoption. A so-called Masterplan is currently on the drawing table to integrate a fast-charging network, which will include 30 DC charging stations in the city alone.

electrive.net (in German)