Grid intensity is the variable that decides everything
Carbon intensity — grams of CO₂ per kilowatt-hour generated — differs by more than an order of magnitude between countries. France and Norway run well under 100 g/kWh thanks to nuclear and hydro; the UK has fallen to roughly 160–200 g/kWh; the US averages around 370 g/kWh; India and Poland sit above 600 g/kWh.
For a scooter it barely matters: even on the dirtiest grid on earth, 22 Wh/km at 700 g/kWh is about 17 g CO₂ per kilometre against 170–200 g for a petrol car. For an electric car, grid intensity decides whether the saving is dramatic or merely solid — around 12 g/km in France, closer to 110 g/km on a coal-heavy grid.
Tailpipe versus lifecycle
The figures here are operational: fuel burned or electricity generated, per kilometre travelled. Petrol releases 2.31 kg of CO₂ per litre burned, diesel 2.68 kg. Those numbers are fixed chemistry, and adding roughly 20% covers extraction and refining if you want well-to-wheel.
Manufacturing is the honest caveat. Building a battery has a carbon cost — very small for a scooter pack, significant for a car — which EVs typically pay back within 20,000–50,000 km depending on the grid. A scooter pays it back in a few hundred kilometres, which is the strongest environmental argument in micromobility.
Which trip you replace matters most
Swapping a car trip for a scooter trip removes 90%+ of the emissions. Swapping a walk or a train ride for a scooter adds emissions. The honest accounting question is not "how clean is my scooter" but "what did this ride replace" — and studies of shared-scooter fleets have repeatedly found that many rides replaced walking or transit, not driving.
Private ownership behaves better than shared fleets on this measure, because there is no rebalancing van and the vehicle lasts years rather than months. If your scooter genuinely replaced a car commute or a string of ride-hail trips, the saving in this calculator is real.
Grid carbon intensity by country
Approximate recent national averages. Intensity swings hour by hour — it can halve between a windy night and a still evening peak — so if you want precision, several grid operators publish live figures. For a scooter it barely matters; for an electric car it decides whether the saving is dramatic or merely solid.
| Country | g CO₂/kWh | Scooter at 18 Wh/km | EV at 18 kWh/100 km |
|---|---|---|---|
| Norway | 30 | 0.6 g/km | 6 g/km |
| Sweden | 45 | 0.9 g/km | 9 g/km |
| France | 60 | 1.2 g/km | 12 g/km |
| Canada | 130 | 2.6 g/km | 26 g/km |
| Spain | 170 | 3.4 g/km | 34 g/km |
| United Kingdom | 180 | 3.6 g/km | 36 g/km |
| EU average | 250 | 5.0 g/km | 50 g/km |
| United States | 370 | 7.4 g/km | 74 g/km |
| Germany | 380 | 7.6 g/km | 76 g/km |
| Australia | 530 | 10.6 g/km | 106 g/km |
| India | 630 | 12.6 g/km | 126 g/km |
| Poland | 660 | 13.2 g/km | 132 g/km |
What you are comparing against
| Mode | g CO₂/km | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Petrol car, 8 L/100km, one occupant | 185 | The usual baseline |
| Diesel car, 6 L/100km, one occupant | 161 | Better economy, dirtier fuel |
| Hybrid car | 110 | Best in stop-start traffic |
| Taxi or ride-hail | 220 | Includes empty repositioning |
| City bus | 95 | Highly dependent on how full it is |
| Petrol motorbike | 100 | Small engine, poor emissions control |
| Electric scooter | 1–13 | Grid dependent |
| Walking or cycling | 0 | Still unbeaten |
The honest caveat
The question that decides whether any of this is a real saving is not "how clean is my scooter" but "what did this ride replace". Swap a car trip and you remove more than 90% of the emissions. Swap a walk or a train ride and you have added emissions, however small. Studies of shared-scooter fleets have repeatedly found a large share of rides replaced walking or transit rather than driving — private ownership behaves considerably better on this measure, because there is no rebalancing van and the vehicle lasts years rather than months.
Questions riders actually ask
How much CO₂ does an electric scooter produce per km?
Between about 1 and 15 g CO₂ per kilometre from electricity, depending on the grid and how thirsty the scooter is: roughly 1 g in Norway or France, 4 g on the UK grid, and 13–15 g on a coal-heavy grid such as Poland or India. A petrol car emits 170–200 g/km, so a scooter is a 93–99% reduction on the same journey.
What carbon intensity should I use for my country?
Pick your country from the list, which uses recent national averages. If you want precision, your grid operator publishes live intensity — the UK, France, California and Australia all have public feeds, and intensity can halve between a windy night and a still evening peak.
Does home solar make my scooter zero-carbon?
Operationally, close to it, if you charge during generation. The honest framing is that solar power you use for charging is power you did not export, so the saving depends on what your grid would otherwise have burned — which is still a large win on most grids.
Are electric scooters greener than e-bikes?
They are similar, with the e-bike slightly ahead because pedalling supplies part of the energy and the battery is smaller. Both are an order of magnitude cleaner per kilometre than any car, electric or otherwise, and both are beaten by walking and cycling.
What does the tree equivalent mean?
It converts your annual saving using roughly 21 kg of CO₂ absorbed per mature tree per year. It is a rough analogy for scale, not an offset claim — trees absorb carbon over decades and at highly variable rates, so treat it as intuition rather than accounting.