The running fate: Russians transfer from rental cars to personal electric scooters

Russians are switching from rental cars to their own electric scooters due to the tightening of kicksharing sanctions - speed restrictions, the presence of zones where their movement is prohibited, the non—admission of children to driving, fines and others. Sales of electric scooters to individuals increased 1.5–2 times. Unlike rented devices, users of their own devices are responsible only in case of an accident, so they prefer to drive on their devices.

Why do Russians buy electric scooters

An employee of one of the distribution companies told Izvestia that in January – April 2025, sales of electric scooters increased 1.5 times in the Russian Federation compared to the same period last year. According to him, this is happening against the background of tougher fines that users of rental SIM (personal mobility equipment) receive, and tougher other penalties for violations, such as account blocking. In this situation, it is better to have your own electric scooter — its owner is almost impossible to fine. For example, for driving together or taking his time at a crossing: responsibility for him can come, in fact, only when an accident is committed, the Izvestia interlocutor points out.

"In January – April of this year, we saw sales of electric scooters almost double, but the May data does not show such high demand, which is explained by the extremely cold weather for this month," Roman Nikitin, head of the Electric Transport department at diHouse, told Izvestia. — On the one hand, despite inflationary processes, prices for bestsellers from key players remained at the same level, and they even managed to reduce them for a number of models. On the other hand, all the procurement processes in China and their logistics to our market have stabilized and are taking place without time or other delays.

Kicksharing companies do regularly increase fines: for example, since April 28, Whoosh and MTS Yuret have stepped up the fight against the use of rental electric scooters by minors. Since April 28, the companies have tripled the fines for their access to SIM management — from 10 thousand to 30 thousand rubles, their representatives told Izvestia. The exception is Moscow, where the fine is already 100,000 rubles.

The companies also noted that an adult who allowed a child to control a scooter would lose his account in the kicksharing service. At the same time, access to services is becoming more complicated — for example, in 2025-2026, operators intend to introduce verification of access to scooters through Gosuslugi, one of them told Izvestia earlier.

The main reason for the positive growth in demand for our own electric scooters is stricter regulation in the field of kicksharing, agrees Anton Fomin, head of retail projects at Marvel Distribution. The restrictions and fines imposed by operators lead to the fact that it is now much easier to buy an electric scooter for personal use than to rent it, he believes.

Another reason is the need to replace old SIM cards with new ones, a source at the distribution company added. They began to enjoy active demand about two years ago, and by the end of the second season, the scooter's resource is being developed, and it needs to be changed, the Izvestia source explained.

Sales of electric scooters at Wildberries in January – April increased by 111% compared to the same period in 2024, in physical terms they increased by 130%, while the average receipt decreased by 8%, the Wildberries & Russ press service noted. Although in absolute terms, the turnover of electric scooters significantly exceeds that of electric bicycles, the latter show higher growth dynamics — 440% in total sales and 320% in physical terms, they added.

The growth in sales of electric scooters is primarily due to the fact that this means of transportation is becoming a familiar means of transportation for citizens, according to a Whoosh representative.

— More and more people are trying to ride, learning and realizing that it is more convenient and faster to travel short distances on an electric scooter (for example, in a district or between districts) than by car, especially in conditions of traffic jams or lack of parking spaces, — his representative lists.

He called the growth in sales of scooters a good trend: electric scooters are becoming commonplace, and more and more people are using these eco-friendly vehicles.

— Of course, this will not affect the interest in kicksharing. Personal and rental scooters are used in different scenarios. It is convenient to travel by car close to home if there is a place to store it and you want, for example, to try devices of different models. It is more convenient to use kicksharing on multimodal routes and combine it with other modes of transport, such as taking a scooter when exiting the subway," Whoosh added.

The MTS Yrent press service believes that the demand for electric scooters continues to grow, as people want to move around without traffic jams and without a car.

"In the current situation, when the regulation of sharing scooters is being tightened, it is logical that people are becoming more willing to use personal electric scooters, which have no speed limits and whose movement is currently not regulated in any way," the company noted. — This is exactly the trend that we warned the authorities about when we said that regulation should cover not only shared scooters, but also personal ones.

What are the prospects for the electric scooter market

The Association of Micromobility Operators believes that in those regions where they take a strict position of restrictions on kicksharing, the number of their own SIM cards is growing, which are not subject to sanctions. So far, the municipal authorities do not see any risk in this, says Ksenia Erdman, director of the organization.

— According to our estimates, there are at least twice as many private SIM cards (among which the overwhelming number are electric scooters) as there are rental ones, that is, about 2 million. We don't notice them because they're black and don't park on the streets, but there are a lot more problems with them than with rental cars. Most accidents occur due to significant speeding, which means that injuries are more severe. There are twice as many deaths with personal SIM cards as with rental ones. Often, such devices are bought for children because the law allows it, and kicksharing fines for transferring control to minors from operators have increased," Ksenia Erdman notes.

Market participants note that there is now a growing demand for other, more rational SIM cards, in particular for electric bicycles.

— Indeed, we see an increase in demand for alternative types of electric transport — both SIM and heavier equipment, up to electric pedals and electric motorcycles. However, it's too early to say that the segment of classic electric scooters is falling," Roman Nikitin points out.

In general, the market prospects look vague, says Anton Fomin from Marvel Distribution.

— There is a certain cycle: rent is becoming more expensive, as operators include increasing risks in the cost. In turn, consumers are starting to buy scooters for themselves in order to use them as often as they used to. As a result, the number of violations is decreasing, but very slightly, so the state is already tightening the screws on individuals at the legislative level. Such a tightening cuts off all those who ride in violation of the rules (more than 30% of all users), which sooner or later will lead to a reduction in users, he said.

According to Eldar Murtazin, a leading analyst at Mobile Research Group, 180,000 SIM cards were sold privately in the first four months of this year. People are tired of the restrictions of kicksharing companies on speed, places to ride, and so on. Demand is particularly high in St. Petersburg, where authorities prohibit the use of rental scooters even in places where they don't bother anyone, he added.

In addition, scooters are bought by residents of small towns and villages where they are not yet available for rental, Eldar Murtazin concluded.