Onzo expands ride-sharing business, 2,500 e-scooters set to hit Auckland's streets

The e-scooters can cover around 30 kilometres before requiring a recharge and will be hitting the streets of Auckland next month. Photo / Supplied

Two and a half thousand e-scooters are set to hit the streets of Auckland in the coming months, courtesy of bike-sharing company Onzo.

The e-scooters, which are allowed on footpaths or the road, will join the 1,541 Onzo bikes already available around Auckland.

Min-Kyu Jung, Onzo chief growth officer, said he believes the e-scooters will revolutionise the way Aucklanders travel around the city.

"We're designing the system to make it super quick, easy, and cheap to pick up e-scooters for short journeys multiple times a day," Jung said.

An initial order of 500 e-scooters will hit the streets next month, followed by a further 2,000 in the coming months.

The e-scooters have a 250W motor, and are capable of top speeds of around 30 kilometres per hour and can cover around 30 kilometres before requiring a recharge.

Just like Onzo's bikes, the system will be dockless and users will simply use the Onzo app to unlock the scooters from wherever they're left around the city by the previous rider.

"E-scooters are great because they make travelling easy and fun," Jung said.

"Unlike bikes, e-scooters are allowed to be used on footpaths and don't require helmets. They're perfect to pick up anywhere, anytime, for last-mile journeys such as between the bus stop and the office."

Onzo will crowdsource the recharging of the scooters at night to the public.

"We'll be paying users to bring depleted e-scooters home to charge overnight and leave them in designated areas afterwards for other people to use," Jung said.

"With almost 80 per cent of New Zealand's electricity coming from renewable sources, riders can breathe easy knowing they're not contributing to pollution in the city.

"Electric vehicles are the future of transport and although I'm sure many of us would love to drive around Auckland in a Tesla, the reality is these e-scooters are far more efficient at getting you around downtown, plus, it's way more fun zipping around on a scooter than being stuck in a car in traffic."

According to the New Zealand Transport Agency's website, e-scooters are classed as a low-powered vehicle that do not require registration or a drivers licence – providing their maximum power output does not exceed 300W.

When being used on the road, e-scooters must be operated as near as practicable to the edge of the roadway.

Onzo is talking to city councils around the country about launching their e-scooters in other main centres.