Alina Oprea • 14 June, 2023 at 11:00 AM
The sales of electric scooters increased in the last year by approximately 10% in Romania. At the same time, the average selling price per unit decreased by at least 10%, due to the cheapening of raw materials. Annually, Romanians buy about 50,000 new electric scooters, according to the evoMAG online store. The increase in the last year was generated by the ease of use of electric scooters, but also by the fact that they are green vehicles, with very low maintenance and running costs. As with bicycles, scooters replace cars in a crowded city and help reduce monthly transportation costs.
"Particularly, in Bucharest, the demand for electric scooters is higher as the Capital becomes a city where parking a personal car in a place of proximity is increasingly difficult, and parking costs have increased rapidly. That is why scooters become very convenient, useful, and fast means of transport. Currently, the Capital is the largest market for the sale of electric vehicles for evoMAG, representing 40% of the total category", says Mihai Pătrașcu, CEO of evoMAG.
Sales of electric bicycles and scooters have seen similar growth to scooters over the past year. The growth trend of the electric category will be sustained in the medium and long term, as the world becomes more aware of greenhouse gas emissions and environmental pollution, alongside the benefits of improved transport efficiency.
This year, sales of electric vehicles will represent around 10% of evoMAG's total turnover.
At the market level, evoMAG expects the e-scooter segment to stagnate, which is seasonal, and this year's changeable weather has slowed the pace of sales growth.
"Although it was supposed to start about 2 months ago, the window for accelerated sales of electric scooters, which coincides with the warm temperature period of the year, has only just opened. We, therefore, expect the market to stagnate in 2023", says Mihai Pătrașcu.
Currently, evoMAG lists the entire range of products in this category, thus offering electric scooters with prices from RON1,400 (€280) to RON14,000 (€2,800). The most purchased scooters are Xiaomi, due to the very high exposure of the manufacturer, ZERO, which offers quality products with specifications that meet the demand of the local market and cover all category levels, from beginners to extreme, Kugoo, which offers reliability at an affordable price, Speedxman, and MOBIX, due to the applicability of urban needs.
When choosing an electric scooter model, users consider the brand, the weight of the vehicle, the autonomy, the maximum speed, and the possibility of servicing the vehicle.
Likewise, evoMAG invested €100,000 in the service dedicated to electric vehicles, which offers repair services and spare parts for all the products it sells, but also for models listed by other traders.