Survey on e-Powered Micro Personal Mobility Vehicles: Exploring Current Issues towards Future Developments

Abstract

Nowadays, the diffusion of electric-powered micro Personal Mobility Vehicles (e-PMVs) worldwide—i.e., e-bikes, e-scooters, and self-balancing vehicles—has disrupted the urban transport sector. Furthermore, this topic has captured many scholars and practitioners’ interest due to multiple issues related to their use. Over the past five years, there has been strong growth in the publication of e-PMV studies. This paper reviews the existing literature by identifying several issues on the impact that e-PMVs produce from different perspectives. More precisely, by using the PRIMA’s methodological approach and well-known scientific repositories (i.e., Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar), 90 studies between 2014 and 2020 were retrieved and analyzed. An overview and classification into endogenous issues (e.g., impact on transport and urban planning) and exogenous issues (e.g., impact on safety and the environment) are provided. While several issues are deeply investigated, the findings suggest that some others need many improvements. Therefore, the status quo of these studies is being assessed to support possible future developments.