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Stilwell, George; Gooch, Shayne; Goodwin, Max; Zarifeh, Harry

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E-scooters have become a popular form of personal transport with millions of E-scooters used worldwide. This paper details an initial investigation into the relative differences in rolling resistance for a range of e-scooter tyres. Tyre performance was measured using dynamometer-based coast-down tests to determine the coast-down distance and coefficient of rolling resistance of each tyre. Insights from testing showed that e-scooter tyres had coefficients of rolling resistance that were 3.5 to 6 times the coefficient of rolling resistance of a 700x32C bike tyre. Comparisons between tyres of similar specification showed the tyres with solid inserts had more rolling resistance than a pneumatic tyre at the rated pressure. Comparisons of equivalent airless and pneumatic tyres the rated pressure indicated airless tyres had slightly better performance in terms of coast-down distance. The results also show how a decrease in tyre pressure increases rolling resistance, highlighting the importance of maintaining rated tyre pressure to improve e-scooter efficiency. The results from this study provide useful insights into the performance of tyres that can be used on low-powered vehicles.

Keywords:

Decision making, Evaluation, Sustainability, mobility devices