This article describes the result on how electrical scooters and their swappable batteries have an impact on the environment. One of the leading companies, called TIER, has been selected for the analysis and exploration of the sustainability proposition. There will be an in-depth analysis of both circular and linear economies in terms of the company's perspective. The research is based on both theories from different articles, but also by an anonymous survey sent out to people. Through the survey, it’s been observed an insight into how important sustainability and the environment are for the individual. Furthermore, the various answers in the survey stated that many chose to use electric scooters both because of accessibility, but also because of the environment. All this related to linear and circular economy, shows that TIER has thought about reuse by using reusable swappable batteries. The conclusion that was drawn in this text is that for many, climate, environment and sustainability are important facts when it comes to everyday choices. Using recycling, instead of throwing away products, is important. Furthermore, one can then see that the survey corresponds with much of the theoretical basis.

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SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS PRACTICES
Submitted to: Thomas Laudal
ASSIGNMENT 8, MSB325-1 21H AT UiS:
Syed Aqib Ali
Helene Oline Fiskaaen
Atena Cosmina Basuri
Group members:1650, 1635,1653
TIER
SUBJECT: Sustainability and E-Scooter

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Abstract
This article describes the result on how electrical scooters and their swappable batteries have an
impact on the environment. One of the leading companies, called TIER, has been selected for the
analysis and exploration of the sustainability proposition. There will be an in-depth analysis of
both circular and linear economies in terms of the company's perspective. The research is based
on both theories from different articles, but also by an anonymous survey sent out to people.
Through the survey, it’s been observed an insight into how important sustainability and the
environment are for the individual. Furthermore, the various answers in the survey stated that many
chose to use electric scooters both because of accessibility, but also because of the environment.
All this related to linear and circular economy, shows that TIER has thought about reuse by using
reusable swappable batteries.
The conclusion that was drawn in this text is that for many, climate, environment and sustainability
are important facts when it comes to everyday choices. Using recycling, instead of throwing away
products, is important. Furthermore, one can then see that the survey corresponds with much of
the theoretical basis.
Introduction
Why this theme?
This project will analyse the affordability of e-scooters and their swappable batteries which are
being used in Norway while focusing on one of the leading e-scooters companies called “TIER”.
Firstly, e mobility in the form of shared e scooters in the urban areas was first introduced in the
USA in 2017. In Europe, these easy to ride and dock-less temporarily owned products have been
flourishing in France as the entry of the very first service providers in Paris during the season of
summer 2018 (6t-Bureau de Recherche, 2019). According to Lime (Lime, 2019), shared e-scooter
trips surpassed 100 million rides, and in Prague, Madrid, and Greece, more than one million trips
using these mobility services were completed until 2019. In Asia, in recent years, e-scooters started
to be used in South Korea in the later semiannual of 2019 (Min-ji, 2020).

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The impact of the business model of electric scooters in Norway, focusing on batteries, is a relevant
and important topic because we are going into a new way of living. But, at the same time, we all
know that it is essential to reduce CO2 because of the temperature on earth. Furthermore,
companies and people have a more significant focus on a "greener future and environment".
Therefore, the theme around swappable batteries is strongly linked to thoughts about a greener
way of living, and there will be an increased focus on this topic.
Is this topic relevant today?
Tier was founded in 2018 and is already in 70 different cities across Europe. It is Europe's largest
e-scooter operation and is renowned for its industry-leading safety and high-accuracy parking
approach (Visit York, 2021).
It was the first e-scooter operation in the world to become climate-neutral and is rolling out
swappable batteries across its fleet, which is removing the need to collect and transport the vehicles
to a warehouse for charging. TIER is a brand that leases out electric scooters to the people. It
comes with various industry-leading safety features which minimise the risks to riders and the
public. The electric scooters come with swappable batteries that enable riders to exchange batteries
at different charging stations.
Their vision is to lead the way towards seamless and sustainable mobility - joy for everyone. With
both public and private organisations, Tier rethinks urban transportation and, at the same time,
reshape cities' landscapes by offering easy-accessible and affordable mobility and services.
Looking at how Tier has established a significant customer portfolio worldwide and focuses on
sustainability and the environment, there are many relevancies. First, there is a global focus on
saving the earth, and for Tier - having a goal to offer all customers zero-emission vehicles.
Action plan:
The plan of this project is to look at Tier and their way of using the swappable batteries to become
a zero-emission company. Furthermore, the topics around delineating sustainability and linear and

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circular economy will impact our research. We will gather the information through a
questionnaire-based survey and by using relevant articles. The answers we get from the survey
will be essential in answering our research problem and presenting the results.
Theoretical Framework
Different perspective
In a world where sustainability, a greener future and economic welfare has a significant impact on
the future, is it natural that companies also want to go in that direction. Because of the impact
sustainability has, our research question focuses on the swappable batteries Tier offers.
In years, the only way to get from one place to another was by either walking or driving a fuel car.
The focus on the environment and a greener future were not as crucial for people as now. There
has been a massive change in humans' mindset around the environment and climate actions to
prevent environmental challenges in recent times.
Previous research
The average temperature on the earth is higher now than before and is constantly getting higher.
The increased emissions of greenhouse gases are due to us humans. Our most common energy
sources are so-called "fossil fuels", such as coal, gas or oil. Fossil fuels contain the substance
carbon. This substance is released and released into the atmosphere as CO2 when burned.
Battery swapping is a new kind of technology that allows faster charging opportunities for electric
vehicles. It consists of swapping a discharged battery with one that's fully charged. Using
swappable batteries would replace recharging, thus eliminating long refuelling times, which is one
major limitation of zero-emission vehicles.
In newer times, there has been a switch in the environmental focus. Electric cars and scooters are
one significant change that also impacts the climate and environment. However, for example, does
it reduce CO2 emissions (Sambandet, 2019).

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Environmental point of view
The background for our research question is that there has been a development in electric vehicles.
TIER wants to reduce its emissions by limiting carbon-intensive materials, which are needed to
produce the scooters. The swappable batteries aim to set the standard regarding sustainable
consumption, production, and operations. The 7th goal of sustainable development of the United
Nations is all about ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
this research aims to explore more about this area with respect to e-scooters industry (United
Nations, 2019).
By supporting and using electric scooters, people will gain energy efficiency in terms of energy
usage between gas vehicles and electric scooters. In addition, battery swapping uses renewable
resources and charges the batteries by using green energy.
Life Cycle assessment of shared e-scooters:
Life cycle assessment is considered concerning this model shown in Fig 1. The study comprises
material, manufacturing, transport, use and re-charging. The functional unit is one passenger-
kilometre (LBP-GaBi, 2019). This model depicts the energy consumption and emission of CO2 at
different stages. It starts from production/recycling, where various raw materials are used to
manufacture the product's components such as electric motor, body frame, rubber, and batteries,
where the process consumes energy.
Further and emit the emission, and afterwards, the final product is transported through different
modes of transportation until it reaches the public. Then the maintenance and battery swapping
department do their most of the service to keep the life of e scooters as long as possible, and hence
after multiple re-charging, batteries and e scooters reach their inevitable end-stage. (Severengiz et
al., 2020)

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In the evidence of a potential life cycle period, Tier published a brief article about the several
myths about e-scooters. Here it is claimed that the life cycle of Tier e scooters is almost five years
with everyday use and as practically all the parts used in the manufacturing of the e scooters are
entirely recyclable and replaceable after they stop working (TIER, 2020).
Problem statement in light of theoretical findings
In this report, a questionnaire has been used as a
methodology to get a deeper understanding of why people
are considering electric scooters in terms of affordability
and reliability. Moreover, there will be building up of
research exploration by using relevant articles. Perhaps, the
primary focus will remain on the swappable batteries in this
research and will focus on this concerning delineating
"sustainability" and linear and circular economy. The
question is based on how to minimize the cost and
maximize the lifespan of the batteries the company is using
in the scooters and how far the TIER has achieved this 7th goal on sustainability so far.
Methodology
To find out more about electric scooters and how the users of these e-scooters think is essential.
Therefore the choice of doing a survey seemed to be an excellent way to get information.

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The data from the survey will be used further in this research to more straightforward answer the
research question about the affordability of e-scooters and their swappable batteries.
Random people were asked to complete an online survey (mailed out to each) regarding their
experience with the Electrical scooters. This survey aimed to explore client perception of the e-
scooter, the services they received from the companies, areas to improve and general feedback. It
also served to gather statistics regarding client interaction with the Electrical Scooters.
This report serves to summarize the responses to the survey.
Methodology
The survey was designed specifically to gather data on how many people use electric scooters and
are satisfied with the overall driving experience. Information was gathered by mailing the survey
out with an explanatory letter. It was made available online for people through Google Docs so
each one of the respondents easily could answer the survey voluntarily and anonymously. Further
we, students, promoted the study by creating a survey directly to other students, friends and family.
The questions were close-ended with given limited sets of answers and predetermined options to
choose from (Yes/No, multiple-choices and checkboxes). All completed surveys were accepted
from October until November 1st. There were 30 completed responses, a 30% response rate based
on surveys' distribution to 100 persons.
Key findings
One of the TIERs most essential criteria for their electric scooters is quality. That is because if
their products do not have good quality, there will be a reduction in customers choosing TIER.
However, the
survey shows that
on a scale from 1-5,
people were in the
upper scale and
pleased.

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Further in the survey, we gathered information that more than half of the respondents considered
the idea of using an eco-friendly alternative beneficial for the environment by 58,8%. It is a very
high percentage, indicating that many electric scooters think the domain is essential.
The respondents viewed concern over safety (20,7%), contrastingly 51,7% found riding very
exciting, prompt and efficient.
Two-thirds of regulator respondents did not face any issue with the battery while riding, but on
the other hand, 27,6% did. In the survey, we also asked about the efficiency of using electric
scooters because after analyzing different articles, we saw that this was very important for many.
The reason is that consumers don't use electric scooters if other offers are better and more
available.
In conclusion about the efficiency, more than half of the respondents considered riding an e-
scooter very efficient.

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When recommending electric scooters to friends and family, safety, availability, efficiency, and
battery time were crucial factors. However, there was no clear majority who wouldn't recommend
an e-scooter to a friend.
The reason why so many respondents would recommend electric scooters to a friend is probably
related to the last question in the survey. They were asked if they could rate their overall driving
experience, and overall it seemed like everyone was pleased.
Survey results
Overall, the conclusion is that the respondents were generally satisfied with the eco-friendly
alternative whichTIER offers customers. Specifically, the majority of the respondents were either
delighted, happy or somewhat satisfied with the idea of using an eco-friendly alternative, driving
experience and the quality of the scooter. Hence, daily use of electric scooters around the streets
indicates that many of the people in newer generations have a more significant focus on the
environment.

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Validity
Validity is the central extent to which a concept, conclusion of measurement is well-founded and
likely corresponds accurately to reality (Heale & Twycross, 2015).
There are different categories of validity. In this research about TIER, their batteries and
sustainability, the validity mainly focuses on the types of construct validity; which refers to a
research instrument that measures the intended construct, and criterion validity; which refers to a
research instrument that is related to other tools that measure the same variables.
The results gathered from the survey are based on both the product itself and how it handles the
climate issue. For example, battery swapping is one main factor that focuses on the environment
and sustainability. Further, the questions in the survey are written based on a mindset about how
their product helps the environment and if it does.
In conclusion to the validity, you can see a connection between the focus on sustainability and
electric scooters. On the other hand, a negative factor is that there are not as many respondents as
wanted for the survey. It indicates that you can't get a valid conclusion based on only 30
respondents.
Further, there should be a more significant division in where the respondents live. This survey only
focuses on Stavanger but should probably expand to other cities such as Oslo, Trondheim, Bergen
and Tromsø to get respondents from all over Norway.
Reliability
Reliability relates to the consistency of a measure between two or more factors. For example, in
the survey, we focused on the environment compared to electric scooters. It can be seen as
equivalence reliability in the study because it includes qualitatively determining the level of
agreement between two or more observers.
To get the relevant information needed, people got the option to give scores from 1-5, focusing on
the relevance between the question and what they think. The consistency in the score they are
providing relates to the level of inter-rater reliability of the instrument.

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By looking at how many respondents there are in the survey and comparing it to the scores given
in the different questions, you can see reliability between sustainability, swappable batteries,
availability, and comfort. Further, one negative aspect is that there are not a lot of respondents and
fewer questions than there should be. The reason why there were not as many respondents as
wanted might be because of a tight schedule when it comes to time.
When looking at what kind of questions were asked, you can see that the focus was on
sustainability and the environment throughout the whole survey. When it comes to reliability, this
is positive because we only gather relevant information.
Literature Review
The transportation segment contributes as high as 15.5% to worldwide global warming potential
(GWP) (Guidehouse.com, 2019). Specifically, urban mobility has played a vital role as a
contributor to GWP and also causes many damaging externalities, for example, other air
contaminants and traffic overcrowding. Therefore, some companies have recently introduced
shared public e-scooters as a substitute for traditional urban mobility.
A shared public e-scooter is a temporary borrowing system of electric e-scooters from the service
provider that permits users to unlock an e-scooter from anywhere, anytime to anywhere, according
to their commute comfort. This unique idea has been adapted by many other European countries
and some developing countries because it offers excellent ease of mobility, is easy to carry
anywhere in town, and is eco friendly (Moreau et al., 2020).
In contrast, BBC published news highlighting the damages caused by these e-scooters by some
drunk drivers, many deaths recorded due to the negligence of e-scooter users in cities including
Paris, Brussels, Barcelona, Stockholm and London (BBC, 2019). As far as sustainable
circumstances related to e-scooters are concerned, Chester indicates that engineering and resources
root most life-cycle CO2 emissions. However, this is shadowed by collection, circulation and
recharging of the scooter, for a sum of 200 g CO2 eq./kilometre. By extending the distance over

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the life cycle of the e-scooter from 1200 - 6000 kilometres, emissions could be condensed to a
total of 57 g CO2eq./kilometre (Chester, 2019).
Circular economy plays a vital role in the optimization of Triple Bottom Line (TBL), and could
perform as a game changer gear for the formation of new business models and opportunities of
vacancies as well. Manufacturing cost, delineating the price volatility of the supply chain,
improvement of environment eco friendly sustainability can also be ensured by the integrating the
circular economy model (Kalmykova, 2018)
Linear to the circular economy
The circular economy can be described as a more industrial economy that aims to rely on more
renewable energy, for example, eliminating toxic chemicals. TIER is focusing on renewable
batteries, where one of its goals is to reduce its CO2 emissions. The concept behind the circular
economy is based on the study of non-linear systems. A circular economy draws a sharp distinction
between the consumption and use of different materials (Ellen Macarthur Foundation, 2021).
Discussion and conclusion
The result is based mainly on the findings in the survey and other articles. As seen, the people
using TIER focus on the environment and are willing to operate electric scooters mainly because
of the eco-friendly option.
Linear economy is a simple, one way chain of producing goods, starting from getting the raw
material, converting them into goods, and distributing them to final customers, no recylsing no
sustainability.. On the other hand, the circular model is much more advanced and supportive to
sustainability goals like, in each step a company can recycle products in order to increase the
lifespan of products. Here we can relate it more to the circular economy model because TIER has
been manufacturing, re-manufacturing, and recycling each part of its e-scooters to increase the
total life cycle of its product. And as far as this argument is concerned, they are already partnered
up with other businesses to complete this cycle chain in order to increase the lifespan of swappable
batteries (TIER, 2021).

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Looking further at possible implications, a significant factor here is how many respondents have
answered the survey. Additionally, another considerable impact is how people look at the
production of the batteries and the consequences of the battery's life cycle. As we are living in the
most circular economies and that it might not have observed that before but when we think about
it in terms of nature we can actually connect it really easily so what we have now is we work and
live in a linear economy so we take something out the ground generally we make something we
use that thing and that thing could be a car, or anything since humans use it and then it ends up
going to landfill or incineration that's the linear economy and create waste. The work of nature is
always circular, it’s only the involvement of humans which is creating problems by using linear
models in most of the business. Hence, it is most important for TIER to support stakeholders,
partners and business so things work in communities and loops and togetherness so that’s how all
supply chain processes will be working together in loops and helping to regenerate the nature
around us

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