Industry-first e-scooter stability test to launch in the UK

Source: Zag Daily

Two leading motorsport engineering figures are spearheading the development of the world’s first formal protocol for measuring the stability of e-scooters, following a new funding award in the United Kingdom.

Peter Wright, former Technical Director of Formula One’s Team Lotus, and Steffen Kosuch, former Head of Vehicle Dynamics for the Formula 3000 International Championship, have secured over €137,000 from the FIA Foundation to advance their pioneering research. The funding will allow the pair, working in collaboration with UK transport research specialist TRL, to convert their experimental methods into a standardised Test Protocol.

The 12-month research and development project aims to provide regulators and consumer safety organisations with a robust framework to evaluate e-scooter stability – an area that experts say has, until now, lacked a scientific benchmark.

Measuring instability

Over the past year, Wright and Kosuch have been developing a methodology to quantify what Wright calls “the stability of unstable e-scooters,” a metric absent from current academic and industry research. Their approach focuses on two types of instability. The first is “capsize,” where a scooter travelling below a certain speed topples without rider input. The second involves unstable oscillations, often triggered by road irregularities, that force riders to intervene or risk losing control.

To ensure the scooter itself – not the rider’s corrective actions – is being assessed, Wright and Kosuch devised a process that isolates the vehicle’s behaviour. Drawing inspiration from aeronautics, they adapted techniques used to measure an aircraft’s stability when disturbed from level flight. In their tests, scooters are deliberately destabilised to observe whether they return to balance, diverge further, or enter oscillation.

“The key is the ability to ride it straight and upright at any speed, long enough to apply the disturbance to the e scooter, and then not to crash. At higher speeds, where these oscillations occur, the rider must be able to not touch the steering long enough to take the data, before taking back control.” Wright explained.

From method to protocol

The FIA Foundation’s grant will allow this research to be formalised into a repeatable and reproducible Test Protocol. The protocol will consider a range of design variables – such as wheel size, foot placement, seating, steering dampers, suspension, and even carrying loads like shopping – that may influence stability outcomes.

Testing will be conducted at TRL’s facilities in the UK, with a potential second phase integrating the protocol into wider safety assessments of e-scooter designs and their role in injury prevention.

Dr George Beard, Head of New Mobility at TRL, welcomed the project, noting its potential to inform future regulation: “E-scooter stability is a critical factor for ensuring the safety of riders and other road users. In TRL’s recent work for the UK Department for Transport and the European Commission, we assessed existing methods of testing the stability of e-scooters and recommended that future micromobility regulations incorporate a performance-based approach similar to that used by the German eKFV stability tests.”

With e-scooter adoption growing rapidly across Europe and beyond, the introduction of a standardised stability test could mark a turning point in the sector, offering manufacturers, policymakers, and consumers clearer insight into the safety of these vehicles.