If you are anywhere in San Diego, LA, Santa Monica, Washington, DC, and San Jose, chances are that someone would have crossed you on the street riding an e-Scooter.
What started in San Francisco has taken over a major part of the US ‘last-mile’ and Japan’s market: The market segment which is made up of users who commute between points that are too long to walk but too short to book a cab for.
e-Scooters – introduced by Bird – are the trend that are making the ride sharing economy greener and economical. While still fairly new in the market, the ride mode has been accepted full support from not just the investors but also the urban multi-modal users and entrepreneurs looking to enter the space and enjoy the plethora of benefits of electric scooter sharing service.
It is time for the USA centric trend to become mainstream.
In this article, we will be looking into the factors that go into the development of a reliable eScooter app in addition to the Bird clone app development cost that the entrepreneur would have to incur.
Table Of Content
- About Bird eScooter App
- Must-Have Features of Electric Scooter App
- UI/UX Design System for an eScooter Application
- Technology Stack Choice for a Robust eScooter Ride-Sharing Application
- How Much Does it Cost to Develop eScooter App?
- How to Earn Money Through Your eScooter App?
But before we get there, let’s peek into the market that eScooters have found for themselves between users, investors, and entrepreneurs.
A major reason behind this flourishing market is the efforts that Bird took to create and expand the domain.
About Bird eScooter App
Founded in 2017 by Travis VanderZanden of Uber and Lyft fame, Bird is a Santa Monica based micro mobility brand, which operates in more than 100 cities of North America, Middle East, and Europe. In the second year of operation itself, the brand bagged over $300 million in funding rounds.
Bird App in the News
- Bird is in talks to acquire German Rival Circ. According to several people who know the two brands closely, Circ, has been seeking buyers after facing difficulty in raising new funds to back its expansion.
- Bird, understanding that the real business value comes from using the platform as a place for businesses to become a marketplace, has launched its own platform for the same activity. In addition to showcasing its own scooters, it is also offering other operators to be found and booked through the Bird app.
{Also read: Challenges To Know Before Starting E-Scooter Rental Business}
Must-Have Features of Electric Scooter App
When we talk about the feature set that contributes to the electric scooter app cost estimate, there are two versions that we consider: User and Admin.
Let us look at the specifications of electric scooter app that come in both the versions, individually.
User Side of eScooter App Features
1. Registration
A strategically planned registration process is one of the most important parts of app on boarding. It is also something that you should be very careful about. If you ask users for too much information, they are likely to get wary and leave your app and if you ask too less, you might end up asking them to give the information later in the app.
Thus, it is important to only ask them what is necessary.
2. In-App Payment
Integration of payment mechanism in your app is another must-have feature that should be present in your eScooter ride sharing application. You should enable the users to make the payment, either in advance or at the end of the ride (according to your business model) from within the application.
3. Navigation
By adding geolocation in your mobile app, you will be able to give your users the ability to look where the eScooters are parked. This way, it will be easy for them to reach the scooters on time.
4. Push Notifications
Your users will have to be kept updated at several instances both during the ride and off it. You would have to reach out to them to inform them of marketing plans and at the time of ride, they’ll want to know the payment amount, ride details emergency security notifications, etc. All this will be done through rightly employing the push notifications feature.
5. Barcode Scan
An integral part of Bird eScooter like app development cost is the barcode scanning feature. It is how the riders will start the ride on their eScooter. You should ensure that the process of scanning the barcode off the scooter is seamless (this is one of the biggest challenges of making electric scooter app that developers face).
Admin Side of eScooter App Features
1. User Management
The first functionality that must be present in the eScooter app’s admin side dashboard is user management. Through the feature, the admin will be able to track riders details – number, how they are using the app, problems they are facing, etc.
2. Ride Management
Through the feature, admin will be able to manage all the rides – ride history, locations, routes chosen, the speed limit, where is the eScooter being ridden – if it is following government’s regulations, etc.
3. Payment Management
This feature will help admin be on top of the payments that riders are making, if there are cases of non payment, etc. It will also give them insights into what they would have to change in their payment mechanism to keep the users hooked.
4. Dispute Management
There can be several instances of disputes in the journey of a rider. The feature will help the admin know which issues have been raised and how to resolve them within stipulated time.
UI/UX Design System for an eScooter Application
When we talk about designing a ride sharing application, the one name that all designers look up to is Uber. But designing an app like Uber will come with a cost. For you to understand what makes designing an important part of the development cost of app like Bird, Skip, Lime, Spin, Goat, and Scoot, it’ll be important to see the intricacy that it demands.
Our team of designers recently worked on the design and development of an eScooter application, Moo. For the process, we extensively worked on user research and interviews to get an idea of what is it that drives them to ride a scooter. Here’s a snippet of how it looked.
What primarily separates a micro-mobility booking application from a Uber or Lyft like app is the user base. The user class that eScooters come with are extremely young and social media centric. This is the reason why the app must have an eye catchy design as well.
And noting how the app handles micro-mobility needs, the design should also support the minimalism that is aligned with the ride duration.
Now that we have looked into the elements defining the cost of designing the application, let’s move on to the next development centric cost impacting factor which you’ll come across when you build on-demand eScooter app like Bird.
Technology Stack Choice for a Robust eScooter Ride
The choice of technology stack makes up for a major part of the price of eScooter sharing app development.
Since no two applications are the same, it’s not necessary that the tech stack which works for Bird will work for you too. But knowing the electric scooter app tech stack they have followed can be a great starting point for you to base your application on.
How Much Does it Cost to Develop eScooter App?
After studying every prime factors that come together to account for eScooter app development cost, we have arrived at a point where we will be giving you the valuation to work around.
Besides the obvious factors of mobile app development cost mentioned above, here are the other impacting elements.
1. Choice of Backend Development
When creating an app backend, on-demand application developers have two options, either go with Monolithic or Microservices. The answer of the choice ultimately depends on the project size and the scalability requirements. When both are on the higher side, microservices is the right option and otherwise, monolithic is.
But also, when you choose microservices, you automatically add more zeroes in the Bird eScooter like app development costs.
2. Choice of Platform
A simple formula when we talk of cost to develop electric scooter like bird is that more the number of platforms the greater would be the cost. As it is, the cost of an IoT project is very high. So when you plan on adding multiple platforms in the mix, the overall eScooter app development cost breakdown would only rise.
3. The Location of the Agency
As revealed by us several times before, the location of your partnered app development agency tends to have a major impact on the cost of electric scooter app development. If you go with an eScooter app development company that belongs to the eastern nations, it would be a lot less compared to when you go with a western nation housed company.
Noting all the different elements, the Bird eScooter like app development cost that you will arrive at will be in range of USD 50K to USD 70K.
How to Earn Money Through Your eScooter App?
Now that we have looked into the different factors that are designed to fall in your debit side, let us look into the ways you can earn money on your application.
The primal way would be to have a competitive price set for the last-mile rides. While on average, the industry is riding on $1, you can think of other monetary combinations as well for your application.
The next way, which is used in the Bird app model is to make your app a marketplace. Here, you will have to acquire scooters which you can then make available to other companies in return for an amount.