Abstract This work presents the findings of a small-scale electric scooter trial in Oxford, United Kingdom. The trial scooters were instrumented with global positioning satellite data loggers and energy meters to record their time of day usage and charging regimes. The scooters were most likely driving at 09:00, 12:45 and 17:15 and charging at 10:15–10:40. The electric scooter normalized mains-to-wheel energy use was 0.10kWhkm−1. The electric scooter total operating costs (electricity and battery replacement) of £0.045km−1 is 24% greater than the best selling equivalent petrol motorcycle and 1.7 times lower than the best selling car. The electric scooter uses 0.45MJkm−1, or 2.9 times and 6.1 times less than the petrol motorcycle and car, respectively. Further, the electric scooter can achieve zero carbon dioxide equivalent (greenhouse gas, GHG) emissions when electricity from renewable energy sources is used. In 2008, there were 247000 motorcycles in the UK vehicle fleet of equivalent size to the trial scooter. Scaling up the electric vehicle fleet size accordingly would avoid 0.60 billion car or motorcycle kilometres and 54–110kt associated GHG. The fleet would require 59GWh, or 0.015% of total annual generation with a time-shifted, peak demand of 250MW, or 0.44% of the 58GW maximum national demand.