Online data shows Kiwis are opting for e-scooters over e-bikes as a means to get around

An electric transport retailer in Auckland was not surprised by the results. Photo / File

Popularity for electric scooters in New Zealand is riding high above electric bikes, according to new research from PriceSpy.

Over the summer months, Kiwis clicked on e-scooters 86 per cent more often than e-bikes on the price and product comparison site.

The results came as no surprise to e-scooter retailer Jonno Leonard, who stopped selling e-bikes last year.

Around four years ago, Leonard started selling e-bikes but had changed his focus to e-scooters because they are "the way ahead".

"It's not that e-bikes aren't a massive market, they're huge," he said.

"[E-bikes] take up a lot less space, they're easy to store, and in my mind, they're a lot more fun."

The difference between e-scooters and e-bikes were recorded on PriceSpy's and based on the number of clicks the shopping category received.

Meanwhile, the shopping category for e-scooters alone grew 27 per cent in the year between the dates December 1, 2018, to January 29, 2019, and December 1, 2019, to January 29, 2020.

Operating in Devonport under Electric Scooter Shop, owner Leonard said it was not until Lime hit Auckland's streets that e-scooters started taking off.

"They became normalised and it wasn't weird for a grown-up to ride a scooter."

Despite e-scooters appearing more popular, New Zealand country manager for PriceSpy Liisa Matinvesi-Bassett thought e-bikes could fight back.

"We anticipate the popularity of electric bikes to rise, as they offer riders a little more comfort compared to scooters when travelling over a longer distance," she said.

"Bikes also offer people the opportunity to do some gentle exercise with the back-up of having some power behind them for when they are faced with a large hill".

It could be possible e-scooters were more popular among Kiwis because they were cheaper than e-bikes, Matinvesi-Bassett said.

Between the top five most popular options of either transport on PriceSpy, the price points for an e-scooter ranged between $689 and $2299.

Meanwhile, the price points for e-bikes ranged between $2799.99 to $5499.99.

"Our experience is that e-scooters are the way ahead - more packable, portable, similar sort of money for a half-decent one," Leonard said.

"For $2500 you're buying quite a decent e-scooter and an okay sort of e-bike, a low to a mid-range e-bike.

"At $3500 you're buying a really top-end e-scooter and a pretty decent e-bike."