There aren’t any European regulations for LEVs (yet), allowing each country to follow its own national rules. Also outside Europe, different LEV regulations apply.
Like the Netherlands, several countries have included LEVs in a distinct vehicle category with regulations for admittance and usage; for example Austria, Germany, and Singapore [8]. Only those LEVs meeting the admittance conditions are allowed there. Like the Netherlands, Germany has for example banned hoverboards, e-skateboards and monowheels [8]. In other countries, LEVs are included in existing vehicle categories, such as the bicycle category. Examples are Sweden and Norway. There are also countries in which LEV admittance is authorised by region or city. Thus, in Spain, e-scooters are only admitted in part of the cities [8]. In the United States, admittance and usage rules differ between states. The difference in regulations between countries or locations mostly concerns the wearing of helmets, the position on the road, maximum speed and minimum age. The Netherlands, Greece and Serbia are a few of the remaining countries where most e-scooters are not allowed on public roads. The United Kingdom has not admitted e-scooters on a large scale either, but trials with e-scooters have been started at many locations.
Apart from private LEVs, shared temporary use of LEVs (usually an electric moped scooter, scooter or bicycle) is possible against payment at many locations worldwide: the so-called vehicle sharing systems. Electric scooters are particularly popular and are therefore the most researched shared vehicles. The conditions that apply to the suppliers of these shared vehicles, and the use of the vehicles, differ among countries and cities. Various measure are taken to prevent the prevalence of scooters at undesirable locations. Examples are: restricting the number of suppliers (as in Aalborg, Denmark), using geofencing to restrict the area in which they are allowed to be used (at a certain speed) (as in Stockholm, Sweden), restricting the number of scooters (as in Antwerp, Belgium) and ensuring that the scooters cannot be parked at will [8] [9].
Concerning heavier LEVs for transporting goods and passengers, such as the BSO-bus, no information was found (September 2021) on usage and regulations abroad.
