E-scooter hire is being touted as an environmentally friendly transport solution for regional towns, many of which are without public buses, trains and rideshare companies.

This week, the Esperance Shire Council agreed to let e-scooter hire company Beam operate in the south coast town on a trial basis, beginning in a couple of weeks.

About 200 scooters will be available for hire and riders will pay for them using a mobile app.

They will be charged $1 to unlock the scooter and then 45 cents for every minute they use it.

Esperance Shire President Ian Mickel said the scooters would provide a much-needed transport option.

While some have warned that many regional locations do not have the public infrastructure necessary to safely ride e-scooters, Cr Mickel said Esperance had invested in quality bike and footpaths and did not believe that would be an issue.

"I think we've got excellent dual-use paths around town," he said.

Tom Cooper, the general manager of Beam, said there would be designated digital parking spots for the scooters throughout town and believed people would only need to walk 3-4 minutes at the most to find a scooter and parking spot.

He said another advantage was that residents could opt to leave their car at home and take an e-scooter to lower their carbon footprint. 

Mr Cooper said the company hoped to stimulate the local economy by sending special offers through the mobile app for riders to redeem in local shops, when they park their scooters nearby. 

New 'eRideable laws' coming to WA

Interstate, e-scooters have been the subject of safety concerns.

Beam is due to set up in Esperance just after new WA laws come into play, setting out speed limits, right-of-way rules, age limits and safety requirements for using this type of vehicle.

Riders will be limited to 25 km/h on bike paths and roads, and 10 km/h on footpaths.

They will also need to give pedestrians right of way, be at least 16 years old, wear a helmet and abide by the same mobile phone and drink and drug driving rules as other motor vehicle users.

Mr Cooper said the scooters had GPS in them and helmets attached and said there would be "slow zones" and "no-ride zones" in places with a lot of pedestrians.

The company said every ride would be covered by its personal accident insurance.

The Esperance Shire Council approved the permit for Beam to operate until the end of next year.

Shire CEO Shane Burge said it would be monitoring the trial throughout to make sure there was no adverse community impact.