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It was late at night, at the end of August, when an employee of a Lime scooter facility in Tahoe heard a loud bang. One of the bright green rental scooters – which invaded the streets of the most populous cities around the world last year – caught fire, apparently, all by itself.
According to a blog posted by Lime on Tuesday, nearly two months later, bad batteries were to blame. In declaring that the defect had affected less than 0.01% of the "fleet", the company admitted that a "manufacturing defect could result in slow combustion of the battery or, in some cases, a fire".
This is the latest controversy on dockless scooters, which have spread to cities around the world in recent years. The Washington Post, who first recounted the story, found that employees had alerted the company about possible problems and felt that they had not been properly handled thus endangering runners and "juicers", people paid to load scooters overnight.
Since its inception a little over a year ago, Lime boasts of having millions of runners. The company pointed out in its response that it had taken extra precautions to ensure the safety of anyone who uses or charges his scooters.
In writing that the batteries had been manufactured by Segway Ninebot, a company from a Chinese company and an American company producing transportation products, Lime said it had created software to detect faulty batteries. Then he created a second software to find all the scooters that could have one and bring them all back to their seats.
"When an affected battery was identified – with a red code – we quickly disabled the scooter so that no member of the public could drive it or charge it," the company writes.
Reiterating that he did not want to take any risks, employees who are already aware of problems with him 24 hours a day in the premises where the Segway Ninebot scooters are located will carry out daily diagnoses on all scooters, regardless of their location. were made and if they could have rogue batteries.
But according to the lime mechanics, who spoke anonymously in the mail, their concerns about scooters were dismissed by senior executives, particularly about the safety of "centrifuges" who may have unknowingly loaded machines with potentially dangerous defects.
"These people were running these scooters at home at night and falling asleep thinking they were safe and had just made $ 15," an employee at the Post Office said. "When I asked my managers if we were going to tell them, all I had was raised shoulders and I do not know."
Others have expressed frustrations in their mechanics discussion, calling on the company to remove the scooters from the market until problems are better solved.
"I understand that scoots are consumable and replaceable," wrote one person. "But are we now resigned to saying the same for the safety of employees and customers?"
This is not the first safety issue raised, as scooter manufacturers have quickly descended to cities around the world. Considered as scourges or saviors in overcrowded cities, where inexpensive and efficient means of transportation are scarce, proponents have argued for their use as a durable solution, while critics point to the dangers.
Emergency room visits caused by scooters are becoming more commonplace and companies have claimed that start-up scooter companies have not done the proper maintenance.
In cities like San Francisco, the reaction was swift and regulators removed scooters that were not found in garbage cans or local lakes before being brought back to smaller doses. Other cities are employing to create better rules for scooters, as scooter startups continue to increase their stature.
Lime challenges all questions as to its intentions, and the focus on safety is of utmost importance. "Lime takes full responsibility for our scooters," he writes. "The safety of our riders, centrifuges and our community is our top priority. We will continue to ensure that our equipment manufacturers and ourselves meet the highest possible standards. "
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