Blame the game for blowing up the batteries of Lime e-scooter

The biggest maker of shared electric scooters is back three days after Lime claimed that manufacturing problems had led some vehicles to burn or even catch fire.

In a statement Friday, Segway manufacturer Ninebot suggested that vehicle maintenance – and not manufacturing issues – was to blame.

On Tuesday, Lime issued a statement in which he had learned of the existence of a problem with the batteries of some older Segway scooter models in August.

Lime, based in San Francisco, said he worked with Segway to identify affected vehicles and remove them from Los Angeles, San Diego and the Lake Tahoe area. About 2,000 scooters were fired, according to Lime.

No case of cigarette or burning battery has been reported in New Zealand, where Lime scooters were launched last month.

"At no time have runners or members of the public been put in danger," Lime said in a statement posted on his website this week.

"Unfortunately, despite our efforts, we recently received an unconfirmed report that another Segway scooter model could also be vulnerable to battery failures, which we are currently investigating." Lime also said he took several other safety measures, including a new daily testing program to monitor scooters for battery problems.

On Friday, Segway defended its vehicles, claiming that they complied with all global regulations and were working safely under normal conditions of use.

"We found that operational hazards resulted from extreme abuse and vandalism of vehicles in the scooter sharing market," the newspaper wrote in a statement posted on its website. "We strongly recommend operators to strengthen their operations and maintenance capabilities of their fleet in order to avoid potential safety issues caused by the improper use of damaged vehicles."

He also recommended that drivers take into account the maintenance record of an operator to decide which scooter service to use. Segway has not mentioned any operator by name.

Sharing scooters has been a major problem in many cities, but safety is raising more and more concerns.

Serious injury cases are reported with worrying regularity, and critics have raised questions about whether companies that manufacture and distribute vehicles could do more for safety.

On October 19, nine California residents involved in scooter accidents sued Lime, Bird Rides Inc., Segway and Xiaomi Corp., claiming that they had negligently created dangerous situations in which injuries were inevitable.

In the United States, Segway occupies a prominent place in the scooter industry, supplying vehicles to many major operators. Companies like Lime, Bird and Jump are increasingly trying to distinguish themselves by claiming to have better vehicles.

The tension with the Segway could accelerate efforts to find alternatives.

Segway said it was working with 95% of global scooter sharing companies. She estimates to have produced more than 80% of scooters from one of her three factories.

In his statement, Lime played down his reliance on one supplier.

"Lime uses many different manufacturers for the production of our bikes and scooters," writes the company. "One of these manufacturers is Segway Ninebot."