On the heels of LimeBike’s expansion into e-bikes, as well as competitor Spin’s expansion into Razor-like electric scooters, LimeBike is unveiling its own take on e-scooters. LimeBike is also officially deploying its e-bikes in Seattle.
“This is an exciting and competitive landscape,” LimeBike CEO Toby Sun told TechCrunch. “What you are beginning to see is that some players in the bike-share industry will not make it because of a lack of funding and operational excellence.”
Dubbed Lime-S, the scooters cost $1 to unlock and $0.10 for every 10 minutes of riding. On a single charge, Lime-S can go up to 14.8mph with a maximum range of 37 miles. Unlike Spin, which tapped an outside manufacturer to build their scooters, LimeBike says it built its scooters in-house.
LimeBike is not yet announcing which cities will get scooters, but says it’s in talks with a number of cities. Prior to today, LimeBike tested its fleet as part of a sanctioned pilot program for a couple of months. The goal, Sun says, is to strengthen LimeBike’s position as “the leading smart mobility solution provider.”
He added, “the multi-modal mobility solution also helps to meet the various needs of that first and last mile transportation challenge.”
In December, LimeBike expanded to Europe, with the launch of 500 bikes each in Frankfurt, German, Zurich and Switzerland. In total, LimeBike has deployed 30,000 bikes. To date, people have taken 1 million rides across 33 markets.
Backed by firms like Andreessen Horowitz, Coatue and GGV, LimeBike has raised over $60 million in funding and is valued at $225 million after its most recent $50 million round.