So Lime has closed shop in twelve locations. Juicers will now need to find other work closing these locations will make 100 people unemployed.
What is it about Atlanta, Phoenix, San Diego and San Antonio in the United States; Linz, Austria in Europe; and Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Lima, Puerto Vallarta, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo in Latin America.
Not enough people? Is the weather frequently too bad? Too much vandalism?
Or is it that today’s shared scooters really don’t make sense.
If you own a thing, you look after it. You can see problems coming. Do something about it as they arrive.
Shared machines receive none of this care and very often end up in, man-made peril.
Somebody has to then find and fix that machine.
In Paris, last December Extinction Rebellion claimed to put 3600 electric scooters out of action.
They had this to say on Twitter
“Due to their high energy consumption, their short life span, these vehicles are merely an instrument of more and more greenwashing,”
It is believed that first-gen scooters only lasted a month and the newer ones struggle to make six. They all come out of a handful of factories in China, vendor handcuffing companies.
Exactly what creates longevity is also a little opaque. Very much a Triggers broom situation if one machine keeps receiving new parts.
Maybe I am too old to get it, but owned micro-mobility is where I would plant my flag.
Author: Gary Mortimer
Founder of the sUAS News Group, the news resource for small drones, I am intrigued by the prospect of Micro Mobility. It has the potential to have a really positive impact on the world. I do feel a little old in this space though!
