E-scooter company Lime plots £25m UK expansion

E-SCOOTER start-up Lime is plotting a £25m expansion in London after it was banned from Paris last year.

Investment in the UK capital will allow the US scooter and e-bike hire company to branch out into three more boroughs and open a new warehouse in North London.

It comes after e-scooters were cleared from the French capital’s streets last year after a referendum.

Lime is currently available in half of London’s 32 boroughs, with the company planning to spend a further £1m on dedicated parking areas.

This will potentially spark further controversy as battery-powered scooters and bikes have proven divisive among motorists and pedestrians, with concerns raised over illegal use and cluttered pavements.

While it remains against the law to ride a privately owned scooter on Britain’s roads, rental scooters subject to 15.5mph speed limits are allowed in certain trial areas across the UK. Supporters argue that the electric scooters, which are unlocked via an app, offer a low-carbon alternative to cars, helping to free up roads and reduce emissions.

However, government data shows there were at least 1,269 collisions involving e-scooters in the year to June 2023, compared with 1,462 in the previous year. There were seven e-scooter-related deaths in 2023 compared with 12 a year earlier.

More than half of all the casualties caused by the e-scooters occurred outside the Government’s trial areas, suggesting they resulted from private e-scooters being ridden illegally.

Lime is one of the few e-scooter companies to have survived a fall in demand in recent years, as rivals such as Bird collapsed after spending billions of dollars on rapid expansion plans.

The company said its bookings rose by 32pc to $616m (£487m) in 2023, reporting adjusted earnings of $90m. Lime has been exploring a possible listing in the US.

Wayne Ting, Lime’s chief executive, said: “On the heels of another record-setting year, Lime is poised to continue our growth in 2024, with new vehicle options and plans for expansion to new cities.”

1,269 Collisions involving e-scooters in the year to June 2023, with seven deaths compared with 12 a year earlier