Segway faulted for fire risk

Firm fires back its own theories for why Lime scooters short-circuit.

Lime, one of the nation’s largest electric-scooter companies, said this week that it pulled thousands of its scooters off the streets this summer, in Los Angeles and beyond, because a small number of defective batteries had the potential to burst into flames.

San Francisco-based Lime said the batteries were fire-prone because of a welding issue that could cause them to short-circuit.

Segway, the personal transportation company that produces Lime’s batteries, disagreed Thursday. One of its executives suggested the problem might be improper charging and maintenance.

Segway engineers believe that faulty welding “will typically stop a battery from charging or discharging, but it’s highly unlikely to cause a battery to short-circuit,” the firm said in a statement.

A Lime spokesman said his company “strongly disagrees with Segway’s comments” and will “continue to test scooters every day to ensure user safety.”

Segway, which also supplies electric scooters to Bird and other companies, said Lime was the only one experiencing the problem.

Tony Ho, Segway’s vice president of global business development, said it’s possible that any defective Lime scooter batteries had become damaged after being involved in crashes or subjected to rider abuse. Batteries can also catch fire if they’re overcharged or don’t use Segway-issued charging devices, he said. Ho added that Segway is working with Lime to resolve the problem.

The only known case in which a Lime scooter caused a fire was at the company’s Lake Tahoe facility on Aug. 27.