Lime blames Segway for bad batteries, but the company disputes allegations

This week, Lime, one of the nation’s largest electricscooter companies, said the company pulled thousands of its scooters off the streets this summer because a small number of defective batteries had the potential to catch fire.

The batteries were fireprone, the company said, because of a welding issue that caused them to short-circuit.

Responding to Lime in a statement to The Washington Post on Thursday night, Segway — the personal-transportation company responsible for producing Lime’s batteries — disputed the scooter company’s claims and stood by its manufacturing process.

Segway said its engineers who specialize in battery technology 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.” Welding, a process that fuses materials using heat, is used to place a conductor on Segway batteries that manages the flow of electricity.

“Over the years we have sold multiple millions of Segway’s self balancing vehicles and a million kickscooters, all of which used the same battery technology without such incidents,” the statement added.

“We cannot agree with Lime’s diagnosis stated in the article. We think the statement was not based on a good understanding of battery technology.”

Segway put out its own statement Friday morning making similar points.

Asked to comment on Segway’s statement, a Lime spokesman said the company “strongly disagrees with Segway’s comments” and will “continue to test scooters every day to ensure user safety.”