US dockless shared electric scooter company Lime has deployed 500 scooters on the streets of Tel Aviv. Lime becomes one of three shared electric scooter operators in Israel together with US rival Bird, which launched in Tel Aviv last August, and German company Wind, which launched last month.
Together the three companies operate 1,500 electric scooters for hire around Tel Aviv. In March, Israeli company LEO, which markets Inokim electric scooters, will also join the shared scooter fray.
All the dockless shared electric scooter companies charge the same fee - NIS 5 plus NIS 0.50 for every minute. Lime offers a NIS 5 discount for those who load the electric wallet on their app with NIS 100 or a NIS 15 discount for those loading NIS 250. Lime also plans launching electric bikes at similar rental rates.
Lime operates in 100 cities around the world, mainly in North America. Earlier this week, Lime raised $310 million at a company valuation of $2.4 billion.
Lime users benefit from a GPS system on the electric scooter, which can connect to their smartphone. Like its rivals, users connect to the system through an app, which has been operating in Hebrew in recent weeks. Scooters are available from 9am - 10pm and freelance "juicers" will collect them and recharge them overnight.
Lime Israel general manager Yaniv Goder said, "The cities in the Gush Dan region will be the first, and afterwards we will expand throughout the country. Lime users will be part of an innovative community pushing out the borders of urban transport, and we are delighted that Israel has joined the ranks of the countries that are already enjoying the good news of Lime."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on February 7, 2019
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