With Newfound Profitability, Lime Rolls Out Newest Electric Scooter Model

Lime, the electric scooter and bike rental company, announced the official launch of its latest model on Thursday (Nov. 19), along with a bit of good news about the company’s bottom line.

The micro-mobility company, which rents scooters in urban areas, had achieved profitability for a full quarter over the summer, and is now on track to be profitable for 2021 as a whole, Lime wrote in a blog post.

Lime believes it is the first micro-mobility company to achieve profitability for a full quarter.

Meanwhile, the company said that its newest model, the Gen4 Scooter, hit the streets of Paris this week, with plans for a broader rollout across Europe in early 2021.

“Our current financial strength allows us to reinvest in our latest generation of e-scooters, the Gen4,” Lime noted in the blog post.

The new model is expected to “far surpass” the two-year lifespan of Lime’s current standard model, Gen3, while also coming with a “swappable battery.”

That in and of itself is a major improvement, according to Lime, as the scooter batteries will soon be interchangeable with the firm’s bike fleet. The swappable batteries “will drive even greater efficiency in our operations and further reduce the carbon emissions of scooter riding,” Lime wrote.

The company also detailed how it has been able to achieve profitability, with COVID-19 triggering a surge in demand for its electric scooters and bikes as people across the world have sought out socially distant forms of transportation.

Lime, in turn, relaunched its scooters and bikes in cities where it had “paused,” while also launching in new markets, including Rome, Milan and Greater Manchester.

Lime Chief Financial Officer Andrea Ellis recently chatted with Karen Webster about the startup’s march to profitability.

Cost discipline across the firm’s entire cost structure, from locations and equipment to corporate expenses, is key, she told Webster: “I think COVID has forced all businesses to be really focused on maintaining cost discipline.”