Last week, a Skip scooter caught fire in Washington, D.C. In response, Skip grounded its fleet in D.C. Now, Skip has pulled its scooters off the streets of San Francisco.
The scooter in question was found with its external battery on fire, which caused “minor damage” to a wall nearby. Skip unveiled its scooters with external, swappable batteries back in December.
We currently have no reason to believe that this affects any other vehicles in our fleet. We are investigating all potential causes, including foul play. We will share as we learn more.
— Skip (@SkipScooters) May 30, 2019
In Skip’s app, it notifies riders that its scooters are currently offline and have been since yesterday. Skip says it expects the scooters to return “in the next few days.”
In a statement to TechCrunch, a Skip spokesperson said:
A scooter in DC was discovered with its battery in flames last Thursday. There is still no reason to believe that this affects any other vehicles in our fleet after days investigating all potential causes of the incident, including foul play. Out of an abundance of caution and until we are able to share our complete investigation with regulators, we will not deploy in San Francisco. We expect our scooters to be back on the road in the next few days.
Skip is not the only scooter company to face battery issues. In October, Lime recalled some of its Ninebot scooters due to fire concerns. Skip currently modifies the Speedway Mini4 36V 21Ah, but has previously told TechCrunch it plans to design its scooters custom from the ground up.
