Lime joins new alliance to accelerate transition to electric vehicles

Lime has joined the Corporate Electric Vehicle Alliance, which is led by Ceres, a not-for-profit sustainability organisation, as a founding member alongside industry leaders including Amazon, AT&T, DHL, and IKEA North America. The Alliance has been formed to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles and improve policy.

“The future of transportation is electric. From shared electric scooters to managing our programmes with clean electric operations vehicles, we know that advancing electric transport is the path to a zero-carbon future,” said Andrew Savage, Vice President (VP) of Sustainability. “We’re excited to join Ceres and other industry leaders in forging the rapid transition we need toward cleaner transportation necessary to effectively combat the climate crisis.”

“The climate crisis demands we decarbonise transportation – the highest-emitting sector in the U.S. – and electric vehicles are an essential component of this transition,” said Ceres’ VP of Climate and Energy, Sue Reid. “With companies controlling more than half the vehicles on the road in the U.S. today, they have a tremendous role to play in leading the transition to electric vehicles – both in terms of electrifying their own fleets and in leveraging their buying power to send a strong market signal to automakers and policymakers alike. The Corporate Electric Vehicle Alliance is where the rubber hits the road.”

“The opportunity to leverage fleet vehicle electrification globally is something that over time will offer operational advantages, in addition to environmental benefits,” said Patrick Mondi, Lime’s Head of Logistics and Workplace. “As such, we welcome increased industry collaboration and partnership to expand vehicle supply and reduce infrastructure costs. This, in turn, will drive more businesses into the important work of greening their own logistics and operations.”

President of Lime, Joe Kraus, has recently announced the launch of Lime’s new partnership with Station F in Paris and debuted the company’s first swappable battery scooter that will pilot in Paris to further advance the sustainability of Lime’s Parisian operations. 

“Paris and Lyon, among other French cities, are leading the world in moving people out of cars and into more sustainable forms of transportation, aligning with Lime’s mission of making cities more livable,” said Kraus.

The launch of an e-scooter model with a swappable battery is said to be an important milestone in Lime’s sustainability journey. Swappable batteries allow e-scooters to be recharged without travelling to and from a charging location every day, reducing vehicle use for managing scooters. With this change, Lime’s operations team will reportedly be able to use more cargo bikes to swap batteries, reducing local congestion and pollution. 

As part of the pilot, Lime will be measuring the impact to ensure environmental and professional safety at every step in the process. Based on the results of the pilot, the company plans to begin the transition to a fully-swappable fleet by the end of 2020.