Micromobility for All: Lime's Inclusive Vision…

At Lime, we're always pushing the boundaries of shared micromobility. In this spirit, we’re thrilled to unveil our newest vehicles, the LimeGlider and LimeBike. The LimeGlider is a brand-new seated vehicle built without pedals for an effortless ride. LimeBike is our latest e-bike design, built to be more approachable for a wider rider audience. These vehicles are the latest innovation in our family of shared, affordable, emissions-free vehicles.

Each vehicle offers a range of features informed by our riders, all of which are intended to make these vehicles our most inclusive rides to date. The new vehicles are aimed at accelerating a shift from car use in cities by appealing to diverse groups, including those with varying abilities, while retaining the fun, convenience and reliability our vehicles are known for.

Where pilots are happening

The LimeBike vehicles are currently being piloted in Atlanta and Zurich and LimeGlider will become available as a pilot beginning in mid-August in Seattle, with a pilot in Zurich anticipated in late summer.

These innovative vehicles are designed to make sustainable transportation more accessible and appealing to a wider range of riders.

“We’re thrilled to unveil two new vehicles we anticipate riders will love,” said Wayne Ting, CEO of Lime. “The LimeGlider and LimeBike offer a glimpse at the future of micromobility, designed with a wider rider audience in mind to help us draw closer to our mission of building a future where transportation is shared, affordable and carbon-free. We’ve reimagined every touchpoint, from the tires to the phone holder, to make our riders feel comfortable and confident as they ride. We can’t wait to learn more from our pilots this summer as we continue our track record of stellar in-house design and truly differentiated hardware.”

The LimeGlider is our newest vehicle innovation, unlike any shared vehicle on the street today. Featuring a striking green and black color scheme, a departure from our traditional white and green, the LimeGlider is an evolution of our current vehicle offerings. It combines the seated comfort of a bike with the effortlessness of a scooter. Built with foot rests instead of pedals, the LimeGlider allows riders to simply get on and go. The larger padded seat is the first of its kind in our fleet and is positioned closer to the ground to provide a lower center of gravity for riders.

Playing on our original company name, the LimeBike is our latest e-bike design. It intends to complement our Gen4 model, offering a comfortable experience for a wider range of riders, while not sacrificing fun or practicality. The LimeBike’s adjustable seat features a new ergonomic clamp design to make it easier for our riders to change seat heights. The LimeBike also features a throttle on the handlebars, providing riders the option to either pedal with electric assist, or push down on the throttle to get moving.

Design elements across LimeGlider and LimeBike

In addition to drawing upon feedback from riders globally on preferred design elements, we also solicited input from city officials in close to a dozen cities to understand needs for our latest vehicles. Results were consistent across the board, asking for greater approachability and ease of use for a wider range of riders–particularly women and older riders.

Most noticeable on both vehicles are the smaller, 20-inch (50cm) diameter wheels which make the vehicles feel more approachable. The LimeGlider and LimeBike each feature a step-through frame to make mounting and dismounting a breeze. Both vehicles feature ergonomic hand grips to reduce fatigue while providing a premium feel for our riders. Intuitive and highly secure ‘sliding clamp’ style phone holders offer easier navigation and ride management.

The front baskets on each vehicle are wider, designed to accommodate larger items when shopping or running errands, while the lower positioning of the baskets on the front tube make turning easier when they are full.

We upgraded the on-board technology across both vehicles, now our most advanced to-date, to improve location recognition. This quickens responsiveness in identifying location-based parking spots, as well as low-speed, restricted-access or no-parking zones.

Like all of our vehicles, LimeBike and LimeGlider are designed with safety in mind and are intended to make riders more comfortable and confident while riding. The vehicles feature 2.5” tires (6.35cm) for strong traction, particularly in wet conditions.

We repositioned the battery and updated the wheels on the new vehicles which results in a dramatically lower center of gravity, leading to improved stability and maneuverability – especially for smaller-statured riders. We expect this to be particularly useful when our riders are moving the vehicles off the curb to start a ride or walking them onto the curb or parking spot when ending a ride. These improvements cater to feedback we received from groups traditionally underrepresented in Lime’s active riders, including women and older riders.

An even more sustainable ride

Sustainability is at the core of everything we do, and our new vehicles take this ethos to the next level. We designed our LimeBike and LimeGlider to last longer, require fewer repairs, and sustain higher usage. They are designed to be our most repairable vehicles to date, with a modular design similar to our Gen4 vehicle, but with learnings taken from two years operating the Gen4 fleet.

Our approach enabled us to incorporate the best performing components from our Gen4 fleet, while improving on the most frequent repair needs. The LimeGlider and LimeBike use our proprietary swappable batteries and feature a common battery infrastructure with the Gen4 fleet, allowing operations to remain streamlined across vehicle types. Taken together, these elements aim to extend the usable life of the LimeGlider and LimeBike, thereby reducing their overall carbon footprint.

Looking toward a bright green future

Since our inception, riders have taken over 600 million total rides, while traveling over 740 million miles, or more than one billion kilometers. This includes more than 100 million total bike rides, amounting to 140M miles on our bikes. As a result of the mode shift from cars, bike riders alone have helped prevent more than an estimated 12,000 tons of CO2 emissions, while saving more than 1.3M gallons of gas.