Kelowna, first city in Canada to get new Lime scooters

Photo: Lime

If you’ve seen any scooters or e-bikes zipping around Kelowna, you may have noticed some look a little different.

Lime has begun swapping out its old scooters for a newer fleet of industry-leading Gen4 e-bikes which will be rolled out over the coming weeks.

Kelowna will be the first city in all of Canada and one of only a handful of cities in North America to have a full fleet of both new models available for citywide use.

Lime representatives say as gas prices have risen over the last few months, Kelowna residents and visitors have taken more and more rides on Lime vehicles and the Lime Seattle team is anticipating continued growth in increasing as the newer models hit the streets.

“Since we launched in Kelowna last April we’ve been thrilled with the demand for shared electric e-scooters and e-bikes we’ve seen here and we’re so proud to bring our best hardware for both vehicle modes here in time for summer,” said Chris Iuvancigh, general manager at Lime.

“These brand new e-scooters and e-bikes will offer a smoother and more sustainable rider experience and they’ll decrease street clutter and promote safety. They’ll also attract more residents and tourists to hop on an e-scooter and ride green as gas prices rise and remain high, replacing car trips and increasing sustainability. It’s a win-win for riders and the entire city together.”

The Gen4 vehicles will provide riders with the smoothest and most environmentally friendly shared scooter ride available. The most significant advancement is the swappable, interchangeable battery, that is shared between both Gen4 models. This significantly enhances the efficiency and sustainability of its operations, while improving vehicle availability for riders.

Since Lime launched in Kelowna in April 2021, over 62,000 Lime riders have taken nearly 215,000 trips on Lime vehicles and Lime riders have travelled nearly 400,000 kilometres, keeping over 50,000 car trips off the road, and saving up to 21 metric tons of carbon emissions as well as nearly 9000 litres of gas.