Costs for Lime e-scooters: that's what you pay for

Electric scooters, such as the Lime e-scooter, are currently a big hit. The cost of the pleasure appears to be low. But are the sharing providers really as cheap as they look at a glance? Here's what to look out for.

Rent a lime e-scooter - that will cost you the fun

Only a few cents per minute - at first glance the costs for e-scooter fun seem manageable. But be careful, the costs quickly add up to a handsome sum. In addition, the prices of the sharing provider Lime vary from city to city. In addition, you should always expect the prices to change quickly.

• So our tip: Before you rent an e-scooter, be sure to check the current tariff again. Only 5 or 10 cents more is clearly noticeable in the final sum, depending on how long you were traveling with the e-scooter. And time flies when you're having fun.
• The so-called unlocking fee is currently the same for all sharing providers. As soon as you activate an e-scooter, a euro is due. Subsequently, billing is carried out per minute.
• How much you pay per minute depends on which of the six German cities in which Lime is represented. The minute price for the Lime e-scooter is currently 20 or 25 cents depending on the city.
• In Munich and Hamburg, Lime Scooter charges you 0.25 euros per minute.
• In Frankfurt am Main, Cologne, Berlin and Dresden, on the other hand, there are only 0.20 euros .
• For 15 minutes - and you have them together quickly - you pay 3.75 or 3 euros.
• If you drive the route twice a day between public transport and your workplace, the fun will cost you 7.50 (or 6) euros. That's 37.5 (30) euros a week and a lot more than 100 euros per month.
• The purchase of an e-scooter may be worthwhile for you, although the electric scooters incur some costs. Among other things, you have to take out insurance for the e-scooter.

Lime - the sharing provider wants to conquer the e-scooter market

In addition to the costs, there are a few other things you need to consider before you can drive the streets on an e-scooter. According to road traffic regulations, you must be at least 14 years old to ride an electric scooter on public roads. If you want to rent an electric scooter from a sharing provider like Lime, you usually have to be at least 18 years old.

• Neutron Holding from San Mateo is behind the e-scooter rental company Lime. Lime is a comparatively young company that was founded in sunny California in mid-2017. Brad Bao, Adam Zhang and Toby Sun quickly managed to get financially strong investors such as Alphabet, which is backed by Google, Uber and Research Company, into their startup.
• The sharing provider does not only offer e-scooters. The Lime fleet also includes other electronic means of transportation, such as e-bikes.
• Lime has spread rapidly and is already represented in numerous cities in the USA. The green and white electric vehicles can also be found in large cities such as Madrid, Paris, Zurich and Berlin in Europe. In Vienna, for example, Limes now has over 1, 500 e-scooters in use.

Rent an electric scooter - that's how it works at Lime

Before you rent an e-scooter for the first time, first log in to Lime using the app. The startup offers the free lime app for Android and iOS systems.

• You can pay with your credit card or through a PayPal account. Top up your Lime account with credit in advance and you will receive a small bonus. If you have an N26 account, you will also receive a decent bonus from the sharing provider.
• You can easily recognize the rental scooters from Lime by their green and white paintwork. The Lime app tells you where to find one of the electric scooters in your area.
• If you stand in front of the e-scooter, you will see a QR code on the left side of the handlebar. As soon as you have scanned the QR code using the app, the safety of the electric scooter is unlocked.
• The full batteries of the e-scooters have a range of around 20 kilometers. However, since the batteries are not permanently charged, you should have the app display the current range of the respective e-scooter in advance.
• Tip: Read the Lime terms and conditions so that you don't experience any unpleasant surprises later. For example, Lime points out that you can only drive the scooters on the road. If you want to park the e-scooter, make sure that no more than four of the electric scooters are parked next to each other.