How to develop an electric scooter sharing app like bird or lime?

Electric scooters (e-scooters) are in the news since they’re launched. And, the best part is- they are gaining more adoption and popularity.

When I searched about, “e scooter launch” on Google, I got a list of news search results where various companies are launching new or updating their existing e-scooters

But, what are these electric scooters? Let’s find out-

What is electric scooter (E-Scooter)?

Electric scooters consist of two or three wheels and are powered by electricity. A board in a rechargeable battery is used to store the electricity that drives the motors.

Image Credits: Ride.Guru
These scooters look quite cute, right?

But, is it wise enough to enter the scooter-sharing market?

Well, the global electric scooters market growth is expected to reach a CAGR of 8.5% during 2019 – 2023.

Why is this industry looks growing at a faster speed? Because of the benefits these electric scooters have.

Benefits of using electric Scooters

Here are the reasons why there are too much demand and adoption of electric scooters:

1. Cost-effective

Electric scooters use a rechargeable battery and run on electricity. So, they don’t consume expensive fuels and gas. Due to that, the motors used within the scooters are quite affordable.

2. Highly sustainable

The E-scooters does not use fuels, so there are no fumes and fuel burning in the engines. They do not contribute to pollution.

So, they are eco-friendly, and hence, its adoption is not going to harm the environment.

3. Easily accessible

Yes, anyone and everyone can get the e-scooter easily and quickly from anywhere and everywhere. You don’t need to worry about traffic, road congestions, and more.

4. Quite reliable

E-scooters are reliable when compared to cars, truck, and other vehicles. Why? Because e-scooters are eco-friendly, so they provide you better performance.

5. Time saver

Absolutely a time-saver solution an e-scooter is! This is because you don’t have to wait for long hours when cabs and other transport vehicles are stuck in the traffic.

6. Fitness-oriented

You cannot sit and relax while you’re driving electric scooters. So, they help you burn some calories and stay fit.

7. Maintenance-free

You send your cars to the service station and keep them well maintained. And, that costs you a bomb every time you do so. But, that’s not the case with the e-scooters. They run on batteries, so you only need to charge up those batteries and keep them clean. That’s it.

8. License-free

Most people ask- Do I need a license to drive an electric scooter (e-scooter)? No, you don’t need one to drive an electric scooter.

9. Easily parkable

You don’t need a spacious parking space (which is already a challenge here in the U.S.) to park electric scooters as they’re quite compact. So, you can park them even in the smallest places.

10. Quickly chargeable

Plug and charge is the method of charging electric scooters. So, when you drive an e-scooter to your work, charge it while you finish your lunchtime, and you’ll be able to drive back home without any hassles.

So now, you know why it is a super-cool idea to get into the scooter-sharing business. But how this business idea would work? Do I need to develop a mobile app just like Uber or Lyft?

The obvious answer is- YES.

So, let’s get into the detail of understanding how you would benefit from this business idea of a scooter-sharing mobile app.

What is on demand electric scooter app?

An on demand mobile application that allows you to rent an electric scooter is known as an electric scooter (e-scooter) mobile app. Just the way you use Lyft and Uber apps, you use the e-scooter app to book your ride with an electric scooter.

These apps solve particular problem users have and provide them with a suitable solution. What kind of problems? The problems like the cost of cabs, parking issues, maintenance, and more.

That’s the reason why this business idea is booming.

Benefits of developing E-Scooter apps

“Why should I develop an e-scooter mobile application? Just because this industry is growing should inspire me to get into it and get the developed?”

Well, like every business idea has some benefits for the business owner, let’s find out what benefits you will get after developing an e-scooter app:

1. Enter the growing industry

Yes, we discussed earlier how the industry of electric scooters is growing and how it is expected to grow.

So, it becomes vital to get into an industry as an early bird rather than entering the market when it becomes super competitive.

2. Get funded

Almost every business idea or rather, a startup has the potential to get funded. So, you don’t need to bring billions of dollars to invest in this new electric scooter app development.

In 2018, Uber and Google-parent Alphabet invested $335 million in the scooter-sharing startup, Lime.

Bird’s CEO, Travis Vanderzanden, once said that the investors love growth and numbers.

So, get something that the competitors are not having in their e-scooter mobile app and start preparing to get funded.

3. Make money

We know two well-known electric scooter apps- Lime and Bird. And, that’s what you’re looking to develop.

But, will the e-scooter app help you make money?

Before, I answer this question, find out how much success Lime and Bird have-

As per an estimation by Quartz, Bird makes around $11 per scooter daily in Santa Monica while the estimate says that Lime makes about $15 to $20 in the city like San Francisco.

According to an analysis, the e-scooter startups are expected to earn about $2 to $3 in revenue per ride, which means the startups like Bird or Lime makes around $14 million as annual revenue.

As there is no full-proof data available that can get us to a perfect number, it is difficult to know the actual revenue generated by the e-scooter businesses.

But, earning in billions is not less though. So, it’s clear that you can make money looking at the growth rate and demand.

4. Become a market leader

Though Lyft was launched after Uber, Lyft is growing faster. Lyft has a long way to go, but it is thriving hard to become a market leader.

So, there is no way that you can stay behind and just play around in your e-scooter startup. It’s never late to be a market leader.

Now, the point is to find out how to become successful by getting into an e-scooter business. It depends on various factors. But, one of those factors is getting an incredible and functionally-rich e-scooter mobile app.

We made 7-point user-experience (UX) design guidelines for an app like Lime or Bird Find out now

Essential Features that Every Scooter Sharing App Must Have
Here are the top features your scooter-sharing mobile app must have:

1. Search nearby e-Scooters

While developing a mobile app like Lime or Bird, you need to consider the ease of hiring an e-scooter.

And, for that purpose, the users should be able to search for the electric scooters easily and hassle-free.

This is the first point of interaction that will take place between your Bird-like mobile app and users. So, the interaction needs to be smooth, efficient, and akin to hiring a cab using Uber or Lyft.

2. Lock & unlock

Now, this is one of the key features your Lime or Bird-like mobile app must have. Once, a user book an e-scooter, unlocking the hired e-scooter should be quite comfortable using the electric scooter mobile app.

On top of that, the locking system of the e-scooter should be highly secured. The security of the e-scooter enhances the users’ trust in your business.

Also, you can create an easy-to-implement guide for your users to use the lock/unlock systems. This way of improving the user experience directly enhances your chances to become a leader.

So, make sure your locking and unlocking systems are efficient enough to gain the trust of your app users.

3. Reserve the scooter by scanning the QR code

If you’ve used the Bird electric scooter app, you would know that there is a feature of scanning an electric scooter using the QR code and book the same.

Well, one of the smartest strategies has been always to keep the basic functionalities your competitors have. So, you also need to consider having this QR scanning functionality while developing a mobile app like Bird or Lime.

But, when you do this, your users expect a more easy-going experience.

4. Secured & smart lock, pause & end ride

The electric scooters are self-driven vehicles. So, obviously, you cannot expect users to drive until they reach their destination continuously. They might have some shopping on their list, or they might look for some smaller breaks.

Considering this purpose, your Lime or Bird-like scooter sharing mobile app must have the feature to pause, resume, and end ride easily.

But, what about the security of the e-scooter when a user wants to pause the ride? Here, the same smart lock system comes into the picture.

So, when they want to pause the ride, they click on pause, lock the e-scooter, take a break, resume the trip and end the ride after reaching the destination.

As simple as can be!

5. Real-time tracking of each ride

GPS real-time tracking is one of the essential features every on demand serving mobile app must have.

You have seen this feature in Uber, Lyft, Ola, Bird, Lime, Zomato, and almost every other service-based mobile app.

And, you should not miss it in your Bird-like mobile app as well.

6. Smooth & online payment

Your electric scooter mobile app must have a feature that accepts online payments. This feature is a must because this is a self-driven vehicle where there is no driver that would accept the cash payments.

But, the payment gateways you integrate should be reliable, efficient, and accessible enough for the secured online transactions.

Recently, Bird e-scooter company has brought Apple Pay to the mobile app to make the rentals easier.

So, you would need to collaborate with almost all of the well-known payment gateways to grab the market attention.

7. Notification & alerts

Just like you receive notifications and alerts while using Uber, Lyft, Bird, or Lime, your users must get real-time notifications.

The notifications should be in the below instances-

Just like notifications, you must have alerts within your e-scooter mobile app that helps you share offers, news, and more with your mobile app users.

All of these must-have features of an e-scooter app needs to be well-planned in order to bring the optimum output.

Top electric scooter apps

What are the best electric scooters? Or similarly, sometimes, people often ask, “what are the best electric scooter apps?”

So, based on the number of rides the e-scooters have reached, here are best electric scooters (or scooter sharing mobile apps):

1. Lime

Lime is the top electric scooter sharing app that was released in January 2017.

In a couple of months after it was launched, Lime announced that it reached 6 million rides. And, in September 2018, it crossed 11.5 million rides.

As per the recent news, Lime raises $310 million in the round D and valuing the company at $2.4 billion.

2. Bird

A bird is another top scooter sharing mobile app that was launched in September 2017.

Just after Lime announced their 11.5 million rides, Bird announced 10 million rides by September 2018.

Well, the speed of hitting 10 million is faster compared to Lime as it took 1 and a half year for Lime to reach 11.5 million and Bird took one year to reach 10 million.

Bird raised $300 million in the Series C by Fidelity.

3.  Spin

An electric scooter sharing company, Spin was launched in February 2018.

In November 2018, Spin was valued at $80 to 90 million when the Ford Motor Company acquired this electric scooter company.

Spin plans to launch electric scooters in 100 cities by the end of 2019. Spin is new compared to the other two industry giants. So, success is yet to be measured.

4.  Skip

Skip is a well-known electric scooter app in San Francisco as Skip is one of the two companies that has the permit to ride the electric scooters in the SF.

As per a slide deck that was presented at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s board of directors meeting last month, 90% of 242,398 electric scooter trips were of Skip e-scooter company.

A few more electric scooter mobile apps are available in the market. But, surprisingly, they are not as competitive as the above four, preferably the top two.

Also, these competitors are quite young. So, for a newcomer, becoming a strong market leader has higher chances and acquire the market.

FAQs for developing a mobile app like electric scooter

Here are a few questions that most business owners have who are looking to develop a scooter sharing mobile app like Bird or Lime (you might also have):

1. How long does it take to create a bird-like mobile app?

To develop the Uber of the scooter sharing app, it usually takes combined 800 to 1000 hours of planning, design, development, testing, and QA.

But, the hours of developing a Bird-like mobile app differ based on the complexity of design, development, third-party API integrations, and more.

2. How much does it cost to make a bird scooter app?

The cost of developing a Bird-like e-scooter mobile app remains between $50,000 to $100,000. But, this range of e-scooter app development cost differs from company to company as the level of expertise, experience, and skills differ.

But, if a company explicitly shares the exact number of hours and cost it takes to develop an e-scooter mobile app without understanding the app development requirements, please be cautious. Because the mobile app development might come up with additional costs that you’re unaware of.

Develop your electric scooter mobile app now

The industry of the electric scooter mobile app is fresh and growing. It’s the right time to enter the market and enjoy the fruits of success.

Do you wish to understand the entire e-scooter mobile app business idea? Or do you want to discuss your electric scooter app requirements? Talk to our experts to understand ABC of this on demand business and how you should go ahead with your e-scooter app development process.

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