In recent years, the transportation industry has witnessed a significant rise in the popularity of e-scooters. With more and more people wanting to explore cheaper and more sustainable methods of transport, e-scooters have become the new and low-cost way to travel.

Since 2020, UK law states you cannot ride a privately owned e-scooter on a public road. One of the main factors that contributed to this change in law was the amount of injuries – and the odd e-scooter accident claim – that were occurring. However, in late 2020 the Department of Transport teamed up with e-scooter companies to trial their services via rental schemes.

In this article we discuss the nine best apps for electric scooters currently in the UK. Take a look…

1.   Spin

Price:

Spin’s e-scooters are £0.20p per minute, or you can buy one of their following passes:

• 1 hour for £5.00
• 2 hours for £7.50
• 24 hours for £15.00
• 1 week for £25.00
• 1 month for £60.00

Available Locations:

Clacton on sea, Colchester, Chelmsford, Basildon and Milton Keynes.

About Spin

Spin is an American micro mobility company that was founded in California in 2016. It Is an owned subsidiary of Ford Mobility and operates in over 80 cities and Universities across America and Europe.

Spin is taking part in the UK e-scooter trials and currently has public rental schemes in six different locations in England. Spin is taking part in UK Department of Transport e-scooter trials, with public hire schemes in Milton Keynes and six locations across Essex.

2.   Voi

Price:

Voi’s e-scooters cost £1.00 to unlock, and they’re an additional £0.20 per minute. Alternatively, you can buy one of their unlimited daily or monthly passes, which costs £9.99 for a daily pass or £39.00 for a monthly pass.

Available Locations:

Bath, Bristol, Birmingham, Cambridge, Coventry, Liverpool, London, and Northampton.

About Voi

Voi is a Swedish owned company that operates in cities all over Europe, including Copenhagen, Oslo and Paris. The company Is currently participating in the UK trials and has public hire schemes in eight different locations in England.

Voi have also been actively trying to encourage safety when riding. Purchasing their monthly pass will allow users to be able to claim a free helmet. As well as this, they’re incentivising safe travel by adding a feature to the app where users can take a ‘helmet selfie’ to prove they’re wearing a helmet. This is then converted into discounted rides at a later date.

3.   Ginger

Price

Ginger’s e-scooters cost £2.00 per 20 minute, with an additional 50p per 10 minutes of pausing time.

Available Locations:

Middlesbrough, Copeland, Chester, Hartlepool, Milton Keynes, Scunthorpe, Great Yarmouth and Stafford.

About Ginger

Unlike Spin and Voi, Ginger is a UK-based company founded in 2018. Their aim is to better connect local communities, and is committed to improving local transport. The Ginger app has a section which contains offers and promotions which is great for students and people trying to commute on a budget.

4.   Lime

Price:

It costs £1.00 to unlock a Lime e-scooter and £0.15 per minute to ride.

Available Locations:

Milton Keynes, London and Greater Manchester.

About Lime

Lime was founded in San Francisco in 2017. It is available in 150 cities across the globe, and is the world’s largest shared electric vehicle company. The company also runs electric bikes and mopeds. Lime is currently trialling its e-scooters in three different locations in the UK.

The company was named one of Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential Companies in 2021”, and has a partnership with Uber that that allows you to find scooters in your local area via the Uber app.

 

5.   Bolt

Price:

It costs £1.00 to unlock a Bolt scooter, then £0.20p per minute for the first 10 minutes, lowering to £0.12p after.

Available Locations:

London

About Bolt

Bolt is an international mobility company, with over 75 million customers in more than 45 countries across the globe. In Africa, it is more popular than Uber. Bolt was co-founded by Jamaican athlete, Usain Bolt, and is the only company in Europe that currently offers ride-hailing, e-scooters, and e-bikes under a single brand.

In the UK, you can enjoy Bolt food, Bolt rides, and their e-scooters. With the variety of options Bolt offers, it is a popular choice amongst users. In addition to this, Bolt has some of the lightest scooters on the market, weighing at just 17kg!

6.   Wind

Price:

In Nottingham, Wind’s e-scooters are £1.00 to unlock, then £0.12p a minute, or you can purchase a monthly pass for £30.00. However, in Derby, e-scooters are only currently available to rent long-term or monthly.

Available Locations:

Derby and Nottingham.

About Wind

Wind is a micro mobility company which was founded in Barcelona in 2017. They have e-scooters all over the globe, including countries such as, Korea, Israel and France. One thing that makes Wind stand out amongst its competitors is that fact their e-scooters come with a detachable helmet.

During the lockdowns, Wind offered key workers discounted prices to their long-term plans. On top of this, they were allowed to take the e-scooter home for exclusive use instead of leaving it at a docking station.

7.   Beryl

Price:

Beryl e-scooters cost £1.50 to unlock, followed by £0.10p a minute. Alternatively, you can purchase a ‘minute bundle’ which can be used interchangeably with pedal bikes and e-bikes. You can buy one of the following:

• £5.00 for 100 minutes
• £10.00 for 200 minutes
• £15.00 for 300 minutes
• £20.00 for 400 minutes.

Available Locations:

Isle of Wight, Bournemouth and Poole.

About Beryl

Beryl is a UK based mobility brand that offers e-scooters, e-bikes, and pedal bikes. It was founded in 2011, and has been committed to offering more sustainable methods of transport to public for a long time. They started off as a rental bike company, however recently they have started offering e-scooters as part of the trial schemes.

8.   Zwings

Price:

A Zwings e-scooter costs £1.00 to unlock and £0.15p a minute after.

Available Locations:

Chard, Yeovil, Crewkerne, Yeovil, Keele University Campus, Cheltenham and Newcastle.

About Zwings

Zwings is a UK-based e-scooter brand that aims to work closely with local communities. Its aims are to deliver in-depth rider education and safety tips, which it does via the app, and also by working with local communities and governments.

Students at Keele University can rent Zwings e-scooters on campus as part of the UK trials. The company offered free and unlimited rides to NHS workers during the 2nd and 3rd lockdown.

9.   Bird

Price:

Bird e-scooters are £1.00 to unlock and then £0.15- £0.25p per minute

Available Locations:

London and Redditch

About Bird

Bird is an international e-scooter company based in Santa Monica, California. Founded in September 2017, Bird operates shared electric scooters in over 100 cities across the world.

Bird boasts a number of cool features, which make them stand out to other e-scooter companies. One of these is having Bluetooth. This allows users to link their phones to their scooter so you can play your favourite music as you ride.

Another unique feature about Bird’s e-scooters, is that they don’t have designated docking stations. Instead, the company suggests you just leave it in a sensible location and use the kickstand for parking.

 

Are You Ready to Ride an E-Scooter?

Now you’re well-versed in all the different e-scooter apps and the services, it’s time to find your nearest city or town that has them. Don’t forget to to stock up on protective wear and a helmet!