Ford gets into the scooter business, joins Bird and Lime

Eric Lacy, Lansing State Journal

The wildly popular Bird and Lime electric scooters will see a little competition in Detroit and other cities from Spin, a startup purchased by Ford Motor Co. for more than $40 million.

This is all about Ford’s comprehensive strategy to provide options for customers to buy, lease, taxi and — now — scooter a final mile or two to a destination.

Ford buys Spin, an electric scooter company.
Ford buys Spin, an electric scooter company.
Ford Motor Co.

Ford, which refers to the Spin scooters as “micro-mobility” because they provide travel for an average distance of less than 3 miles, is targeting college campuses and urban areas.

In cities including New York and San Francisco, a person can sit in a car for an hour to travel just a few blocks. This is meant to be an antidote to that situation.

The San Francisco-based Spin is currently permitted in 13 U.S. cities and campuses, including Detroit, Denver, Long Beach and Coral Gables, Ford said. The product is heavily used by students at the University of Troy in Alabama.

A Spin scooter costs $1 to rent and 15 cents per minute, as is the case with Bird and Lime, scooters that hit the streets of Detroit this summer as the city joined a national trend. The scooters are left in public locations, also like Bird and Lime.

More: Detroit honeymoon now over for Bird, Lime rental scooters

More: Detroit is about to see many more Bird and Lime scooters

Ford says Spin does not launch without permission, and the company shares use data with cities.

“Living in California, I’ve seen firsthand the electric scooter trend unfold and when I finally took a spin to try them out, I understood why they’re so popular,” said Sunny Madra, vice president, Ford X. “We are excited to work with the Spin team. The fast-paced, often experimental mobility sector requires businesses to keep up with agile and adaptable customers — and that’s what we intend to do.”

Scooters will be distributed around Detroit on Thursday. 

Spin aims to be in 100 markets over the next 18 months.

Detroit limited Bird and Lime to 300 scooters each until last month, when the city agreed to allow an additional 100 scooters with the requirement that 100 of them be distributed in Detroit neighborhoods outside the Grand Boulevard perimeter. 

Spin will be following the same rules. 


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