Bird on Wednesday announced the Bird One, an iPhone-connected scooter meant for both its sharing service and personal ownership. The One uses a steel-reinforced aluminum frame, meant to be more durable than both Bird's first original scooter — the Zero — and the Xiaomi M365 and Ninebot ES the company often uses in sharing. It's expected to last over a year in sharing, versus 10 months for the Zero, and just three months for the ES and M365. That's a key factor in whether or not Bird can become profitable. The new scooter also has a power system that's IP67-rated against rain and dust, with a much greater range, up to 30 miles. There are no exposed cables and quick-access panels are included for service. Performance-wise the vehicle has a top speed of 18 miles per hour, and can handle hills up to 15% and weights up to 220 pounds. Brakes include a regenerative motor system in the front and a rear drum. The tires are custom, semi-solid pneumatic tubeless designs, which Bird claims should protect against flats while still offering a comfortable ride. Personal buyers with an iPhone or Android device can track their scooter via GPS and enable a digital lock. An unusual advantage in that regard is access to the Bird Hunter Network, normally intended to track down shared units. Other perks of ownership include $100 in credit for Bird rides, a one-year warranty, and service at Bird centers in North America and Europe. The One can be preordered today in black, white, or rose colors for $1,299. Delivery is slated for this summer, but Bird cautions that a "limited quantity" of scooters will be available at first.<doc-sep>Bird, recognizing the growing possibility that people will want to own electric scooters rather than share them, is launching a new scooter model available for purchase. Called the Bird One, it will be available for ownership and shared-use cases. Bird is also ditching the Ninebot ES and relying on its own M365 model for monthly personal rentals. “Bird One builds on the benefits and learnings of Bird Zero and is forecasted to last in the sharing environment for well over a year,” Bird CEO Travis VanderZanden said in a statement. “Given the excitement and demand for our next generation e-scooter, we are also making a limited supply of Bird Ones available to own. Now, whether you want to share, rent, or own, Bird provides an option for everyone.” Bird One has a battery designed to last twice as long, cover a longer range and last more than 4x longer in the shared space. That’s an important detail given how it’s notoriously hard to achieve good unit economics with shared electric scooters. Bird One will cost $1,299 and come in three colors. People can pre-order the scooter now and receive it this summer. Bird’s announcement comes ahead of Boosted’s anticipated electric scooter launch on May 15. Over the last few months, Bird has been aggressively trying to capture more parts of the electric scooter market. Late last month, Bird introduced monthly personal rentals in San Francisco and Barcelona. The program enables people to rent a scooter for $24.99 a month with no cap on the number of rides. Scooter-sharing in SF and Barcelona is highly regulated, so Bird’s delivery program is a very neat way to not be hindered by regulation. By dropping off the scooters directly to individuals, it’s akin to simply owning your own scooter — from the city’s perspective, that is. The bigger barrier for Bird, however, may be how many people have already decided to simply buy their own scooters. Whether it’s the traditional shared model, monthly rentals or selling direct to consumer, Bird is clearly trying to be the go-to provider of electric scooters — no matter how often people want to use them.<doc-sep>Santa Monica-based Bird is known for being the largest electric scooter sharing company. And while they made their name by renting electric scooters, now they are changing the game entirely. The company just debuted their newest model, the Bird One, which they are selling to the public. Bird’s scooters started the electric scooter invasion of 2018. The dockless electric scooters are scattered around cities where they can be rented for just a few dollars by scanning them with a smart phone. After a rider has reached his or her destination, the scooter is simply abandoned to await its next rider. The dockless scooter model caused early controversy, but ultimately won out with its sheer size and public infatuation with the scooters. And while Bird became famous (and worth $2B) by renting out electric scooters, now the company has added a new option – direct sales. The company’s new Bird One electric scooter debuted just minutes ago. It is available as part of the shared scooter fleet AND for pre-sales starting today. Bird One electric scooter The Bird One electric scooter is the company’s second in-house model. It follows on the heels of the Bird Zero electric scooter and features a number of improvements to make it even more robust. According to the company: “Born to ride and built to last, Bird One is the industry’s most advanced and safe e-scooter on the road today for ownership and sharing. Putting the rider at the center of the e-scooter experience, Bird One delivers consumers a comfortable and controlled ride via a vehicle they can rely on to get them where they need to go. Bird One was also built with durability in mind. The new vehicle not only performs more rides in a single day on a single charge, but it will also outlast modified consumer vehicles used sharing by nearly five times. Owners of Bird One can also expect a longer lifespan.” The Bird One has 474 Wh battery giving it a range of 30 miles (48 km), which Bird claims is twice as far as any other shared scooter. The 18 mph (29 km/h) scooter also features hidden cables, enhanced LED lighting, built-in GPS for anti-theft tracking, over-the-air updates, a mechanical rear drum brake, easy access servicing panels and semi-solid tubeless wheels that are flat-proof. The 38.6 lb (17.5 kg) scooter has a weight limit of 220 lb (100 kg). The scooter is designed to withstand the torture of repeated daily rentals and is built from steel-reinforced aluminum. Bird says it will last 4 times longer than the consumer scooters that it currently uses in its fleet. Speaking of those scooters, Bird announced that they are no longer using NineBot ES2 electric scooters in their rental fleet. They’ll continue using the upgraded Xiaomi M365 electric scooter for their monthly rentals, and will use the Bird One scooter for their everyday shared fleet as well as direct sales to consumers. The Bird One scooter costs $1,299 and comes with a $100 credit towards Bird’s scooter sharing service. Electrek’s Take Well this is an interesting move. I have to say that I didn’t see this coming. Though it makes sense. Bird introduced commuters to the magic of electric scooters, but that caused many people to go out and buy their own instead of continuing to use Bird’s service. Obviously, Bird doesn’t want to lose out on that market share, so offering to sell their own scooter can diversify their revenue model. The timing is also interesting, considering Boosted has their own premium electric scooter coming out in less than two weeks (which Electrek will be on site for, by the way). The price is a bit of a shocker though. I’m sure the scooter isn’t cheap to produce, seeing as it comes with a huge battery and features like built-in GPS. But $1,299? Seems pretty high in my opinion. Another downer is the choice to include airless tires. Sure, you don’t have to worry about flat tires, but the ride quality also suffers compared to air-filled tires. Airless tires work fine on smooth surfaces, but when it comes to irregularities like sidewalk cracks, bricks or pot holes, ride quality takes a nose dive. One of the few electric scooters that I’ve seen successfully get away with airless tires is the WideWheel electric scooter. With the full suspension on that scooter, you don’t need air-filled tires to serve as shock absorbers. Plus it’s got twice the motors and four times the power for $200 less. WideWheel electric scooter with full suspension and airless wheels But until I get a chance to test out a Bird One, I’ll hold back on totally condemning the airless tires. The rest of the scooter looks pretty good. And the GPS anti-theft feature is sure to win over some riders that are on the fence about spending so much on a vehicle that could get lifted so easily. I also love the dedicated mechanical brake in addition to the regenerative braking. In emergency braking scenarios, I always prefer a real brake that can stop me more quickly than motor braking alone. But enough about what I think; let’s hear what you think about the Bird One electric scooter. Let us know in the comments section below! FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More. Subscribe to Electrek on YouTube for exclusive videos and subscribe to the podcast.<doc-sep>NEW A vastly improved search engine helps you find the latest on companies, business leaders, and news more easily.<doc-sep>
Yes, the major public clouds offer a lot. But what you may not know are the limitations, and how open clouds make the difference. Elevate your enterprise data technology and strategy at Transform 2021. Bird, the Santa Monica, California-based electric scooter startup that has raised $415 million in venture capital to date, today unveiled Bird One, an e-scooter architected and engineered by the company’s U.S. design team. It boasts novel safety features, a long range, and what Bird claims is industry-leading battery life. Bird One will soon be available to reserve or rent in three colors through Bird’s website, and the company is setting aside a limited number for purchase in three colors: black, white, and rose. It costs $1,299 and is expected to begin shipping to purchasers this summer, and Bird says that e-scooter renters and sharers initially can expect to see them in Los Angeles. That will be just the start, however. Bird plans to slowly migrate its fleet to “commercial-grade” e-scooters, like Bird One and last year’s Bird Zero, both of which are designed to last 10 months or more on average in “sharing environments.” Specifically, the company says it’ll use Xiaomi’s M365 model for monthly personal rentals and will no longer purchase Segway’s Ninebot ES. “Nearly two years ago, we launched our sharing business with retail, consumer e-scooters that lasted about three months in the sharing environment,” said Bird CEO Travis VanderZanden. “Bird One builds on the benefits and learnings of Bird Zero … Now, whether you want to share, rent, or own, Bird provides an option for everyone.” Bird One, which Bird says was informed by two years of customer feedback and tens of millions of scooter rides, has an increased frame density and responsive brake system, and it doesn’t expose any cables or wiring. It has quick access service panels and enhanced lighting, along with a “responsive” breaking system and custom 9-inch, semi-solid tubeless wheels designed to increase stability and protection on bumpy roads. Thanks to these and other improvements, Bird claims that Bird One can travel at speeds upwards of 19 miles per hour, carry a maximum weight of 220 pounds, and complete more rides on a battery in a single day than most competing scooters (up to 30 miles on a charge). Moreover, it expects that One will outlast modified consumer scooters by nearly 5 times and that its 473Wh battery will last twice as long. Bird One sports an energy storage system that’s resistant to rain, dust, and other inclement weather. It’s got built-in connectivity and GPS capabilities that integrate with the Bird app, enabling owners to track their scooter and lock it digitally. (Bird asserts that this is an industry first.) And each Bird One will include access to the Bird Hunter Network, a support team trained to recover missing Bird scooters. Bird One owners can have their vehicles — which come with a one-year warranty — serviced or maintained at Bird’s service centers throughout North America and Europe. The Bird One’s unveiling comes weeks after the company announced a monthly rental program to complement its existing on-demand service. For $25, customers in San Francisco and Barcelona get unlimited rides on a personal scooter, with additional cities to follow. Bird — which was founded in 2017 by former Lyft and Uber employees — has myriad competitors, but its chief rival might be e-scooter startup Lime, which has raised $765 million to date. San Francisco-based Spin was snapped up by Ford for a reported $100 million last year. Meanwhile, Jump Bikes raked in $10 million last January before it was acquired by Uber in April and expanded into electric scooters. Overseas, Dutch startup Dott recently secured $23 million for its fleet of electric scooters and bikes, and Sweden’s Voi raised $50 million to expand its electric scooters to more cities across Europe. Bird is undoubtedly better-funded than much of the competition, with recent contributions from Sequoia, Accel, Greycroft, and other investors valuing it at roughly $2 billion. It also has a broader geographic reach, operating across dozens of markets in the U.S., including in Santa Monica, where it’s headquartered, as well as Austin; Baltimore; Dallas; Detroit; San Diego; Washington, D.C.; and Paris. Somewhat unusually, Bird operates a program that enables operators to use its infrastructure to run their own fleet of shared, branded electric scooters.