[title]
As it stands, London has a few types of e-bike users. First up are the hardcore Lime bikers. Exuding the same energy as Miranda (Meryl Streep) telling Andy (Anne Hathaway) at the end of The Devil Wears Prada that ‘everybody wants to be us’, Limers are officially the cool kids of e-bikes. Next up there’s the Human Forest users, whose sole purpose it seems is to let you know that you get 10 minutes of free riding per day, and last up there’s the reject-modernity-embrace-tradition crew still opting to use TfL’s Santander Cycles.
But soon London’s cycle hire scene will have a new kid on the block. Voi has announced the company is in talks with councils to bring thousands more rental e-bikes to London’s streets.
To start off with, Voi intends to deploy a fleet of 20,000 e-bikes across London. The Swedish company, which already operates e-scooters in the city, will apparently use an algorithm to find where bikes are most in demand by London riders and drop them directly off.
Voi’s decision to introduce e-bikes comes after it threatened to withdraw its e-scooters due to heavy regulations making them ‘financially unsustainable’. As it stands, you need to be 18 years old to rent an e-scooter in London and hold a full or provisional UK driving licence.
The company currently operates e-bikes in other cities across the UK including Liverpool, Oxford and Southampton, but it won’t launch here until legal agreements with London boroughs are signed.
Look out for when they do arrive though – we sense even the most loyal of Lime riders might be tempted to jump ship for Voi’s pinky-red alternatives.
Mad for e-bikes? Here’s the latest news on them in London
Earlier this summer TfL added 900 more e-bikes to its network of Santander bikes and this south London borough is banning e-bikes being abandoned on pavements. Haven’t got round to trying out an e-bike? Now’s the perfect time because next month London is set to embrace world car free day.
Did you see? London City Airport is massively expanding with millions more passengers.
Plus: A tiny micropub in north London has been crowned the capital’s best boozer by CAMRA.
Get the latest and greatest from the Big Smoke – from news and reviews to events and trends. Just follow our Time Out London WhatsApp channel.
Stay in the loop: sign up to our free Time Out London newsletter for the best of the city, straight to your inbox.