Voi e-scooters withdrawn from use after battery issue

Voi UK said it would let users know when the long-term rental scooters were safe to use

An e-scooter operator has withdrawn part of its fleet from rental after one its machines began burning in a user's home.

Firefighters were called to Gloucester Road in Bristol on 4 December when the scooter started billowing smoke.

An electrical fault had caused the lithium battery on the scooter to begin burning.

Voi UK said it had temporarily halted use of the long-term rental scooters as a precaution.

Servicing had been carried out and many people were using their scooters again, the company added.

Tiarnan Power told Bower News he took the e-scooter outside his home when he saw the smoke.

"I called Voi and they said to call 999… the street was completely covered in smoke," he said.

'Complete disaster'

Firefighters from Avon Fire and Rescue Service spent two hours hosing down the Voi and a hazardous substance team were deployed to dispose of the smoking battery, Mr Power said.

The scooter involved was part of Voi's long-term rental fleet

He was uninjured, and said: "It just shows how lucky I was. If I wasn't in, or, I was asleep, it would have been a complete disaster."

This Voi was part of a long-term rental scheme, different to the "hop on/ hop off" e-scooters which are available for use around the city.

The user rents their own, personal e-scooter, charging it themselves and keeping it at home for a monthly fee of £35.

Trials have been running for a year, led by the West of England Combined Authority (WECA).

Voi operates the hop-on, hop-off hire scooters as well as the long-term rentals

Last month, the trial, started to help reduce cars on the road, was extended until March 2022.

Jack Samler, General Manager at Voi UKI said: "We had an instance of smoke being emitted from one of our Long Term Rental e-scooters in Bristol earlier this month. This was an isolated, one-off incident with one of our long-term rental scooters.

"As an extreme precautionary measure, we asked users to keep the scooters outside whilst we assessed the situation - all users have been refunded for the inconvenience for the month of December.

"We have been continuously in touch with our users and informed them the vehicles were being serviced, as a preventive safety measure.

"Many users are already using the service again. Very soon, all users should be able to continue to enjoy our long-term rental service to move around in a sustainable manner."