Reality sometimes being stranger than fiction, electric scooter and e-bike company Bolt Mobility, appears to have shut down operations in several US cities.
This, in turn, abandoned hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of light electric vehicles on the streets.
What happened to Bolt Mobility?
Bolt Mobility, founded by Olympic gold-medalist Usain Bolt, reportedly ended operations in five of the United States’ cities this week.
Based on current knowledge, it appears that Bolt has ceased operations in Portland, Oregon; three Vermont cities of Burlington, South Burlington, and Winooski; and in Richmond, California.
In Miami, the mobility company (not to be confused with Estonian-based mobility company Bolt) abruptly ends its business at seemingly no warning.
Recently, city officials have not been able to reach anyone at Bolt Mobility including the company’s CEO Ignacio Tzoumas.
Bolt left 225 electric bikes at BART public transit stations, Richmond’s ferry terminals, and other locations in the city.
Due to high purchase costs, companies typically buy these bikes for about $1,000 each. Bolt likely abandoned about a quarter of a million dollars’ worth of equipment across just one city.
That begs the question: What happens to all of this gear?
Mayor Butt commented that the company is devising a plan to deal with the abandoned equipment and that the public should not vandalize the deserted electric bikes.
Individual cities may decide what to do with the equipment on a case-by-case basis.
At this point, it’s probably not a good idea to just pick up a Bolt e-bike or e-scooter.
