Skip escooters are back in DC

Skip escooters are making a comeback in D.C.

Remember when that Skip escooter’s battery caught on fire back in May? As a result of that incident, the San Francisco-based operator grounded its District fleet for the summer at the request of the District Department of Transportation (DDOT). Skip was able to resume operations by June 6.

But that wasn’t the only battery malfunction from Skip escooters this summer. A few weeks after the first incident, Skip’s D.C. warehouse experienced a limited fire that started in a bin of removed escooter batteries, the company reported on Twitter. This second incident caused DDOT to suspend Skip’s permit, causing the company to remove its escooters, again — this time for 30 days.

After a fire in a storage area caused by batteries removed from service, we are complying with a DDOT order to temporarily suspend service for at least 30 days. This was not an issue with scooters in the field, either deployed or charging.

— Skip (@SkipScooters) June 20, 2019

Skip made an announcement via email last week that following all of these issues, its fleet of 950 escooters have returned to the D.C.-area as of Aug. 31.

TechCrunch reported that Skip consulted with Occupational Safety and Health Administration compliance firms and battery experts to update its procedures and operations. The company now has a real-time monitoring and alerts system for any vehicle issues with its fleet.

“The investigation found the main cause to be physical damage, but it was not able to determine whether the damage was intentional or unintentional,” a Skip spokesperson told TechCrunch.

TechCrunch also reported that Skip will be reporting any incidents and injuries to DDOT at this time.