SAN FRANCISCO—Last week, a Skip scooter caught fire in Washington D.C. In response, the company has pulled its scooters off the streets of San Francisco. An investigation was launched after a photo– a scooter with its battery in flames — was retweeted more than 1,200 times. The photo was posted on Thursday, May 30 by The Washington Post. Skip has been investigating the incident since to determine the cause of the fire.
“Out of an abundance of caution and until we are able to share our complete investigation with regulators, we will not deploy in San Francisco,” said Skip in a tweet on Monday, June 3. “We expect our scooters to be back on the road in the next few days.”
The scooter was found with its external battery on fire, causing minor damage to a nearby wall. Skip unveiled its scooters with external, swappable batteries back in December 2018.
Skip posted an update about the conclusion. “After a thorough investigation, we’re confident that the incident in DC does not affect any other vehicles in our fleet,” Skip tweeted on Tuesday, June 4. “We have returned to full service in SF and are working in collaboration with DDOT to return our scooters to DC.”
