Dott have been awarded the second phase of a trial to have e-scooters in London.
General Manager of London, Michael Ventouris, explained how they are on a mission to help save the planet, how they charge batteries in a green-friendly way, and the importance of having a positive impact on the city of London.
General Manager of London, Michael Ventouris, explained how they are on a mission to help save the planet, how they charge batteries in a green-friendly way, and the importance of having a positive impact on the city of London.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 (silence)
00:02 - Hi, I'm Jack with London World
00:08 and we're at the DOT Warehouse in London
00:10 learning about all things e-scooters,
00:12 how they're charged, how they're great for the environment,
00:14 and how they're a great way to get around London.
00:17 - When we started in London, we had,
00:20 trying to remember, just 200 scooters in total.
00:23 Now we've got a fleet of more than 1,700 scooters
00:26 on the streets across 10 boroughs.
00:28 Of course, it's our goal definitely to help the planet,
00:30 so we're a sustainable company.
00:32 We're trying to push towards more sustainable cities
00:34 and unlocking the cities for people,
00:36 moving away from cars.
00:37 So yes, we have a fully electric fleet.
00:40 We service it using cargo bikes
00:41 and a fully electric van fleet,
00:43 and we push as much as we can to move away
00:46 from emission-emitting vehicles.
00:49 - And what are you doing to make sure
00:50 e-scooters are safe to ride?
00:52 - Yes, around safety, we follow the DFT's recommendations.
00:56 Helmets, yes, aren't a requirement on the scooters.
00:59 We also do in-app training for all first-time riders.
01:03 We have things like beginner mode,
01:04 where the riders ride at a lower speed on their first trip.
01:07 We have an additional training
01:09 that riders can sign up for on our website,
01:12 and it's just all key messaging around wearing a helmet,
01:15 watching out for other road users, and riding responsibly.
01:18 We work with cities to try and make a service
01:21 that integrates well within the city.
01:23 We wanna be a plus to the city and not a minus,
01:25 so it's all about being a responsible operator
01:28 from top to bottom in everything we do,
01:30 from street ops to repair to working with the stakeholders,
01:33 like boroughs, like charities, like RNIB.
01:36 So it's all about focusing and being a responsible operator.
01:39 We've invested a lot of time and money
01:41 in the way that we charge our batteries.
01:43 We've developed charging cabinets
01:44 where we charge 100% of our batteries in.
01:47 These are fireproof, fire-resistant cabinets,
01:49 up to 90 minutes.
01:50 We also link them up to our fire alarm.
01:52 We work with the local fire department,
01:54 wherever we operate, so that they know
01:56 that we're charging lithium-ion batteries there.
01:59 Try to be as responsible as we can to our neighbors
02:01 and how we charge.
02:03 We do all our charging in-house with swappable batteries.
02:06 This stops us from having to bring scooters
02:08 back to the warehouse, and we can use more batteries
02:11 and more things like cargo bikes
02:12 to swap batteries on the streets as well.
02:14 So we're using fully renewable energy
02:16 to swap these batteries across London.