Lyft’s e-bikes are back after a fiery hiatus

That was a long break. After five months, Lyft’s e-bikes are back and, hopefully, not on fire.

In July, ride-sharing company Lyft pulled all of its battery-assisted bicycles from Bay Area streets. The 1,000 electric bikes, part of its Bay Wheels bike-share program, were removed after reports of the devices catching on fire. Only classic pedal-powered bikes without flammable batteries remained in San Francisco, San Jose, and the East Bay. 

On Thursday, those e-bikes were finally back in San Francisco and in full force. Instead of only refilling the 1,000 empty slots, now up to 4,000 of Lyft’s new e-bikes will be joining the rental fleet over the next six months. The apparently now-safe e-bikes also returned to San Jose’s streets a few weeks ago. As for the East Bay, Oakland won’t see the e-bikes return until some time next year. Other East Bay cities, Berkeley and Emeryville, are currently working with Lyft to introduce the refurbished e-bikes in more places.

Back in September, San Francisco transportation officials threatened to pull Lyft’s e-bike permit because of the delay in getting the bikes back on the roads and running. Apparently, the city was just as in the dark about when the bikes would return as anyone, the San Francisco Examiner reported. Officials also wanted to know what was up with the batteries and why one burned down a parked e-bike. No one was injured in the fire incidents, but it was disturbing to see the charred remains parked at a neighborhood bike rack. 

Lyft weathered the firestorm and is now working with a new battery supplier and reassembling the bikes for a flame-free ride. Pressure from the city also let up so Lyft still holds one of two permits for e-bikes. (The other is held by Uber’s Jump bikes that have a pedal-assist feature.)

With the boosted bikes’ return comes a limited-time offer to pay the same rental rate for an e-bike as a traditional bike. This pricing will be in place until March. 

After March, it’ll cost you more for that extra e-juice.