Who Charges All Those Electric Scooters? Follow A Nocturnal \'Juicer\'

Some people like electric scooters.
Some people hate them.
Some people charge them. for money.
Joel Kirzner is a consultant in Arlington, Va.
But when he finished working in the office, he took out his phone and looked at multiple motorcycle apps to see what was available nearby.
If there are scooters with low battery, they will appear on the map on his phone.
If he could find a motorcycle in real life
Beat the Charger of any opponent)
He can earn a few dollars every time he charges at home.
\"It\'s like Pokémon making money,\" he said . \"
The last night he saw two scooters caught around the corner of the office.
He jumped up at Subaru Impreza and started collecting.
Electric scooters are hot now.
The two largest companies, Lime and Bird, are valued at $2 billion, respectively.
You can rent motorcycles from one or two companies in more than 100 cities across the country
From Abilene, Texas to Tacoma, Washington state.
Both companies rely on independent contractors like Kirzner to keep the wheels rolling by bringing scooters to their homes and charging them in regular stores.
In the process, the Chargers meet another key need: they help to remove the scooter from the outdoorsof-the-
Go to hot spots where they will find more riders.
Lime calls the Charger a juicer \".
\"The birds have their own pun: the charger\" catches \"the birds and releases them into the\" nest --
Specific location of Company choice-in the morning.
This is largely night work: some scooters can not be charged until after 9. m.
, They should be back on their way early the next morning so they can commute.
Starting from a recent cold night day lag, Kirzner quickly collected 12 motorcycles in a row near his office building before returning home to charge.
He\'s collecting birds tonight.
There\'s more than lime.
$4 or $5 per vehicle, including a bonus to collect multiple motorcycles.
The bounty offered by each scooter varies depending on location, charging level and how long the scooter is idle (
A sign that it may be less in
Ideal location).
Overall, the bonus has dropped over time.
For example, Bird used to pay up to $20 for the scooter with the longest waiting time.
But unscrupulous chargers will take the scooters off the street and hoard them as their value increases;
The $20 charge is almost unheard of, Kirzner said.
The decline in interest rates has lowered some of the previous fierce competition to get a scooter.
Many people just don\'t want to hit the road for smaller spending --
Especially on a cold windy night.
Andy Castillo once collected lime scooters in Washington, D. C. C.
No more charges.
He used to go out with his retired mom.
\"This is a way for us to spend time together,\" he said . \"
They will fill his pickup truck with a motorcycle.
\"When I first started, it was $6 for a motorcycle,\" Castillo said . \"
\"They recently dropped the price to $4 and I did it once or twice after that, not that exciting.
Kirzner said it was still worth the charge for him, especially since he rarely walked out of the house and collected and reallocated near the office and home.
\"It\'s like taking money from the street,\" he said, and when he finished a pickup, he found another $5 scooter across the street.
This is not easy, of course.
Once they\'re all in his hatchback
He has a very precise system to squeeze in as many as a dozen birds.
He took the motorbikes home and put them in his yard.
His charger is neatly organized and mounted on plywood with color
Coordinate the zipper.
They have to charge for a few hours. he has to pay the electricity bill. (
Kirzner said the impact on his electricity bill was negligible. )
The next morning, before he starts his day-to-day work, he will wake up early and put his scooter on the road and store it in the Bird\'s pre-selected position.
Kirzner said his income has exceeded $9,000 since he started charging in September.
He also warned that the job was not very reliable.
For example, don\'t like to drive for Uber or Lyft, and don\'t like other options in the gig economy.
He might be empty some nights. handed.
In some cities, lime or birds go out of business overnight.
It is unclear whether these companies will continue to rely on contractors.
Other companies like Lyft use employees to charge electric scooters.
Kirzner wants to know how this could be cost.
Effectively pay him $50 or $60 for a few hours of full-time work
Time employees may need $15 per hour.
Some analysts have speculated that robots may come to do these jobs more often than not.
Robot scooter.
\"What people are already talking about is making these things autonomous,\" created the term \"micro-mobility\" to describe small electric vehicles such as Horace Di, an influential analyst at MotorcyclesA three-Wheel or self
He said the balance car could \"crawl on the sidewalk at 3 miles an hour \".
\"Maybe in the evening they will relocate themselves to the charging station.
Now, either you have a person who inserts them, or they can hover over what is essentially an inductive point. . .
So they can do it themselves. charge.
\"So you\'re going to let these scooters wander around the city at night, trying to find a charging station,\" Dediu theory said . \".
\"I don\'t think it sounds crazy.
\"After all, for motorcycle companies, paying for Chargers like Kirzner is a huge cost --
These companies are still burning money as they expand, and have not yet succeeded in making profits.
But for now, the charger plays an indispensable role in the motorcycle economy.
In the cold darkness, Kirzner carried his night out of his car, neatly arranged.
He said he had a good salary when he was 9. to-5 job.
But he said it was helpful to be busy.
\"I have expensive rentals, expensive car payments, cable bills,\" he said . \".
You\'re talking about the middle class that\'s disappearing.
I think I can live comfortably in that place.
But it will certainly help if you want to make finance more stable.
He said: \"He would rather do this than drive for Uber or Lyft.
His car traveled less than a few miles.
There are no drunk people to deal.
\"The birds don\'t talk back to me,\" he said . \"
They tweet frequently.
You know, Doodle.
But besides, they are also very good.