European firm TIER is taking strides to become the leading e-scooter brand in the UK as it unveils a new build of its rentable transport in London which encourages recharging.

Its latest e-scooter enables users to earn free rides by swapping out batteries at charging stations, which TIER plans to set up across UK cities.

While it is still early days for e-scooter in the UK, TIER says its charging stations will form part of a charging network for e-vehicles which TIER has already started building across Europe.

The charging technology was pioneered by the innovative London-based hardware startup Pushme2, which TIER acquired earlier this year.

Pushme has its manufacturing base in Aylesbury, Oxfordshire, where the charging stations are assembled.

Placed inside convenience stores, cafés, and other partner locations, the charging stations are fully-automated and require no store staff oversight, while requiring no installation either.

Hosting a charging station comes at no cost for partners as TIER pays for all required electricity.

TIER hopes installation of a charging station will help high-street businesses attract new customer visits and increase sales. The company plans to roll-out its swappable battery technology across all its operations by the end of 2021.

Lawrence Leuschner, CEO and co-founder of TIER, said: “Today marks a step change in safe and sustainable travel around our cities.

“By integrating this new kind of swappable battery technology, we are building a Europe-wide charging network that allows users to play an active part in adopting climate-neutral travel and building better cities. At the same time, by hosting the charging pods in local businesses, we are helping high streets to recover from lockdown.

“This is a crucial step in TIER’s electric revolution to make mobility better. It is our plan that in time our charging network will not just service e-scooters, but other vehicles too.”

The unveiling of the new technology at today’s UK launch comes as local authorities in the UK work to introduce e-scooter trials as a safe and sustainable way of getting cities moving again in the wake of the Covid pandemic.

TIER is currently going through several UK tender processes including London, where it believes it can replicate the approach which recently helped it to win highly competitive tenders in Paris and Lyon.

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