German e-scooter company Wind launched its electric scooter services in Tel Aviv and will compete with Bird, which has been operating in Israel since last August. The company's plans were first reported by "Globes last month."
Wind recently completed a $22 million financing round. The company announced that it was initially operating in Tel Aviv and had deployed 200 e-scooters today. Wind will add 50 more scooters a day until reaching a total of 1,200, depending on demand in the various parts of the city.
Wind is charging NIS 5 per journey, plus NIS 0.50 per minute, about the same as Bird. The first journey for each user will be free of charge.
Wind will be headed in Israel by country manager Shahaf Shav Artza and product manager Yochai Abadi. They served in the same positions for Chinese electric bicycle company Ofo, which exited Israel last July after only a year of activity in the country.
Use of Wind's e-scooters, which are manufactured by Segway, is restricted to those over 18, like those of Bird, and requires a special app (available only in English at this stage). The company itself recharges the dockless scooters, and does not hire its own scooter collectors (as Bird, which calls them "hunters", does).
As of now, the service will be available only until 8pm each evening, but 24/7 service is planned in the future.
The law requires e-scooter riders to wear a helmet and restricts e-scooters to bicycle paths, or roads in places without bicycle paths.
Wind is represented by Adv. Guy Lachmann from Pearl Cohen Zedek Latzer Baratz law firm.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on January 10, 2019
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