Charging scooters for income is one of the most popular side hustles in urban cities, especially in those where shared electric scooters have cropped up as a common mode of transportation.
It mainly entails picking up electric scooters, charging them either at home or some dedicated location, and returning them at specific drop-off points for a fee.
Companies like Bird, Lime, and Spin make money by having fleets of electric scooters that need to be charged nightly to continue being available for use. They hire individuals, often called “chargers” or “juicers,” to pick up the scooters and charge them overnight.
In this article, we’ll break down just how this income works, how you could start charging scooters, and how much you can expect to earn from it.
How Scooter Charging Works
Scooter charging as a stream of income isn’t all that complicated. As a Survey Junkie, Fiver or Swagbucks alternative, charging scooters is a fresh, new method of earning extra.
The electric scooter companies rely on gig workers to pick up the scooters whose batteries are running low, charge them overnight, and then release them for high-demand areas the next morning.
First, people have to sign up with any of the scooter firms like Bird, Lime, and Spin, which requires some sort of registration process that normally consists of just submitting basic personal and payment information.
Then the company gives this charger access to its mobile application, on which it puts locations where scooters need to be charged.
Once a charger has registered himself/herself and is accepted, the following are his/her steps in the process:
- Finding and Collecting Scooters: The same app from the scooter company allows chargers to find scooters around the city that need charging.
These appear as points marked on a map within the app, along with their approximate battery level and GPS coordinates. Chargers will often canvass their own neighborhood for scooters, which they can collect after hours when most scooters are no longer in active use.
It then informs the individual of how much money each scooter will bring in once it has been collected, charged, and returned to a drop-off point. - Charging the Scooters: Each charger takes the scooters to their homes or to various places, plugs them in, and recharges them using special charging cables provided by the scooter company.
Each charger has a number of cables that he can use to charge multiple scooters at one time. While charging a scooter, depending on how full the battery is, what model your scooter is, and what source you use to charge, it may take up to 3-7 hours. - Releasing the Scooters: Once charged, the scooters will need to be dropped off in provided designated areas, usually called “nests” or “hubs,” within a specific time the following morning.
There will be drop locations provided through the app of the scooter company, which are usually located in high-traffic areas of downtown districts, tourist hotspots, or near transportation nodes.
Chargers get paid once they have returned scooters and confirm that they have done so through the app.
Income Potential
The income from scooter charging will depend on the number of scooters charged, the hours spent picking up and releasing these, and where such a charger operates.
Compensation is usually provided per scooter, the rate varying depending on how depleted the scooter battery has been and what their difficulty is to be collected. It could be that scooters harder to reach, or those with very low battery levels, pay more.
Those in high-traffic areas might pay less.
Earnings per scooter range from $3 to $20, though most chargers normally average $5 to $10 per scooter.
A charger collecting and charging 10 scooters a night would be earning in the range of $50 to $100, though altogether, this amount depends on the location and demand for scooters within that place. The overall earnings which a charger will come to realize depend on various variables:
- Location: Chargers in high-density urban areas where there is high usage of scooters will have more opportunities to collect scooters.
- Availability: Chargers who can commit to searching for scooters consistently and are willing to travel farther distances to collect hard-to-find scooters will more than likely create more money.
Searching early or late in the night may also increase earnings because some scooters may be much more challenging to find. - Efficiency: The ratio of scooters to charger per night is based on the ability of the charger to efficiently pick up, charge, and return them.
With additional cables to charge with, and larger vehicles, such as a van or SUV, a charger can collect and charge more at one time and maximize earnings.
Those who can identify consistently the high-paying scooters and manage drop-off times efficiently are likely to increase overall income.
Benefits of Scooter Charging
This is where flexibility is one of the major advantages of scooter charging. You are supposed to work out your schedule, pick up scooters in the evening, and then return them in the morning.
This aspect of scooter charging makes it a very good option for those who need supplemental income but want to continue with their full-time jobs or other responsibilities.
Unlike other gig economy jobs, such as ride-sharing or food delivery, charging scooters involves neither interaction with customers nor much driving around during peak hours of traffic.
Instead, chargers work in solitude during off-peak hours, thus giving them a higher degree of autonomy over their workload and hours.
Another advantage is a low barrier to entry, as while owning or renting a vehicle that can transport numerous scooters is needed, no special skills or prior experience is needed to turn one into a scooter charger.
That is virtually an easy thing to learn, and companies often advise how to take their apps and charge the scooters.
Moreover, scooter charging can be a highly scalable operation: chargers investing in additional charging cables and larger vehicles can take in higher volumes of scooters each night, greatly increasing their potential income.
Indeed, some chargers grew scooter charging into a full-time business by scaling up their operations, hiring additional workers, and charging dozens of scooters each night.
Challenges and Considerations
While this could be an easy opportunity for earning extra money, there are some challenges that come with the job.
First, scooter charging is really a labor-intensive job in which chargers should be able to lift and move scooters from and to their vehicles and charging stations.
Since the regular mass of every scooter is from 25 to 50 pounds, so collecting and moving several scooters can get exhausting, especially for those without sufficient transportation or adequate space for loading scooters.
The other challenge is that of variable income. The earnings are not guaranteed but depend on all conditions of demand in the area that one is charging from, plus a number of other chargers where one intends to get scooters for charging.
In some cities, there could be more scooters than chargers, thus creating an oversupply of work. However, this is the high-competition area, and hardly enough scooters can be found to charge regularly, hence limiting the potential earnings.
Second, the compensative approach for payment per scooter is contingent on a variety of factors including but not limited to the level of the battery, proximity, and company-specific pricing that makes predictably consistent income hard.
There are also logistical concerns, such as keeping electricity costs in a reasonable range. Since scooters must be taken indoors and charged overnight, the electricity required to charge them raises the charger’s residential utility bill.
This will continue to chip away at overall earnings-especially if chargers do not work to optimize their power consumption-which varies depending on the number of scooters charged and the local cost of electricity.
Finally, there is the issue of transportation: chargers need a reliable vehicle to pick up scooters and enough space at home or elsewhere to charge a number of scooters at any given time.
Drivers without access to a larger vehicle may be limited in the numbers of scooters they can collect and transport each night, thus reducing their potential earnings. Parking and storage are issues, especially in highly populated urban areas.
Companies Offering Scooter Charging Opportunities
Several companies offer opportunities for individuals to become scooter chargers. These companies operate fleets of electric scooters in various cities across the globe, relying on local contractors to manage the charging process:
- Bird: One of the first companies to introduce electric scooters to the streets, Bird allows individuals to sign up as “chargers” to collect, charge, and release their scooters. Bird chargers are paid per scooter, with rates depending on the location and difficulty of collection.
- Lime: Lime operates a similar program, employing “juicers” to collect and charge scooters. Lime provides chargers with charging cables and allows them to view available scooters for pickup using the company’s app.
- Spin: Spin, another electric scooter company, also relies on independent contractors to handle the charging process. Spin offers competitive rates for chargers and provides comprehensive support through its app.
Conclusion
Scooter charging is a flexible and relatively easy way to earn additional income, particularly for those living in urban environments with access to electric scooters.
While the work is not without its challenges—such as physical demands, transportation needs, and variable income—it offers a low-barrier entry point for individuals looking to supplement their earnings.
The process is straightforward, and the flexibility of the work allows individuals to adapt their schedule as needed.
For those willing to invest in the tools and transportation required for larger-scale operations, scooter charging can become a viable side business with scalable earning potential.
However, as with any gig economy job, chargers must weigh the pros and cons to determine if the financial rewards align with their goals and capacity.
