Several years ago, I found a side hustle that quickly became one of my favorites – charging electric scooters as a Lime Juicer. If you live in a large city, you’ve undoubtedly encountered these scooters before. Companies like Bird and Lime place shared electric scooters all around the city. Users can then download the respective apps and rent these scooters on a per-minute basis.
The side hustle opportunity comes from recharging the batteries on these electric scooters. Lime uses independent contractors that pick up scooters that are low on battery, recharge them in their homes, and then put them back out on the street at specific locations. They call these people Lime Juicers.
For years, I took advantage of this pretty easy side hustle, making extra money by simply walking out my front door every evening, grabbing a few scooters, and recharging them overnight. The next morning on my way to work, I’d drop off the scooters and get paid.
It didn’t seem like it at the time, but the money I earned added up. Each day, I’d bring in about $20 to $30. Over a week, I could make $140 to $210 (and sometimes more if I worked a little harder). Today, I’ve now made over $5,000 charging Lime scooters. That’s pretty incredible when you think about how easy scooter charging was for me.Â
Unfortunately, Lime wasn’t able to renew its contract with my city, leaving only Bird and Lyft left where I live. Both companies have similar scooters, but they use employees to charge their scooters, which means that for the past few years, I haven’t been charging scooters regularly. As a result, I haven’t talked about scooter charging much.
Recently, however, I was on a trip to Austin for a conference, and knowing that I was staying downtown and there’d probably be scooters I could charge, I packed my Lime scooter chargers. I was staying in an Airbnb, so that meant I had an apartment with plenty of space to charge scooters. And importantly, there was no concierge or hotel staff I had to worry about.
During the week I was in Austin for my conference, I made a little over $200 – all from doing something as simple as walking outside and grabbing a few scooters. My experience with charging Lime scooters reminded me how well it can work out to be a Lime Juicer if you’re strategic about it and happen to have the right circumstances to make it worthwhile.
In this post, I want to go over how it works to be a Lime Juicer and why I think it’s still worth doing.
How To Become A Lime Juicer
Signing up to be a Lime Juicer is straightforward. To sign up, you need to download the Lime app, then click the button that says “Earn With Lime.” From there, you’ll provide any information they ask for. You should be up and running almost immediately.
Once you’re onboarded on the Lime app, you’ll get an option in the app that says “Switch to Juicer.” That’ll let you go into Juicer mode, which allows you to see all of the Lime scooters that need to be recharged
The only equipment you’ll need to be a Lime Juicer is the scooter chargers. Lime used to give these away, but unfortunately, they no longer do that now. These days, you have to purchase individual chargers. In the Lime app, there’s a button that you can click to purchase scooter chargers. Lime doesn’t sell the scooters themselves, so the link in the app goes to Amazon. You’ll find that scooter chargers range from $10 to $15, so you’ll have to spend a bit of money if you want to get started as a Lime Juicer.
How To Harvest And Serve Lime Scooters
Working as a Lime Juicer requires you to do two things:
- Find scooters that need to be charged and recharge them in your home.
- Bring the fully-charged scooters back outside and put them at a Lime Hub.
The first step is what Lime calls “harvesting.” This is when you find a scooter that is low on battery and bring it home to charge. To do this, first, you’ll open the Lime app in Juicer mode, then see what scooters are around you. The app will show you all of the available scooters that need charging, along with how much you’ll earn for charging the scooter. Green scooters need charging. Red scooters need to go back to a Lime base for repair. Typically, if you check in the evening, you’ll find a lot of Lime scooters that need to be charged.
If you live in a neighborhood with a lot of scooters, then getting the scooters home won’t be an issue. You can simply walk the scooters home or ride them home (more on riding Lime scooters as a Juicer in a later section). I don’t recommend scooter charging if you don’t live in a neighborhood with a lot of scooters, but that’s up for you to decide whether it’s worth it or not. For me, I think of working as a Lime Juicer as a pure side hustle that I do for fun, not something to actively spend a lot of time on.
In general, charging a scooter should take you about 5 hours. The amount of electricity it takes to charge a scooter is minimal. Most people have a misconception that small electric vehicles like ebikes and scooters take a lot of electricity to charge, but the truth is, they don’t. At most, charging a scooter will cost you about 2-5 cents in electricity.Â
Once the scooter is fully charged, the next step is to “Serve” them at a Lime Hub. This means putting the fully-charged scooter in a designated space that you’ll see in the app. If you live in a neighborhood with a lot of scooters, you’ll probably have a lot of Lime Hubs nearby. Most likely, you’ll be able to walk them over or slowly scoot them over.Â
And that’s it. You’ll earn your money after you serve the scooter. You might wonder when does Lime pay? The nice thing about Lime is that they pay every weekday. You’ll always get paid for your scooters the next business day after you serve them, so you don’t have to wait long to get paid.
How I Made $200 Charging Lime Scooters While I Was Traveling
As I mentioned, when Lime was operating in my city, side hustling as a Lime Juicer was super easy. Each night, I could step outside and choose between dozens of Lime scooters all within a block or two of my house. It’s been a bummer since they left my city because Lime was an easy source of side hustle income for me.
When I travel though, I always like to check if the place I’m going to has scooters. Usually, I’m staying in a hotel, so charging scooters doesn’t work out too well since no hotel will let me bring a scooter into my room. When I was in Indianapolis a few years ago, I stayed at a hotel that had a side entrance, so I was able to sneak scooters into my room without the staff seeing me.Â
On my recent trip to Austin, I had an Airbnb in an apartment building. Even better, my place had no apartment staff at all, so I was easily able to bring scooters in and out without any fear. Downtown Austin is littered with scooters everywhere, so getting my hands on several Limes throughout the day was not difficult. Most of the time, I barely even had to step off my route to grab a scooter.Â
I ended up charging 48 scooters over the 5 days I was in Austin. That might seem like a lot, but you have to remember that I was charging scooters throughout the day. I’d often grab six scooters in the morning, charge them up, then drop them off before grabbing another 6 scooters in the evening.Â
I had a blast doing it too. It’d been a while since I’d charged any scooters, so I forgot how much fun it was to do this.
Lime Juicer Strategies
Start Small and Stay Consistent. The secret with anything in life, I think, is consistency. Time is the superpower that all of us can use, and if you can stay consistent for a long enough time, big things will start to happen.Â
The same is true with side hustling as a Lime Juicer. Making a few bucks a day charging scooters doesn’t seem like much. But if you stay consistent, you can see how it can add up. Just $10 per day – which means you’re charging 2 or 3 scooters – adds up to $3,650 over a year. If you live in the right neighborhood, charging 2 or 3 scooters per day takes no time at all. You can see how after a year or two, you can easily make $5,000 or more, just charging scooters in your neighborhood.
Stay On Foot If You Can. I sometimes see people loading scooters into their trucks to charge them. If you’ve done the math and that makes sense for you, go ahead and do it. Personally, it’s not worth it for me to use a car. Not only does it not seem cost-effective, but it also seems unpleasant to charge scooters this way.Â
Instead, the best way to do it is to treat this as a way to make extra income if you live in a neighborhood that has a lot of scooters around you. Fortunately, if you’re young and live in a dense neighborhood, you probably do live in a place where scooter charging will make sense. If you live in Downtown Austin, for example, you’re missing out if you’re not taking advantage of scooter charging.Â
The Changing Landscape Of Being A Lime Juicer
Scooter charging has changed a lot since scooters first launched. In the early days, numerous companies used independent contractors to charge scooters, making this an easy side hustle to get into. Unfortunately for the side hustlers out there, many of these companies have moved to using full-time or part-time employees instead of contractors to charge the scooters.Â
The other tough change recently is Lime capping the speed of their scooters. One of the secret benefits of being a Lime Juicer was that you could ride the scooters for free. All you had to do was charge a scooter and then you’d have your own personal scooter you could use for a day or two. Lime knew people were doing this but didn’t seem to do much to stop it until recently when they made it so the max speed for Lime Juicers is 5mph. That means you can still ride the scooter for free if you’re a Lime Juicer, but it’s only going to go 5mph. It’s still slightly faster than walking, but not by much.Â
Still, even with this change, I think side hustling as a Lime Juicer still has value. You need to have the right living situation, but if you’re in that situation, take advantage of it. For a brief while, when I was in Austin, I had that ideal situation – an apartment in downtown Austin, with Lime scooters all around me.
If you’ve never used Lime before, feel free to use my Lime referral link.Â
More Recommended Ebike/Scooters
Check out these other ebikes and scooters I've reviewed:
- Urban Arrow Ebike – Last year, I made one of the largest purchases I’ve ever made – I bought a $9,000 electric cargo bike from Urban Arrow. In my Urban Arrow review, I will discuss what it is and why I decided to buy this bike, as well as discuss how impactful a bike like this can be on your journey to financial independence.
- Troxus Explorer Step-Thru Ebike – The Troxus Explorer Step-Thru is a fat-tire ebike that I’ve had the pleasure of riding for a while now. It has amazing power, great looks, and awesome range. If you’re looking for a great fat-tire ebike that offers a lot for the price, the Troxus Explorer Step-Thru is definitely one for you to consider. Check out my Troxus Explorer Step-Thru Review.
- Hovsco HovBeta Ebike – The HovBeta is a folding ebike with great specs and a lot of interesting features, and importantly, it’s sold at a good price point. I’ve had a blast commuting with it and using it to do deliveries with DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. Check out my Hovsco HovBeta Ebike Review.
- Vanpowers Manidae Ebike – The Vanpowers Manidae is a fat tire ebike that I’ve been riding as my primary winter commuting bike and have also been using it to do food delivery with apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. After clocking in a decent number of miles with this ebike, I wanted to write a post sharing what my experience with the Vanpowers Manidae ebike has been like. Check out my Vanpowers Manidae Review.
- KBO Flip Ebike – The KBO Flip is an excellent bike. I’ve had a great time riding it and think it’s a versatile bike that can be used for a lot of purposes and can fit a variety of lifestyles. It’s worked out great for me as a general commuter bike and as a food delivery bike. Check out my KBO Flip Review.
- Hiboy P7 Commuter Ebike – The Hiboy P7 is an excellent electric commuter bike that’s offered at an affordable price point. The range and speed of this bike are both very good, so you won’t have any trouble getting anywhere you need to go with it. As a food delivery vehicle, this is also good – with how much range it offers, you’ll be able to work all day on a single charge. Check out my Hiboy P7 Commuter Electric Bike Review.
- Himiway Escape Ebike – The Himiway Escape is an interesting bike for anyone looking for a moped-style ebike. If you’re a gig economy worker, the Himiway Escape is particularly interesting and it’s possible to think of it as an investment, especially if you can opt to do deliveries with the Himiway versus using a car. It’s not cheap, but you can definitely make your money back when you compare the mileage you’ll put on your car versus using an ebike. Check out my Himiway Escape Bike Review.
- Espin Sport Ebike – The Espin Sport is a good ebike for someone who is looking for an ebike that feels and rides more like a regular bike. There are many ebikes that are really only bikes in name. In reality, they’re basically electric mopeds. The Espin Sport, by contrast, is a bike you could probably ride without the battery and you’d feel like you’re just riding a regular bike. Check out my Espin Sport Review.
- Varla Eagle One Scooter – The Varla Eagle One is an excellent scooter that can make sense for a lot of people. It can work as a primary mode of transportation. You can use it to work on gig economy apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. And it can also be a recreational vehicle if you’d prefer to use it for that. Check out my Varla Eagle One Review.
- Varla Falcon Scooter – The Varla Falcon is an excellent scooter that offers a good amount of power at a lower price point compared to more powerful scooters. It’s not exactly an entry-level scooter, nor is it a high-powered scooter. I think it fits somewhere in-between those two categories – an intermediate scooter if I had to give it a category. Check out my Varla Falcon Review.
- Hiboy S2 Scooter – The Hiboy S2 is an excellent entry-level commuter scooter that's perfect for someone looking to save some money in transportation costs and improve their commute. Check out my Hiboy S2 Review.
- Hiboy S2R Scooter – The Hiboy S2R is one of the more interesting electric scooters I’ve been able to test out. It’s not a high-powered scooter, but for an everyday transport option, it’s very useful, especially given some of the unique features that it has. Indeed, for the price, the Hiboy S2R might be the best value scooter I’ve used. Check out my Hiboy S2R Review.
- Fucare H3 Scooter – The Fucare H3 is a fun scooter and I’ve enjoyed testing it out. For a daily commuter or quick trips or errands, the Fucare H3 is probably the scooter I’ll use. It’s portable and easy to maneuver, so it’s just easier to take on the road when I need it. Check out my Fucare H3 Scooter Review.
More Recommended Investing App Bonuses
For additional investing app bonuses, be sure to check out the ones below:
- M1 Finance ($100) – This is a great robo-advisor that has no fees and allows you to create a customized portfolio based on your risk tolerance. You also get $100 for opening an account. Check out my M1 Finance Referral Bonus – Step-By-Step Guide.
- Moomoo (15 free stocks and 1 stock of Tesla or Google) – Moomoo is a free investing app currently offering 3 different referral bonuses if you open an account using a referral link. Read my Moomoo referral bonus guide for more information.
- Webull (12 free stock shares) – Webull's current promotion gives you 12 free shares valued between $3-$3,000 each if you open an account using my referral link. Here’s a guide I wrote about how to earn your free shares using Webull.
- Robinhood (1 free stock) – Robinhood gives you a free stock valued between $2.50-$225 if you open an account using my referral link.
- Public (1 free stock) - Public gives you a free stock valued between $3-$70 if you open an account using my referral link.
- SoFi Invest ($25) – SoFi Invest is an easy brokerage account bonus that you can earn with just a few minutes of work. Use my SoFi Invest referral link, fund your SoFi Invest brokerage account with $100 and you’ll get $25 of free stock. I also have a step-by-step guide for the SoFi Invest referral bonus.
More Recommended Bank Account Bonuses
If you’re looking for more easy bank bonuses, check out the below options. These bonuses are all easy to earn and have no fees or minimum balance requirements to worry about.
- Chime ($150) - Chime is a free bank account that offers a referral bonus if you use a referral link and complete a direct deposit of $200 or more. In practice, any ACH transfer into this account triggers the bonus. This bonus is easy to earn and posts instantly, so you’ll know if you met the requirements as soon as you move money into the account. I wrote a step-by-step guide on how to earn your Chime referral bonus that I recommend you check out.
- SoFi Money ($275) – SoFi Money is a free checking account from SoFi. They’re currently offering a $25 referral bonus if you open a SoFi account with a referral link and deposit $10. You can also make an additional $250 as well if you complete a direct deposit. This is a good bank that is also 100% free, so you won’t have to worry about managing this account. Here’s a post I wrote with instructions on how to earn your SoFi Money bonus: SoFi Money Referral Bonus: Step By Step Guide.
- Upgrade ($150) – Upgrade is a free checking account that’s currently offering a $150 referral bonus if you open an account and complete a direct deposit. These bonus terms are easy to meet, so it’s well worth doing this bonus as soon as you can. Here’s a post I wrote with more details: Upgrade $150 Referral Bonus – Step By Step Directions.
- US Bank Business ($800) – This is a fairly easy bank bonus to earn, since there are no direct deposit requirements. In addition, you can open the Silver Business Checking account, which comes with no monthly fees. Check out how to earn this big bonus here.
- GO2Bank ($100) - GO2Bank is an easy bank bonus that I recommend people take advantage of if they have an easy way of meeting the direct deposit requirement. I like that it’s easy to open the account and that the bonus pays out quickly. Check out my step-by-step guide on how to earn your GO2Bank $100 referral bonus.
- Current ($50) – Current is a free fintech bank that’s offering new users a $50 referral bonus after signing up for an account using a referral link. Current is an easy bonus to earn and also gives you access to three savings accounts that pay you 4% interest on up to $2,000. That means you can put away up to $6,000 earning 4% interest. That’s very good and makes Current an account I recommend to everyone. Check out my step-by-step guide on how to earn your Current Bank bonus.
- Netspend ($40 + 5% Interest Savings Account) – Netspend is a company that provides 5% interest savings accounts. If you sign up using my referral link, you’ll get a $40 signup bonus once you make your first deposit into your Netspend account of $40 or more. That means you get a 5% interest savings account and a free $40 to start! Make sure to check out my in-depth guide on how to set up these accounts.
- Digital Federal Credit Union ($20) – Digital Federal Credit Union (DCU) is a free, nationwide credit union that I recommend to readers for two reasons. First, DCU has a $20 referral bonus if you open a free DCU checking account with a referral link. Second, DCU has a saving account that gives you 6.17% interest on your first $1,000. Check out my in-depth post on how to set this account up.
- Novo Bank ($40) - Novo bank is a free business checking account that’s currently offering a $40 bonus if you open a Novo business checking account using a referral link. In addition to being a good bank bonus, Novo is also a good business checking account. It has no monthly fees or minimum balance requirements and operates a good app and website. Indeed, it’s the business checking account I currently use for this blog. Check out my post on how to easily open a Novo account.
- Varo ($30) – Varo is a free fintech banking app similar to Chime or Current. It’s currently offering a $30 bonus to new users that open a new Varo account with a referral link. The bonus for this bank is very easy to meet, all you need to do is spend $20 within 30 days of opening your Varo account. Check out my step-by-step guide to learn how to earn this bonus.
Kevin is an attorney and the blogger behind Financial Panther, a blog about personal finance, travel hacking, and side hustling using the gig economy. He paid off $87,000 worth of student loans in just 2.5 years by choosing not to live like a big shot lawyer.
Kevin is passionate about earning money using the gig economy and you can see all the ways he makes extra income every month in his side hustle reports.
Kevin is also big on using the latest fintech apps to improve his finances. Some of Kevin's favorite fintech apps include:
- SoFi Money. A really good checking account with absolutely no fees. You'll get a $25 referral bonus if you open a SoFi Money account with a referral link, and an additional $250 if you complete a direct deposit.
- 5% Savings Accounts. I'm currently getting 5.25% interest on my savings through a company called Raisin. Opening a Raisin account takes minutes to complete, it's free, and all of your funds are FDIC-insured. I explain how it works, why I'm now using it to store my emergency fund and any other cash savings I have, and why I recommend everyone check it out in this review.
- US Bank Business. US Bank is currently offering new business customers a $800 signup bonus after opening a new account and meeting certain requirements.
- M1 Finance. This is a great robo-advisor that has no fees and allows you to create a customized portfolio based on your risk tolerance. You also get $100 for opening an account.
- Personal Capital. One of best free apps you can use to monitor your portfolio and track your net worth. This is one of the apps I use to track my financial accounts.
Feel free to send Kevin a message here.
Dose anyone have lime chargers they want to sell or know where I can buy them In expensively? I’m a subcontractor /painter and we get pretty slow sometimes. I have plenty of work vans and pickups that we can load up with scooters and charge them. Sounds like a great way to make side money
Still need chargers?
For the staying on foot portion, I am wondering how do you return the Lime scooters back to the Lime Hub?
For the 6 scooter case – do you just make 6 trips and serve each one separately? Or is it actually not as bad as it sounds because you can just use the scooter to ride one way?
Whoa, this is an innovative side hustle. It’s even better because you can walk to pick up the scooters, get exercise, and make money at the same time.
Thanks for highlighting, Kevin. And by conference, am I right to assume that it was FinCon? 🙂 I wish I met you in person! I couldn’t attend this year.
Yep, was at FinCon. Different than most years, but still enjoyed it and met some interesting folks.