In 2021, Lime introduced swappable batteries in its Gen4 vehicles. While the feature offered flexibility, it introduced a new challenge: battery swapping became a notable labor cost. At the same time, we knew riders were price-sensitive.
A sort of crazy idea surfaced: what if riders swapped their own batteries?
Could we design an experience that made this not only possible, but appealing? Could we drive behavior change—and sell the concept internally?
I jumped in to lead design. The opportunity to influence both rider behavior and Lime’s bottom line was too good to pass up.
Swapstation would require users to complete a multi-step, unfamiliar task:
And it all had to feel effortless.
This was a high-stakes service design project—made even trickier by the fact that it launched during the pandemic, when resources were tight. But the potential to drive significant OpEx savings and boost sustainability kept the team motivated.
Gen4 vehicles and their swappable batteries. Animations by Valerie Trisnadi.
The cabinet hardware didn’t exist yet. Building it would be expensive—so we tested the core concept first.
We designed a lightweight UX flow for riders on low-battery vehicles in a single test market. Instead of cabinets, we used employees wearing backpacks full of charged batteries. Riders were routed to them via the app, where they could perform a manual swap in exchange for a discount.
The pilot worked. Riders responded positively to the savings, and were willing to swap.
We experimented with different incentives and gathered direct feedback through research sessions. This early validation gave us confidence to invest in real hardware.
With the pilot’s success, the Hardware team spun up our first Swapstations. I named them—clear, direct, and easy to remember.
Once the cabinets arrived, we designed the full end-to-end experience. My goals were straightforward:
We tested continuously at the Lime warehouse in SF. Each round revealed bugs and friction points we hadn’t predicted. One critical insight: the Help experience needed to be bulletproof. We couldn’t predict when a rider might get stuck, but we could anticipate what might go wrong and design “escape hatches” accordingly.
This resilience-first mindset ensured no one was left stranded.
Once the cabinets launched and the experience shipped, adoption followed quickly. We iterated, refined, and optimized. Riders saved. Lime saved.
By mid-2023, rider-performed swaps made up a significant double-digit percentage in the pilot market—resulting in a ~33% drop in battery swap labor costs.
The program expanded to a second major market, with additional rollouts underway.
A video I shot and edited to increase Swapstation awareness and education in app.
Swapstation was one of my favorite types of projects: a scrappy, zero-to-one initiative with meaningful complexity and a big upside. It combined service design, operational thinking, and behavior change—and made a tangible impact on Lime’s path to sustainability.
