Bird Scooter crews work overnight to charge, organize electric scooters

Bird Scooters’ team works 24/7 to maintain Knoxville’s fleet of 400 scooters, ensuring availability and promoting eco-friendly travel.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — If you’re walking or driving around downtown Knoxville or near the University of Tennessee campus, you’ve likely seen rentabled electric scooters. But have you ever thought about how they get there?

Adrian McMillian is the Southeast Operations Manager for Bird Scooters. He and his team work around the clock to maintain the city’s fleet of roughly 400 scooters.

“When people actually do see you, they say, ‘Oh, you’re the scooter guy!’” McMillian laughed.

He said people are often surprised to learn there’s a crew behind the scenes keeping the scooters running.

“It’s always a treat when they really realize there’s a real person that put these scooters out because sometimes I think they just think the scooters just magically appear there,” McMillian smiled.

McMillian said the goal is to provide a convenient and environmentally-friendly transportation option.

“We want to give the streets back to the community,” he said. “We think it’s just too many cars on the streets, too much pollution, too much congestion on the highway, and just not enough time of really getting a chance to feel the city and view the city.”

The scooters, he said, offer a new way to explore.

“When you get on that scooter, you have an opportunity to open up so many hidden gems in the city that you might not never discover because you’re just moving too fast or you just don’t have an opportunity to walk that distance, but in a scooter is just right,” McMillian said.

To keep them operational, McMillian’s team works 24/7. That includes rebalancing scooters to keep them neatly lined on sidewalks, as well as charging their batteries.

“The vehicles have to be charged so we have to pick up these vehicles,” McMillian explained. “We have to swap batteries. We have to take the vehicles back and charge them up and we just to make sure that you have availability.”

Depending on the model, the team either swaps the batteries out on the street or transports the scooters to a charging facility. McMillian says it takes between five and seven hours to charge a scooter fully.

“In the daytime, we share the city with the citizens and with the demand, but at nighttime, it’s just us and the scooters really getting it set up,” McMillian said. “And I guess it’s a thrill to know that when you’re setting something up, that somebody’s going to utilize it the next day. You’re almost making sure, like, Jim is going to get to work tomorrow. Sarah is going to, you know, get to the store because we’re providing that need for them.”

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