New York (CNN Business) Lime has pulled part of its electric scooter fleet from the streets after learning that some of its vehicles' batteries could catch fire.

It's an embarrassing setback for the billion-dollar startup whose scooters are available for rent in dozens of cities around the world , including through Uber's app.

In a blog post Tuesday, Lime said batteries made by Segway Ninebot — the company behind Segway scooters — can smolder and in some cases catch fire. Lime used the batteries in early versions of its vehicles.

The startup said it removed the affected scooters in Los Angeles, San Diego and the Lake Tahoe area, the three places where they were in service.

"Immediately upon learning of the defect, we worked with Segway Ninebot to create a software program to detect the potentially affected batteries," Lime said. "We then worked independently to create an even more thorough software program to ensure that no potentially faulty scooters remained in circulation."

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