✨ Every 52 Seconds
Plus, Millennials' new obsession is cars, Paris threatens e-scooter crackdown, and Ola unveils its mass-market e-moped.
Hello and welcome to the Micromobility Newsletter, a weekly missive about mobility, mostly mobility in cities by lightweight electric vehicles. The reason you’re reading this email is that you signed up on our website or came to one of our events.
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The Longview
The world’s car population is increasing as fast as its human population. Our cities physically can’t handle that.
U.S. rents have returned to pre-pandemic levels everywhere except big cities.
Get ready for in-car ads.
Amid rising safety concerns, Elon Musk at last admits self-driving cars are a hard problem.
Turns out Millennials aren’t as opposed to car ownership as previously thought. Did the “share everything” generation forget their values, or did our car-friendly cities fail them?
Making shared mobility profitable
Ubiq ensures that vehicles are in the right place, at the right time, to meet demand, through automating operations. By using the power of the crowd, it exploits the full potential of fleets. The StreetCrowd service matches vehicles requiring repositioning, or charging with crowd users, allowing shared mobility providers to automate operations. Simple and profitable!
Want to know how to make your business profitable? Let’s get in touch!
Boise, Idaho, is on its way to becoming one of the best bike cities in the U.S.
Mapping’s future looks a lot like video games’ past.
Why decentralized wireless networks are a big deal for smart cities.
Why good transportation matters more than tax breaks for luring businesses back to cities after the pandemic: “Bad transportation is a tax on business productivity.”
An American buys an e-bike every 52 seconds.
The Microview
China is cracking down on Didi, removing the ride-hail and bike-share platform from app stores just days after its stock market debut.
Google Maps has announced partnerships with Tier and Donkey Republic in Europe as part of a push to integrate more micromobility options into its app. Who will be next?
Online micromobility dealership Ridepanda has raised $3.75m in funding. Led by Porsche Ventures, Yamaha Motor Ventures, and Proeza Ventures.
Tourists who use e-scooters are able to visit more destinations in a day and spend more money on the local economy, according to an Australian study.
Helbiz has launched Helbiz Kitchen. Micromobility and food delivery come together in one app to create a top-quality food experience at home with an eye for sustainability and a farm-to-table approach. Six cuisines under one roof in the heart of Milan: welcome to Helbiz Kitchen!
China’s top bicycle manufacturers produced 42% more e-bikes between January and May than they did during the same period last year. By unit volume, e-bikes now account for more than one-third of their total output.
Amazon is offering $170 in new monthly benefits to employees who bike to work.
Zipster, Singapore’s government-backed MaaS app, has folded.
Bird is piloting electric wheelchair rentals in New York City.
Micromobility software startup eBikeLabs has raised over $1m in crowdfunding.
The case for why the USPS should adopt electric bikes, not electric cars. “Government-owned Australia Post has increased its use of e-bikes for the past six years and has noted a 100% uptick in efficiency as well as a lessened environmental impact.”
British department store chain John Lewis plans to reuse car parking to build 10,000 new homes.
Paris, possibly the world’s largest shared micromobility market, is threatening to ban e-scooters after a reckless rider killed a pedestrian. The incident highlights the extreme precarity of a B2G business model.
Czech online grocer Rohik has raised nearly $120m and become a unicorn. The Series C round was led by Index Ventures.
Speed is all-important in e-commerce, a principle that a new generation of ultrafast startups is pushing to the very limits of time and space.
Fulfilling from dark stores, and often relying on electric bikes and scooters to zip through traffic, online grocers have cracked the code on how to get everything from snacks to toothpaste to customers’ doorsteps in as little as 15 minutes.
But with high cost structures and hyperlocal business models, can this vision of on-demand shipping really be scaled and sustained?
Curbivore digs into the go-go world of ultrafast delivery on a new webinar this Thursday @ 12PM PT. Register here.
Some key intel on how the online grocery market actually works: “Ultrafast delivery services operate out of 3,000~ square foot dark stores in urban core areas. That enables 10-15 minute delivery within their .75-1 mile service radius, as well as reducing supply chain costs and minimizing spoilage.”
New Zealand cycling advocates are pressing the government to extend subsidies for electric cars to e-bikes.
How the rise of rental e-mopeds is changing life in New York City.
Ola’s CEO posted a video of himself riding his firm’s long-awaited mass-market e-moped, hinting that a full launch is coming soon.
Interesting datapoint for understanding post-Covid commuter trends: During a 39-day subway shutdown in Glasgow in 2016, bike-share trips grew by more than 20%, and crucially, remained elevated after the trains reopened.
Jobs to Be Done
Welcome to our jobs board, where every week we post open positions in hopes of connecting our readers with professional opportunities in the burgeoning world of new mobility. Find out who’s hiring below and sign up for the newsletter to view fresh listings every week.
Hit reply if you have a job that you’re interested in listing.
Dance:
Senior Mechanical Engineer (Berlin)
Senior Supplier Quality Engineer (Taiwan)
Senior Firmware Engineer - Hardware (Berlin)
Joyride: Academy Manager + Hardware Partnerships Manager (Toronto)
Lime: Supply Project Manager (remote) + Sr. Fleet Partner Manager (Warsaw)
[Sponsored] If you’re at a SaaS company, check out Variance. It’s a tool to help grow customers (some people are calling it a PLG CRM). If you have questions or want to try it, get in touch.