đźš” California Wants to Make You Get an eBike License

Plus, is Lyft quitting bike-share?

July 25, 2023

EVENT : Come Ride All Your Favorite Small Electric Vehicles

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What You Need to Know Today

Some state lawmakers in California want to require unlicensed ebike users to get a special “ebike license” and undergo a training program. The bill is targeted at teenagers who do not have a regular driver’s license. It would also ban children under the age of 12 from riding ebikes. 

Ola Electric is currently targeting $1.5B in sales for 2023, but their predictions are not adjusted for India’s unexpected reduction in moped subsidies that occurred in May.

Also in India, TVS motors reported a $57.2M increase in profit (46%) this past quarter from Q1, citing high demand for electric two-wheelers as a driving force for the company’s sales. 

Last Friday James and Julia released another episode of Ride On!, featuring Elliot Wertheimer of Lavoie, a spinout of McLaren Applied. They also cover some updates on VanMoof, surprising new parking regulations in Paris, and much more - check out the latest episode, now available on Youtube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and enter your email for a chance to win a free Vela 2 ebike!

Lyft is looking to quit bike- and scooter-sharing and seekin buyers. Despite being the largest bike-share operator in North America, Lyft’s CEO recently said the company isn’t doing a good enough job directing bikeshare riders to taxi trips.

Chinese megacity Guangzhou recently held a hearing on restricting ebikes, which would affect nearly 3.6 million riders in the city. 

A consortium of 50 British firms from multiple industries have banded together to demand the government set a deadline for electric scooter legislation. As of now, private scooters remain illegal in the U.K., and shared scooters are permitted in fewer than two dozen towns and cities.

Cycle, a Berlin-based company that provides micromobility solutions for delivery companies, recently secured â‚¬10.3M in Series A funding to expand its service to the U.K. and other parts of Europe. The company also looks to attract new customers such as mail services and logistics providers. 

In other funding news: Indonesia’s Maka Motors recently completed a $37.6M round, which will allow the company to start manufacturing its own electric two-wheelers. In Indonesia, the market for EVs is expected to reach $20 billion by 2029, driven in large part by micromobility devices.  

Estonian TNC Bolt is beefing up its scooter fleet, increasing its spending on new vehicles by 10x between 2020 and 2022.

Kenya plans to roll out 100,000 electric motorcycles and three wheelers within the next six years through a partnership with KCB Bank and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research. 

Zedify is partnering with recycling company Recorra to make recycling in Brighton, England even more green by implementing electric cargo bikes for pickups. 

Commsignia recently introduced their OBU Lite unit, which offers vehicle-to-everything communications in a compact package that’s easy to integrate on a bike or scooter. The OBU Lite also boasts improved connectivity, making drivers around you more aware of your location, thus keeping you safer. 

Even Amsterdam is not immune to bikelash. The Dutch city’s latest effort to reduce car usage on a local highway is facing stiff resistance from vocal motorists.

A study on ebike use in the rural Netherlands found a fairly high level of interest in owning an ebike, especially for respondents of lower socioeconomic status and those with children. Interestingly, the survey also found a higher interest in ebike ownership among car users than traditional bicycle users. 

Uber Eats recently launched a vehicle marketplace for its Swedish drivers, which will allow them to rent or buy electric bikes directly through their Uber account. 

Boost, a British ebike conversion kit company, recently made a public offer to rebuild electronics for bikes that were sold by VanMoof, which recently declared bankruptcy. 

From New York to San Francisco, as cities seek to revitalize their commercial areas after the pandemic, many are redesigning their business districts to prioritize walking and cycling over cars. And in contrast with revitalization efforts from the 1980s and 1990s, many local businesses are actually welcoming the shift to fewer cars.

​​One such project is set to take place in Brooklyn, which recently received $40M to widen sidewalks, add greenspace, and expand bike and public transit access. 

Shared micromobility startup HumanForest debuted a new service that will allow businesses to send packages across London by ebike.

Turkish shared micromobility app Marti Technologies’ stock sank 49% in its first day of trading on the NYSE after a SPAC merger. 

Steer, a transportation consultancy, co-released a report with Lime that calls for the creation of over 10,000 ebike parking locations in London by 2025 to meet growing demand for shared and green transport.

University of Washington’s Urban Freight Lab recently released its top recommendations for increasing cargo bike adoption in the U.S. 

In Nigeria, rising petrol prices and the exorbitant cost of electric cars have encouraged the adoption of smaller EVs such as the Siltech Falcon - a Nigerian-made electric three-wheeler that retails for $900. 

Data collected from 98 U.S. cities shows that the introduction of shared dockless micromobility increased consumer restaurant spending by 5.2%; the study attributes the shift to an increased willingness among consumers to travel further and discover new dining spots. 

Electric cars claim reduced emissions over gas-powered vehicles, but pollution from EV tires still pose a threat to humans and the environment. 

On the most recent episode of The Micromobility Podcast, we brought back another discussion from our recent Amsterdam conference. For this panel, we invited experts from Walmart, European Cyclists’ Federation, Safran, and Zenride to discuss how employers can encourage workers to commute using micromobility instead of cars. We hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did.  

Browse the best jobs in micromobility—and post your own—on our Jobs to Be Done board.