đź’¨ Gogoro Goes for SPAC Deal

Plus, Anne Hidalgo runs for French presidency, Ola sells two mopeds a sec, and Apple Watch adds bike fall detection.

September 21, 2021

Hello and welcome to the Micromobility Newsletter, a weekly missive about mobility, mostly mobility in cities by small electric vehicles (e.g. e-bikes, scooters, mopeds). The reason you’re reading this email is that you signed up on our website or came to one of our events.

If you’re not a subscriber and you want to keep getting the latest news and analysis from inside the micromobility movement delivered straight to your inbox every Tuesday, sign up here for free. If you’d like to unsubscribe, just click that link.

Thank you for reading.

It’s Here (Almost)

With just two days to go until Micromobility America, things are really heating up.

For our first post-pandemic show, you can expect meetings, demos, and test rides with best-in-class startups and established players from all corners of the urban mobility ecosystem.

Select participants from our events

As well, we’ll have dozens of public and private decision-makers onstage sharing practical insights and advice on the burgeoning micromobility revolution, including:

  • Andrew Yang (entrepreneur & former US presidential candidate)

  • Lauren Goode (Wired senior tech writer)

  • Ben Bear (new CEO of Spin)

  • And many more - full schedule here

The time has come to get everyone together again. If you have not booked your tickets, this is your last opportunity to do so. We hope to see you there.

P.S. If you have your tickets already, don’t forget to bring your proof of vaccine and check out our guide on how to get to the Craneway Pavilion on Thursday

What You Need to Know This Week

  • Gogoro, the Taiwanese startup best known for its electric mopeds and swappable-battery tech, plans to go public at a $2.35b valuation by merging with a SPAC called Poema Global. The deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022, will net Gogoro around $550m. Here’s the investor deck. 

  • Democratic lawmakers in the US are pushing for a 15% tax credit for e-bike purchases, less than the 30% they originally wanted.

  • Ola’s S1 and S1 Pro electric mopeds had a massive first day of orders, with CEO Bhavish Aggarwal claiming the company is selling two mopeds every second. 

  • Drivers kill as many people a year as guns in the United States.

Founder Shield, Joyride and Segway have joined forces to host a special post-conference get together for the micromobility community at the Seven Stills Brewery + Distillery beer garden.

Just a short ride from the ferry terminal, you can expect craft beers, whiskey tastings, cocktails and networking with conference leaders across the full spectrum of mobility.

For those who can attend, spaces are limited so make sure to sign up here.

  • Oonee announced it is adding 1,500 secure bike parking spaces in NY and NJ, and has plans to expand nationally.

  • Juiced is upgrading its e-bikes’ batteries and increasing their range by 15%.

  • Here’s an interesting one: Shares of Helbiz (HLBZ) soared 97% on Friday after the company’s new streaming service, Helbiz Media, struck a deal with FOX Networks Group giving Helbiz exclusive media distribution rights to the popular Serie BKT, the second-highest division in the Italian soccer league.

  • At last week’s Apple event, the tech company announced the Apple Watch will now feature fall detection for bike riding.

  • Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, a globally renowned crusader for reducing cars and promoting cycling, announced she is running for president of France.

  • Here is a recent interview with Hidalgo’s transportation czar, David Belliard, about Paris’s efforts to reallocate street space from cars. “The question that’s posed with COVID, climate, social pressures, all that, is: What is a city? Can we still think of cities like we did a century ago? Can we still have big cities that capture so many economic and cultural resources, requiring hundreds of thousands of people to move from the periphery to the center to work, consume, etc.?”

  • Berlin approved a plan to expand its bike-lane network to 1,877 contiguous miles.

  • Inventor Sir Clive Sinclair, computing pioneer and inventor of the ill-fated C5 city EV, died at 81.

Clive Sinclair

  • Falling e-bike prices could be a sign the market is finally returning to normal.

  • New York City, the largest mobility market in the US, is slowly but surely integrating shared scooters onto its crowded streets. (The likely next mayor, Eric Adams, appears to be a fan.)

  • … and for the first time in more than 70 years, there is now a dedicated bike lane on the Brooklyn Bridge.

  • Eli EVs has begun production of its Eli Zero, a two-seater “neighborhood electric vehicle” that is meant for urban commuters. The mini car will roll out across 13 European countries in the next few months with a starting price of $11,999.

  • Mexico City’s Ecobici bike-share network will expand by nearly 30% this fall.

  • TVS Motors has a bought a majority stake in the Swiss e-bike brand EGO Movement.

  • Tour de France legend Greg LeMond is building an ultralight ebike that he hopes will be fun as hell to ride—and jumpstart a US carbon-fiber boom.

  • We’re looking for a few more volunteers to help out during registration at Micromobility America this week in exchange for a free ticket. If you are in the Bay Area, available on Thursday, and interested in the disruptive potential of lightweight electric vehicles, hit us up! (You can also hit reply to this email)

Jobs to Be Done

Welcome to our jobs board, where every week we post open positions in hopes of connecting our talented 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.