✍️ Infrastructure Bill Becomes Law

Plus, e-bikes hit SNL, Zoomo rides to disrupt Rivian, and instant commerce OG Getir debuts in the US.

November 16, 2021

Thank you for reading the Micromobility Newsletter. Here’s what’s up in the wide world of small EVs…

Coming Attractions

Heads up: Curbivore is coming to LA on January 28th for its first-ever in-person event, focusing on the startups and leaders that are rethinking the way we access food, retail, groceries, and other products in cities. The common thread is the rising commercialization of the curb, from outdoor dining and curb digitization, to delivery robots and bike lanes.

What You Need to Know This Week

  • Biden signed his nearly $1.2T infrastructure bill into law yesterday. Here’s what’s included in the final package and here’s what the administration can do to get the money out the door to fund projects ASAP.

  • Lacking buy-in from automakers, a deal to end car emissions by 2040 fell apart at COP26. But research shows that environmentalists should be focusing on mode shift, not car electrification, anyway. A new report delivered at COP26 reveals that, unless urban residents start making 40% of their trips by foot, bike, micromobility, or transit within the next 10 years, we won’t be able to meet our climate goals.

  • Getir, the Turkish company that pioneered rapid grocery delivery by using micromobility devices to transport items from dark stores to customers’ doorsteps in as little as 10 minutes, is making its US debut in Chicago.

  • And Dollar General is teaming up with DoorDash to do same-day delivery from more than 10,000 locations across the US. The partnership comes shortly after DoorDash announced it is acquiring Finnish food-delivery startup Wolt for $8B and expanding to Europe.

  • One paradox of online delivery is that, the more popular platforms like DoorDash become, the harder it is for their fleets of cargo vans to get orders out on time due to increased road congestion. Enter Zoomo, which just raised $60M in Series B funding to “disrupt Rivian” by shifting couriers to agile electric cargo bikes that can cut through traffic and find parking with ease. CEO Mina Nada neatly summarizes the company’s raison d'être: “We think that it doesn’t make sense for 90% of deliveries in the United States of two kilogram burgers to be done in 2-ton vehicles.”

Ubiq turns shared mobility operations from reactive to predictive. 70% of the market demand is not met. Ubiq addresses that by placing vehicles in the right place at the right time with crowd users, allowing shared mobility providers to have access to scalable automated and decentralized operations that run 24/7, across the city. The result? A revenue boost of 20% within 8 weeks.

Exploit the full capacity of your fleet. Let’s get in touch.

  • Decathlon, the world’s largest sporting goods retailer, now carries e-cargo bikes. The big box store has started selling a €2,700 longtail that can carry up to three passengers or 375 lb through its online shop in France.

  • Micromobility operator Tier has acquired Leipzig-based bike-share startup nextbike through a 100% stock purchase. The new entity will cover 400 cities across Europe and the Middle East with 250,000 micro-vehicles.

  • Active mobility was noticeably absent from the agenda at COP26, but that hasn’t stopped the climate summit’s host city from charting its own car-free future. Glasgow just announced it will become the latest European city to ban cars from its downtown core.

  • Electric bikes made their debut on Saturday Night Live this past weekend.

  • An electric bike—Lyft’s next-gen shareable cycle—made Time’s list of top 100 inventions of 2021.

  • E-bike batteries have been linked to 78 fires in New York City this year, putting the number of battery fires caused by micromobility devices on track to double since 2020. To combat this looming problem, PeopleForBikes announced it is launching an industry-wide program to recycle e-bike batteries.

  • New changes to Italy’s national Highway Code will require micromobility startups to ask riders for a photo of their e-scooter at the end of a trip to verify they parked correctly. The updates also ban sidewalk riding and reduce the top legal speed from 15 to 12 mph for shared scooters.

  • BMW has begun full production of its 75 mph CE 04 futuristic electric motorbike.

  • Ride-hail player Cabify is partnering with Velca to offer monthly electric motorcycle rentals in several Spanish cities.

  • Ola’s S1 and S1 Pro electric mopeds are selling like crazy. Now the Indian startup confirms it will start developing EV motorcycles and cheaper mopeds next year.

  • Speaking of India, Yamaha and Hero Motors are investing €2.5M to open a facility in the Punjab city of Ludhiana to manufacture e-bike hub motors

  • Juiced’s new “fun-sized” cruiser aims to make e-bikes more appealing to young adults.

  • Remember earlier this year when shared moped startup Revel launched a fleet of Tesla taxis in New York City? It turns out Inspiration, an EV financing firm that just emerged from stealth with $200M in funding, was behind the deal.

  • High-speed electric scooter racing contests, like the forthcoming eSC Championship, are more than just an entertaining spectacle, they are also actively advancing micromobility tech.

  • Several US cities, including Oakland, Bakersfield, and Pittsburgh, are experimenting with “universal basic mobility” pilots that subsidize buses, e-scooters, and e-bikes in hopes of sparking greater economic activity. ICYMI, UBI trailblazer Andrew Yang spoke a bit about about the concept of universal basic mobility at our Micromobility America conference recently.

  • Spin CEO Ben Bear also touches on the subject of universal basic mobility—as well as the general state of shared micromobility post-pandemic—on the latest episode of our podcast.

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.

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