🛵 Ola’s Moped Blitz

Zoomo lands $12m, Revel expands to ride-hail, and Google Pay adds more transit.

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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There’s a lot we don’t know about how our collective new normal will shake out, but one thing that’s probably safe to say that commuting will never look quite the same.

On tomorrow’s webinar, Micromobility Industries analyst Oliver Bruce will convene an expert panel to look at the future of rush hour, including the MaaS-ification of mobility, the rise of telework, the fate of transit, and how cities can create more livable, less car-dependent communities post-lockdown.

Join us tomorrow for this timely discussion.

Can’t make the webinar? No problem. Register above and we’ll send you a recording of the conversation afterward. 

What You Need to Know This Week

  • As Ola prepares to open the world’s largest electric moped plant, the Indian TNC says that it will be selling internationally within the fiscal year. Once operational this summer, the factory will be capable of pumping out two million EVs per year, or approximately one every two seconds. Ola’s expansion sets the stage for an global arms race in micromobility manufacturing. Niu, one of the largest e-moped companies in the world, aims to produce more than a million units this year, followed by two million units by the end of 2022.

  • Zoomo, an Australia-based startup that leases e-bikes to delivery workers, has raised $12m in interim capital, with an eye toward expansion in Europe and the U.S.

  • Lime is mobilizing its millions of riders to support President Joe Biden’s $2t infrastructure bill, and other legislation funding bike lanes, through its new “People-First Cities” campaign. According to Lime, scooter trips increased by 111% on streets where bike lanes were added last year during the pandemic.

Lime

  • The E-BIKE Act, a federal bill that would would create a 30% tax credit for Americans to purchase electric bicycles, has been steadily picking up support from lawmakers since it was introduced in February.

  • Google Pay is adding more options to pay for public transit.

  • Specialized is partnering with the UK’s Ecolamp to handle recycling for its e-bike batteries.

  • In the face of an explosion of new scooter, moped, and car services in the past few years, good old-fashioned docked bike-share remains the most popular form of shared mobility, at least in Europe. According to new research from Fluctuo, docked bike rentals accounted for 51% of all trips made with shared vehicles across 16 European cities in Q1.

  • Not long after scoring a coveted permit in New York’s first scooter pilot, Lime announced it is bringing a small fleet of e-mopeds to Queens, Brooklyn, and Lower Manhattan. This will be the third city Lime has launched mopeds in, after Paris and Washington, DC.

  • Meanwhile New York’s homegrown e-moped startup, Revel, announced it is expanding into ride-hail with an all-Tesla fleet and an all-employee workforce. The startup already faces stiff resistance from the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission.

  • Relatedly, Uber is partnering with Arrival to create a custom electric car for ride-hail drivers.

  • Winter isn’t ordinarily a busy time for bicycle sellers, but then again, 2021 is no ordinary year. According to Shimano’s Q1 report, sales were up 76% in Q1, year-over-year.

Net sales and operating income in Shimano's bike business, q1 2016-q1 2021

Goings On

If you’re in need of a live event fix, TechCrunch is hosting a 100% virtual mobility conference on June 9th, featuring a great lineup of speakers from cutting-edge startups like Starship Technologies, Nuro, Zoox, and Joby Aviation. They’ll be talking about all things transportation, from autonomous vehicles and micromobility to smart cities and electric aircrafts.

Our readers can save an extra 10% on tickets by booking a pass today using our special code: “micro”

See you there.

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.

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