Tesla Alum Tackles Two-Wheel EVs in Africa

Plus, Best Buy will be first store to sell Rad Power Bikes.

October 01, 2024

Welcome to the Micromobility Newsletter, your weekly digest of important events and industry news in the world of personal transportation.

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Today’s newsletter is brought to you by… Quectel

GNSS provides global coverage but can lose accuracy in areas with heavy vegetation or tall buildings due to signal obstruction or interference—a notable drawback for micromobility applications. This creates a need for technologies like real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning and dead reckoning (DR) to achieve reliable centimeter-level accuracy in IoT devices.

Quectel’s new whitepaper discusses the advantages of combining GNSS modules with a broad range of connectivity options, plus antenna, RTK correction services and design review into one comprehensive solution. Download the white paper today and discover how this “one-stop-shop” approach could transform your high precision IoT projects.

What You Need to Know Today

Stealth startup Zeno will launch two-wheeler battery swapping tech for East Africa and India in early 2025. Founded by Tesla alumnus Michael Spencer, the company hopes to distinguish itself in an already crowded bodaboda market by developing bigger, more durable bikes that can endure tough local conditions, but more importantly, create a more holistic battery-swapping system that can be used to also power homes and appliances. To fund its expansion, Zeno just raised $9.5M in an oversubscribed seed round.

The humble kei truck has won an important legal victory in Massachusetts. The state is reversing its short-lived ban on Japanese mini-vehicles.

Rad Power Bikes will now be available in 150 select Best Buy stores and online, marking the D2C bike seller’s first foray into wholesale.

Image Credit: Rad Power Bikes

The UK is banning e-scooters and e-bikes from government buildings and property, citing the rising number of battery fires nationwide.

Related: a majority of illegal e-bikes seized by London police belong to delivery workers. Are delivery apps doing enough to promote courier safety?

Protected bike lanes boost ridership by 780%. A study conducted in Washington, DC and Bloomington, IN from 2019-2024 offers compelling evidence of what we already know: protected bike lanes not only significantly increase usage but also enhance cyclists’ sense of safety.

Image Credit: League of American Cyclists

Did you know Citi Bike pays riders to help redistribute its (e)bikes around New York City? Apparently, it can be quite a good living, too. An entrepreneurial few “Bike Angels” have figured out how to game the system and make as much as $6,000/month.

Extensive protected cycling infrastructure development in Christchurch, NZ, has resulted in double-digit growth of cycling. “It’s the Copenhagen of the Pacific.”

Iconic Portuguese motorcycle maker FAMEL is looking for investment to revitalize the brand for the EV era. To kick off this new chapter, FAMEL will reimagine its classic XF-17 model as a new electric E-FX.

Image Credit: FAMEL

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