🇫🇷 The Next Copenhagen

Plus, Tier scores $200M, Europeans are even more into e-bikes post-pandemic, and the scariest part of Halloween is the cars.

October 26, 2021

Thanks for reading the Micromobility Newsletter. Here’s what going on in the wide world of lightweight electric vehicles today.

What You Need to Know this Week

  • Paris is gunning for Copenhagen’s title as the world’s most bike-friendly major city. With an eye toward becoming “100% cyclable” by 2026, the French capital just announced it will invest $291M to expand its protected bike lane system by 180 miles, build 180K new bike parking spots, eliminate 70K on-street car parking spots, ensure all elementary school children know how to bike, help businesses adapt to cargo bikes, and more.

  • As Paris makes headlines for reimagining its streets on behalf of cyclists and pedestrians, let’s not forget about Europe’s original car-free capital: Ljubljana.

  • Debunking five popular myths about highways, from “congestion pricing hurts the poor” to “94% of crashes are caused by human error.”

  • A new study by bike parts manufacturer Shimano shows 1 in 4 Europeans are more likely to buy or use an e-bike now than they were before the pandemic. The shift in opinion stems from lingering concerns about the safety of public transport (39%) and general dissatisfaction with motor vehicles (38%).

  • Tier has raised $200M at a $2B valuation to expand its shared micromobility empire across Europe and the Middle East. Co-led by SoftBank and Mubadala Capital.

  • Delivery workers are forming watch groups to stop bike thefts.

  • Indian two-wheeler startup River has emerged from stealth with a “multi-utility” electric moped and $2M in funding from Maniv Mobility and TrucksVC.

  • Speaking of India, small vehicles continue to lap larger ones in electrification across the subcontinent. Only 4% of the country’s car sales have been battery-powered so far this financial year, compared to nearly half of two- and three-wheelers.

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  • Is New York about to get its first bike mayor? Leading candidate, Eric Adams, has pledged to bike to work regularly if elected. He’s also called for the addition of 300 more miles of protected bike lanes.

  • Amazon is testing e-cargo bikes as means of last-mile delivery in Freiberg, Germany. This is not the first time the e-commerce giant has experimented with LEVs to lower emissions and speed up deliveries, having launched a similar program in Manhattan in 2019. Could bikes be a part of Amazon’s strategy to reach net-zero emissions by 2040?

  • Related: According to a recent last-mile delivery pilot in Seattle, logistics providers can reduce emissions by 30% and miles-traveled by 50% by replacing delivery vans with a combination of e-cargo bikes and microhubs in cities. However, the Seattle experiment did find that vans outperform e-bikes on fulfillment speed, with the ability to deliver more than twice as many packages per hour.

  • Segway’s new “Mecha Kit” converts self-balancing transporters into rolling turrets that fire can pellets made of gel. Why? Who knows, but it looks fun.

  • Bolt has launched in-app navigation for its shared scooters. To make the wayfinding system easy to use, the company’s next generation of scooters allows the rider’s smartphone to be mounted to, and charged by, the scooter.

  • Through a partnership with REEF, Arcimoto’s three-wheeled EVs will soon be available to rent by the minute in Santa Monica, much like kick scooters.

  • BP and Piaggio have signed an MOU to develop charging stations and swappable battery tech for electric two- and three-wheelers.

  • It’s not just the US that has an unhealthy addiction to big cars, sales of SUVs are surging globally.

  • The car represents a bundle of trips—sometimes literally. Patent filings show that, in 2017, Hyundai developed a concept for a foldable electric scooter that can be stored beneath the floor of a car trunk, presumably so that commuters could scoot the last mile to their destination after parking their car.

  • New Zealand is on track to nearly double its e-bike and scooter imports in 2021, year-over-year.

  • Portland, Oregon, is on the verge of creating a parking “cash-out,” requiring employers that provide free or subsidized parking to offer their employees that parking value in taxable cash income or alternative transportation benefits.

  • Halloween, the deadliest day of the year for child pedestrians in America, is fast approaching. Please be careful out there this weekend.

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Jobs to Be Done

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