VanMoof Tries to Win Back Old Customers

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

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When VanMoof declared bankruptcy last year, it left approximately 5,000 customers with unfulfilled e-bike preorders. Now, under new management, VanMoof is trying to win back those same customers with a €1,000 discount on a new bike. Via TechCrunch: “It’s an audacious strategy, one that bets on jilted customers loving VanMoof’s bikes so much that they’ll shell out several thousand more euros for them.”

Mini Japanese trucks are having a mini moment in SUV-loving America. “Sales of Kei trucks tripled in the last five years, with around 7,500 total imported just last year, according to data from Japan Used Motor Vehicle.”

Is Honda cooking up ways to put more passengers on the Motocompacto? Patent drawings suggest that the Japanese carmaker is entertaining the idea of producing three- and four-wheeled versions of its viral suitcase scooter, which would allow multiple people to ride at once.

Ahead of the 2024 Olympics, Lime is investing €6 million to increase the size of its Parisian e-bike fleet by more than 50%. The shared micromobility company expects a surge in ridership as visitors pour into the French capital to watch the games.

Ola Electric, India’s largest electric moped maker, is said to be facing pushback from its investors about its IPO valuation. The company’s founder has been aiming for a potential valuation of as much as $7 billion—which would make the company the highest-valued two-wheeler company in the world. Investors are reported to be advocating for a figure closer to $5 billion.

Related: Ola Electric has been planning to expand beyond EV mopeds into motorcycles for some time. Now the company has unveiled four stunning concepts to whet the public’s appetite, the first of which is expected arrive late next year.

Salt Lake City’s e-bike voucher program is officially live, offering residents between $300- $1,300 to help cover the cost of an e-bike.

Harley Davidson’s electrification efforts are off to a slow start. The motorcycle giant’s new EV imprint, LiveWire, projected it would sell more than 7,200 bikes in 2023. It ended up selling 660.

… luckily for Live-Wire, Harley-Davidson just won a $89M grant from the federal government to boost EV production.

Electrek’s Micah Toll visited eight Chinese factories in eight days to get a snapshot of industrial innovation in micromobility.

Related: Bike manufacturing used to be a big business in America, but as of 2022, 97.8% of units sold in the US—electric and acoustic—were imported. Now a new bill in Congress is aiming to revitalize domestic production.

ICYMI Micromobility America, our flagship conference devoted to the future of transportation by small EVs, is coming to SoCal on Nov 14-15 for two exemplary days of networking, programming, and of course, test rides! If you are interested in joining the industry vanguard, we have a few ‘Almost Free’ tickets available to purchase on our website. But act fast, space is limited.

Never been to the show before? This 1 min highlight reel from our recent show in Europe will bring you up to speed…

California is considering a law that would prohibit anyone from tampering with an e-bike’s top speed. The legislation would ban the sale of devices that can be used to modify speed.

Meanwhile New York just passed a package of eight bills aimed at improving micromobility safety. Under the new laws, retailers will be banned from selling uncertified batteries. Stores will also be required to register mopeds at the point of sale.

And Mackinac Island, a car-free city in Michigan, has approved a law that will lower the top speed of e-bikes, one of the community’s only forms of motorized transportation, to 15 mph (24 kph).

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