What the 🤬 Is Going on with California’s E-bike Incentive?

Delays, delusions, and blunders in the Golden State.

July 30, 2024

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

Before we start…

… a friendly reminder that Micromobility America is returning to California on Nov 14-15, and for the next 24 hours only, you can snag “Almost Free” tickets and save big.

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In between demos of all the coolest new rides (electric scooters, bikes, boards, buggies, and more), we’ll explore the macro trends that are reshaping mobility in cities around the world, including micromobility incentives, tariff changes, market trends, manufacturing innovations, safety/battery regulations, and more. Get your tickets now before prices go up tomorrow.

What You Need to Know Today

After two years of delays, the California Air Resource Board’s (CARB) e-bike incentive program still lacks a clear launch date. And it looks like the $30M initiative is likely to be postponed yet again. That’s because the nonprofit hired by CARB to administer the program is being investigated by the California Department of Justice and other agencies for various improprieties, being sued by one of its employees for nonpayment, and being accused of mixing public money and private business. Streetsblog has a thoroughly depressing rundown of why California keeps failing over and over again to deliver e-bike credits, which is worth reading in full. Brace yourself for some serious administrative dysfunction, to put it mildly.

The sad part is that the CARB program already has thousands of applications from people who want to replace car trips with an e-bike. While California dawdles, other states, cities, and governments are making remarkable progress with spurring e-bike adoption. Check out our global database of e-bike incentives to see if you qualify for any.

Join us next week (August 6th) for a timely webinar about the digital transformation of the micromobility space. We’ll be joined by Autodesk and Stilride, a Swedish technology company that is revolutionizing the industry with their unique approach based on industrial origami. This event is for anyone interested in the future of micromobility and the role of technology in shaping it. Register now.

Reversing a downward trend, e-bike imports in the EU stabilized in May, year-over-year, suggesting a sales rebound might not be far behind.

New York City hasn’t been able to curb the number of e-bike and e-scooter fires yet, but deaths resulting from battery explosions are way down. Meanwhile, over in the UK, more and more retailers are refusing to sell or service unbranded battery packs.

Shared micromobility ridership in the US and Canada is at an all-time high, growing 20% in 2023 compared to the year prior. However, rising costs and limited public funding are making these services less affordable.

Image Credit: Bloomberg

Along with more ridership, comes more injuries unfortunately. A new study finds that the strong growth of micromobility since 2017 has resulted in a large spike in injuries for e-scooter and e-bike users. Researchers conclude that injury reduction lies in better bike lanes, law enforcement, and specific intervention strategies in high-use areas.

Indian conglomerate Jio has partnered with Taiwanese fabless semiconductor giant MediaTek to supply digital dashboards for the rapidly growing electric moped market.

Relatedly, Ola Electric’s stock market debut is happening this week. The SoftBank-backed EV moped company is seeking to raise $734M, which would make it India’s largest IPO this year. The listing is expected to draw bids from Fidelity, Nomura, and Norway's Norges Bank, among others.

Image Credit: Ola Electric

Why Paris bet big on bikes—not transit—to cater to the 15M visitors who are expected to come to town for the 2024 Olympic Games.

Related: Tier-Dott is deploying its largest-ever fleet of 15,000 shared e-bikes in Paris for the occasion.

Brussels-based Mayten has acquired shared mobility aggregator Cogo to enhance its software offerings under the MobilityFabric brand, with the goal of helping shared mobility operators focus on core operations and reduce R&D costs.

Image Credit: Mayten

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