Do you really need an EV with a 300-mile range? | September 02, 2022

Plus, a wave of layoff hits Tier Mobility, Jeep and QuietKat introduce their new e-bike, and can New York legislation limit blind spots and speed governors on SUVs?

Today, we’re excited to have Venkatesh Gopal as our guest host for Movements! Venkatesh is a Shared Mobility Consultant at movmi. And he is an expert in feasibility analysis for electric vehicles including various micromobility business models and has helped launch, evaluate shared mobility operations in Canada, US and Europe. 

Issue [#152] - Every week, we deliver analysis and curation of emerging mobility news - post a job listing here!

Micromobility

Vancouver get’s 500 e-bikes added to Mobi bikeshare. Bringing the total fleet to 2,500 bikes, Mobi also has expanded its operational area across the city. More e-bikes. Longer rides. Better mobility. / Mia Kohout

95% of car trips in America are 30 miles or lower. Still, the median range of electric cars on the market is 234 miles! Did we overshoot our solution for range anxiety? Are we still focusing on making EVs affordable and improving adoption? / NY Times

Shared micromobility startup, Zeus (yes, the one known for its innovative 3-wheeled scooters), enters the UK by buying out Zwings while it awaits approval for its 3-wheelers. With Zwings’ 80,000 potential rider base in town, this helps the Carlow-based operator to start operations almost immediately. / Siliconrepublic

Ever heard of parking wardens handing over incentives instead of a fine? That’s the magic of micromobility. Lime deployed its staff at busy scooter/e-bike parking locations to give out free riding credits to riders parking the shared vehicles properly. / SmartCitiesWorld

Bolting back to life! Leap Mobility has been temporarily awarded the Gotcha (powered by Bolt) e-scooters after the latter suddenly abandoned its operations across its locations. A perfect testimony to the ridership demand and value that shared scooters are able to provide to universities. / NinerTimes 

They’re buying it. Now cities need to build them. Researchers from Nature found that even if people own a lot of bikes, they won't ride bikes in cities without pro-bike policies and infrastructure. / Nature

Riders love e-bikes. What makes e-bikes a clear winner for shared fleet operators and for cities to focus policies specifically around electrifying bikeshare? Here’s a free-to-download whitepaper with all you need to know. / movmi

Product Launches & Updates

When it comes to carsharing in Sweden, 1 car replaces 9 privately owned ones. Carmaker Volvo has been providing extended ways to access a car through their carsharing platform. Rebranded as Volvo On-demand, and with 250,000 registered customers the automaker is planning to expand its services beyond Sweden. / AW

Baidu’s Apollo Go service strikes the 1 million EV autonomous ride milestone in China. The company unveiled its latest model the RT6 in collaboration with Ford, Geely and Toyota. / Electrek

Gogoro To Roll Out Rideshare Service In Taiwan's Second Largest City. Taichung being a hub of universities, the shared service operator will provide free ride credits to students to fast-track adoption. / RideApart

Utility e-bikes just seem to be in high demand. And for the right reasons, practicality vs bang for your buck. Blix unveils 80-mile-range ‘Dubbel’ electric bike to carry your friends, pets, and cargo / Electrek

Ridehailing, Carsharing & Delivery

REPORT: How do our smart mobility services (e.g. ridesharing) perform on safety across genders? Technology can help, but it’s vital to understand the urgency and empower women to de-escalate crisis situations. / Transportation Safety Cards  

Last-mile delivery market is expected to hit $123 billion by 2030. Just one problem - most are fulfilled by fossil-fueled vans, cars, motorcycles worldwide. Minimum total cost of ownership and their nimble navigation across city-traffic, give e-bikes an advantage like no other. How big is the e-bike commercial market? / TechCrunch

Last-mile services are taking advantage of unit economics of micromobility. Dutch telecoms operator is trialing e-scooters that its doorstep-service technicians may access to attend service calls especially in the downtown area. / TrendWatching

BrightDrop is hosting its first webinar to help you and your team invest confidently in an EV fleet / LinkedIn

Waymo opens up driverless robotaxi service in downtown Phoenix to vetted passengers / TechCrunch

Be it delivery or ridehailing, electric motorcycles are seeing a major uptake in Kenya. What’s making them affordable? Battery swapping. The startup numbers in this space says it all. / QuartzAfrica

Investment & Deals

Gogoro Surpasses 500,000 Battery Swap Subscribers in Taiwan / PRNewswire

SparkCharge expands EV charging delivery to 12 new California cities with new funding / Electrek

Cities & Policy

Richmond (VA) is preparing a policy revamp for e-scooter sharing after the recent ‘ghosting’ by operators. The city wishes to extend the operating hours right up to 1 a.m. to allow for late evening commutes by shift workers. Secondly, the city will impose an equity mandate requiring 20% of the fleet south of James River. / GGWash

South Korea is in talks with the US to review the latest changes made to the EV subsidy policy. As per the latest regulations, EV models from international brands such as Hyundai and Kia would no longer qualify for federal tax credits. / Reuters

ANALYSIS: Just as micromobility, can regulators restrict vehicle (e.g. SUVs) speeds based on vehicle class or critical locations? New York may be a pioneer in this. / StreetBlogs NYC

Making electric vehicles available to all may also mean that 15 states should be prioritized for EV infrastructure. This would help improve EV adoption rates in states other than California. / SmartCities

Rebates to Electrify Everything! Maine city will offer rebates to residents qualifying as low and moderate income households and like the program says, these rebates cover more than your typical EV. / Spectrum News

Following Paris’ recent up to €4,000 e-bike rebate (trade-ins for cars), regulators in NY are hoping to increase state rebates up to $1,100 per new e-bike purchase. With 2/3rds of New Yorkers traveling for less than 5 miles, the time for doubling down on e-bikes is now.  / StreetBlogs NYC

Jobs Board

Here’s a selection of job openings from our partners. Want to see your listing here? Click here for pricing/details.

Transportation Policy Analyst - California Public Utilities Commission - United States

Senior Transportation Policy Analyst - California Public Utilities Commission - United States

Senior Transportation Data Analyst - California Public Utilities Commission - United States

Chief of Staff - Pronto - San Francisco, USA

Product Lead - Lean - United States (Remote)

Technical Project Manager - Drover AI - Cincinnati Metropolitan Area (Hybrid)

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