The Micromobility Newsletter: COP27, Bird, Gogoro + more

Important update on?the?Rider’s Choice Awards : The first Elimination Round of the contest will take place?tonight at midnight?(Nov 15th), at which point the bottom 30% of vote-getters will be cut from the race.?Make sure to cast your ballot , and encourage your friends, followers, and colleagues to do the same, to ensure your preferred candidate doesn’t get eliminated.?Vote now .

What You Need To Know This Week

• World leaders at COP27 will prioritize the?mobility needs of the Global South ?with an initiative focusing on financing and infrastructure for 2- and 3-wheelers, which are already the most popular form of EVs in developing countries.
• Why cracking down on ebikes is the?wrong response ?to battery fires.
• With its antitheft guarantee, subscription bike service Swapfiets is?proving popular ?among Londoners.
• Bird overstated its revenue for two years and now says financial reports from 2020 and 2021 can “no longer be relied upon .” Even worse, without additional funding, the scooter sharing pioneer may?not have enough money ?to continue operations for another full year.

LA Party Tomorrow

Are you heading to Los Angeles for CoMotion? Join us tomorrow in DTLA, alongside a lively mix of industry leaders and influencers, for networking and a happy hour.?Automotus ?and?Micromobility ?will be hosting a meetup at?Angel City Brewery . RSVP now. Space is extremely limited.

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• “Right on Red” laws were originally enacted in the 1970s to help drivers save gas. Now cities are beginning to?reverse these rules ?to save lives at the crosswalk.
• Ebike subscriptions ?could be key to filling transportation gaps in the suburbs.
• Viva la électrique révolution. Scooter sales in France leapt 42% from 2020 to 2021 confirming that the trend is becoming a?mainstay of mobility .
• So why on earth is Paris looking at?banning rental scooters ? Local officials have soured on scooters, mostly due to quality-of-life issues like sidewalk clutter, which is unfortunate because in a single day last week the city saw 85k zero-emission trips thanks to shared scooters, according to?fluctuo .

• Aymard Vernay has clinched the?championship ?at the inaugural eSkootr Championship, a high-speed electric scooter racing series.
• The?bike boom is continuing —but only in cities that stepped up and supported it.
• Yulu, an Indian micromobility operator,?raised $9M in debt ?to bolster its last-mile service.
• Lime has launched a new program to?upcycle old scooter ?and ebike batteries for other consumer products
• Indoor micromobility? As a marketing effort, Volkswagen Norway has built a?motorized office chair ?that features a top speed of 12mph, 360-degree collision avoidance sensors, party lights, a guided backup cam, heated seat, touchscreen display, USB charger, and tow hitch.

• Amid geopolitical and economic uncertainty, Taiwan-based Gogoro announced it will?delay plans ?to expand battery swapping in China and instead focus on growth in India and Indonesia.
• 100 years ago, an American traffic engineer set a plan in motion that would result in the?auto-centric infrastructure ?that we’ve normalized in the U.S. today.
• Related: Battery swapping could be the technology that?unlocks mass 2- and 3-wheeled micromobility adoption in India .
• In the busy streets of London, paramedics are using bikes as?emergency response vehicles ?to reach patients up to 10x faster than ambulances.
• Browse the best jobs in micromobility—and post your own—on our?Jobs to Be Done ?board.

Micromobility Pro

For our next Pro webinar, Micromobility Industries, I will explore how shared micromobility operators can reimagine their business models and position themselves for long-term security.

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• Webinars:?Take part in regular virtual events, featuring original analysis and commentary from industry leaders.
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Pod People

This week Oliver speaks with Albin Wilson from Roam Motors, a company that is building electric motorbikes and batteries in Kenya.

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