micromobility

Micromobility Europe, along with Micromobility America, is one of premier trade shows focused purely on small format vehicles designed for personal mobility. If it rolls, moves a few people, and doesn’t look like something you’d never want to park in a crowded city, it will probably be there. On June 8-9, Amsterdam will play host to the Micromobility Europe 2023 event, featuring a pile of new vehicles, a curated list of industry speakers and more. I had the chance to attend Micromobility…

This was a tumultuous year for micromobility, both within the shared and private spheres. As we predicted last year, 2022 brought with it a rise in the sale of electric bikes, the adoption of smarter e-scooters that can detect poor riding behavior and the drying up of VC funding for scooter and bike companies. We also saw further consolidation happen in the shared micromobility industry, e-bikes and e-mopeds start to make a dent in delivery and logistics networks and a few promising policy initiatives that might just…

Bird went public on the New York Stock Exchange back in late 2021, but its been over-reporting revenue from ride shares for years.Photo: Spencer Platt (Getty Images)Going about 15 mph on the open tech highway, micromobility company Bird was apparently also unable to avoid clotheslining itself on a proverbial open car door. In filings sent to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Bird said it has overestimated its revenues for the last couple years starting in the first quarter or 2020.The New Black Panther Debuts…

Micromobility America returned to the San Francisco Bay Area earlier this month to showcase the latest micromobility products, highlight new releases, offer test rides, hear from insightful company leaders and politicians, and basically nerd out about electric mobility. From new e-bikes and e-scooters to innovative electric roller skates and even electric micro-cars, there was a bit of everything under the sun. And with a combination of company meet and greets, test rides, and speakers, the event had a wide range…

Electrek will be on site at Micromobility America in the San Francisco Bay area next week, checking out all the latest and greatest updates in the big world of little vehicles. Micromobillity America is described as an “immersive two-day celebration of small electric vehicles and their power to radically reshape our cities.” From electric bikes and e-scooters to velomobiles and three-wheeled EVs, there will be a bit of everything at the show. Over a thousand attendees are expected to cram into the Craneway…

It is worth beginning with a note that I am terribly risk averse, and therefore … not a ton of fun. When Ford micromobility subsidiary Spin first launched a fleet of electric scooters in my hometown of Pittsburgh last summer, my immediate instinct was very old-man-yells-at-cloud. Youths took over the streets and sidewalks, racing around downtown and the North Shore on the orange scooters. In the hillier parts of the city — in case you don’t know anything about Pittsburgh, that’s most of the city…

Ever wondered what would happen if bicycles could think for themselves? Well, this week, MIT researchers released a paper exploring the potential impacts of an autonomous bike fleet on city mobility. The MIT Autonomous Bicycle — a multi-year project — explores on-demand bike sharing. The idea is that users call for a bicycle through an app, and it will ride autonomously to their location, where they can ride it as normal. Once the trip is complete, it will go back to autonomous mode to pick up…

This week, Italian micromobility vendor Helbiz announced it signed a letter of intent to acquire US escooter company Wheels. Doing so will create a powerful fleet that encompasses ebikes, escooters, mopeds, adaptive vehicles, and Wheels’ two-wheeled, sit-down device.  There are a lot of reasons why I think this is an excellent partnership:  Targeting an underserved portion of riders  I’ve been a big fan of Wheels for a while. Founded in 2018 in California, the company creates a type of scooter…

Porsche’s electric bike shopping spree isn’t over. The German automaker announced Thursday that it would be acquiring Fazua, an e-bike drivetrain manufacturer that specializes in lightweight motors. After buying a 20 percent stake in the company earlier this year, Porsche said it would acquire all of Fazua’s shares, making it the latest e-bike company to come under the automaker’s control. Porsche acquired a majority stake in Croatian e-bike company Greyp (pronounced like the fruit) late last year. Fazua is an…

Rebecca Bellan / TechCrunch: Shared micromobility company Bird confirms plans to lay off 23% of its staff, or about 138 out of 600 workers spanning across the organization and regions — Shared micromobility company Bird plans to layoff 23% of its staff, according to tech layoff tracker Layoffs.fyi. Rebecca Bellan / TechCrunch: Shared micromobility company Bird confirms plans to lay off 23% of its staff, or about 138 out of 600 workers spanning across the organization and regions …