Ride AI

This week we release an episode from the SoCal tour that we did back in January, this time it is with Kevin Cox, the CEO of Electra Bikes, which was originally founded by Benno Banzinger who we have also had on the show earlier. Electra is the fifth largest event company in the US and have a real focus on making distinctive cruiser-style bikes, and have made the pivot from being a traditional bike maker to a bike maker with the support of Trek who own them. We really enjoyed this episode ,just as a guide to how traditional bike businesses are adapting to Micromobility. We hope that you enjoy it too! In the meantime, if you enjoy this conversation, you will also enjoy Micromobility both Europe and America. We have Europe coming up on June 8 and 9th, and then we have America happening in the Bay Area on the 18th and 19th of October. We will of course be at both. Looking forward to hopefully having some more of you there along with more than 1000 people at both events talking about the latest in Micromobility and lightweight electric vehicles. And with that, here is Kevin! Specifically, they discuss - The background of Electra Bikes including its strong connection to the beach culture in Southern California - The history of how they came to be acquired by a PE firm and then by Trek - Their emergence as a large ebike manufacturer - How Trek operates with them and how traditional bike companies are adapting to micromobility - Their retail and distribution choices. Catch us on Twitter ⁠⁠@MicromobilityCo⁠⁠. ⁠⁠Horace⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Oliver⁠⁠ are also active on their personal accounts and would love to hear from you. Our https://micromobility.substack.com/⁠⁠ is completely free, and you can subscribe to have it in your inbox every Tuesday and Thursday morning. We’re also on ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠.

This week Oliver interviews Udi Meridor from City Transformer. You may have come across City Transformer as it was on the recent Top Gear episode of microcars in Paris. Obviously, we’ve done two microcar episodes week on week so this is an area that we're definitely thinking about, as are McKenzie who I had on the week prior talking about mini mobility. It feels like such a burgeoning area and we have been really excited to explore this topic. If you enjoy this conversation, you will definitely enjoy Micromobility Europe – We would really encourage you to see if you can join us – on June 8 and 9th in Amsterdam! This will be a collection of over 1000 top thinkers and builders in the space building everything from e-bikes and scooters all the way through the vehicles just like the one we are discussing today. We are really excited with the companies that are going to be coming and cannot wait to get there. Get your tickets at micromobility.io Specifically they tackle: The background of City Transformer - where did the project start? Why adaptive width vehicles are unique and special What classification of EU - L7E What the traction has been like to date and where you’re selling them into What the manufacturing challenges have been Catch us on Twitter ⁠⁠@MicromobilityCo⁠⁠. ⁠⁠Horace⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Oliver⁠⁠ are also active on their personal accounts and would love to hear from you. Our https://micromobility.substack.com/⁠⁠ is completely free, and you can subscribe to have it in your inbox every Tuesday and Thursday morning. We’re also on ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠.

This week Oliver interviews Oliver Ouboter, one of the founders of MicroLino, who are producing one of the most beautiful cars that we have seen in the neighbourhood electric vehicle space – the thing is an electric version of the iconic BMW Ysetta from the mid 1950s. We really loved this interview for a few reasons - firstly, because the operators – Oliver and his father Whim were the OGs of the Micromobility space – setting up a company literally called Micromobility back in the early 2000s and producing the first kick scooters and then subsequently some of the first electric kick scooter’s. Secondly, anybody who is producing small electric vehicles at any sort of scale deserves to be congratulated – it has been quite the journey for them, especially as they have done it entirely self-funded of the back of their original acoustic and electric scooter business. We have really enjoyed getting to know Oliver and are looking forward to hopefully having him at Micromobility Europe in June. Speaking of which if you are interested in the latest in lightweight electric vehicles, including neighborhood electric vehicles like this and everything in between you will absolutely love Micromobility Europe. It is the show we are most excited about in terms of what we’ve done in our history of producing shows at Micromobility industries and we are sure you would have an absolute blast coming and hanging out with our team and more than 1000 others as we talk about the future of what these vehicles might enable for our cities. I will be running a start-up stage with more than 60 companies expected to patch – it is going to be pandemonium– and I can’t wait. Get your tickets at Micromobility.IO. And with that, here is Oliver! Catch us on Twitter ⁠⁠@MicromobilityCo⁠⁠. ⁠⁠Horace⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Oliver⁠⁠ are also active on their personal accounts and would love to hear from you. Our https://micromobility.substack.com/⁠⁠ is completely free, and you can subscribe to have it in your inbox every Tuesday and Thursday morning. We’re also on ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠.

This week Oliver interviews Caroline Sampanaro, Head of Micromobility and Transit Policy at Lyft, about her role and opportunities for micromobility to participate in conversations about better transport systems and cities. They also talk a lot about the shared business model, and why PPP feels like the most logical endpoint for a lot of the shared use cases for micromobility. We have continually been struck by the great team that Lyft has built - check out our earlier conversations with Laura Fox, GM of Citibike in NY for reference - and we really enjoyed this conversation with Caroline. Also referenced is episode 170 with Julia Thayne DeMourdant and Gabe Klein, which you can listen to here. Unfortunately, we lost the end of the audio for this the first time around and had to go back and rerecord the end. Our awesome editor Lynda has managed to get this sounding good, but just a heads up about it towards the end. In this episode they discuss: - Caroline’s background as an activist and how it led her to shared micromobility policy - The story of Lyft’s micromobility business - how it came about and why they’ve chosen the strategy they have with PPP docked bikeshare vs freefloating. - Getting micromobility away from identity politics - What has electric vs. acoustic offered to the advocacy conversation? - What is the role of companies like Lyft in micromobility advocacy vs. (for example) vehicle producers etc. - How do we get a broad coalition of advocates that can tackle the status quo? If you want to see the latest vehicles and be in the most cutting-edge conversations about micromobility, you should check out Micromobility Europe, our premier event happening in Amsterdam on the 8/9th of June. We’re expecting over 1000 of the top thinkers and doers in the micro space to be there and I am pumped with the amazing vehicles that are coming down the pipe that will be there. We’re expecting over 60 companies to be pitching in our Startup Awards too. It’s going to be epic. If you’re interested in joining, get your tickets at micromobility.io. Catch us on Twitter ⁠⁠@MicromobilityCo⁠⁠. ⁠⁠Horace⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Oliver⁠⁠ are also active on their personal accounts and would love to hear from you. Our https://micromobility.substack.com/⁠⁠ is completely free, and you can subscribe to have it in your inbox every Tuesday and Thursday morning. We’re also on ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠.

This week Oliver interviews Kersten Heineke, a partner at McKinsey, and lead of the McKinsey Centre For Future Mobility, based in Germany. We discuss the role and scope of the Center for Future Mobility, the rising interest in micro vehicles, and the potential impact of mini-mobility on the transportation landscape. Kersten provides an extensive overview of his research, including the emergence of direct-to-consumer electric vehicles brands like Lectric and Ride1Up, and the innovative hardware-as-a-service models offered by companies such as Lug and Carrie/Whee! They also delve into the promising growth of the German bike leasing market, the unique benefits of tax exemptions for employer-provided bikes, and the leading players in this space. We hope that you enjoy our conversation about the rapidly evolving world of micromobility and its potential to reshape the future of transportation. Specifically they tackle: - The challenges faced by mini mobility startups - The lack of investment in personally owned scooters - The potential explosion of micro-freight - The factors influencing the funding disconnect between EVTOL, Autonomy, EVs and micro-mobility - Why no micro mobility-specific funds have emerged - How content creators can assist McKinseys clients In the meantime, if you haven’t already please consider getting some tickets for Micromobility Europe - ⁠https://micromobility.io/events/micromobility-europe⁠, join us on June 8th and 9th in Amsterdam. Horace, Oliver, and the whole crew will be there – this year. We have opened up the start-up awards to a whole heap of companies and already have at least 55 presenting including some of the most exciting vehicles we have seen in the space to date. Be sure to check it out at micromobility.io. And with that, here’s Maciek and Chris. Catch us on Twitter ⁠⁠@MicromobilityCo⁠⁠. ⁠⁠Horace⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Oliver⁠⁠ are also active on their personal accounts and would love to hear from you. Our ⁠https://micromobility.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠ is completely free, and you can subscribe to have it in your inbox every Tuesday and Thursday morning. We’re also on ⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠ and⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠.

We're really excited to bring this episode to you. Apollo Scooters are one of those companies that quietly works away in the background and ships without being loud and overly public about it – We have been following them since they first unveiled the Apollo Pro at Micromobility Europe last year. Last year, they shipped 30,000 scooters – which is a pretty decent amount for a company that has never raised outside capital at all. In this conversation we run through the founding of the company, the opportunities that exist in the space, their journey with being direct to consumer, and focusing on being an e-commerce brand, who they admire in the space and what they think is interesting. We really appreciated both Mac’s and Chris’s humility and how they are running their company and their perspective on the space. Thanks to them for joining. Specifically they tackle : The background to Apollo and how they got started What models they have now - they unpack the Pro How they’ve funded the company to date - how and where micromobility can source capital Marketing scooters - what works and doesn’t? In the meantime, if you haven’t already please consider getting some tickets for Micromobility Europe - https://micromobility.io/events/micromobility-europe, join us on June 8th and 9th in Amsterdam. Horace, Oliver, and the whole crew will be there – this year. We have opened up the start-up awards to a whole heap of companies and already have at least 55 presenting including some of the most exciting vehicles we have seen in the space to date. Be sure to check it out at micromobility.io. And with that, here’s Maciek and Chris. Catch us on Twitter ⁠⁠@MicromobilityCo⁠⁠. ⁠⁠Horace⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Oliver⁠⁠ are also active on their personal accounts and would love to hear from you. Our https://micromobility.substack.com/⁠⁠ is completely free, and you can subscribe to have it in your inbox every Tuesday and Thursday morning. We’re also on ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠.

This week we chose to resyndicate a recent episode of a podcast called The Next Billion Seconds, for their series called The Next Billion Cars, where they look at the future of the transportation industry and how tech will help enable the next billion vehicles to get around. In this episode, Drew Smith interviews Horace, exploring the origins and future of micromobility. Per their description, “Horace offers a blistering critique of the failure of the automotive sector to embody the new design possibilities offered by micromobility: transportation choice in our urban centres, and a powerful framework to rethink our transportation networks and cities.” This was a great episode and many thanks to the Next Billion Seconds team for letting us resyndicate it here. From The Next Billion Seconds: What is ‘micromobility’? It’s a philosophy that emphasises choice and urban-centered design in our transportation networks and transport options. Drew Smith speaks with Horace Dediu, the ‘father’ of micromobility, about its origins, his critique of the new generation of EV companies, and the way things must change in order to provide a transport future that we can all enjoy. Mark looks at the ‘wheel’ of transportation that takes developing nations from bicycles to scooters to cars – and back to bikes again? Sally Dominguez makes a heartfelt and well-observed plea for micromobility solutions that don’t favour able-bodied young men by design. In the round-table, Mark, Sal and Drew analyse everything they’ve learned in this series: Are we any closer to autonomous vehicles? Pervasive electric vehicles? Commercial hydrogen vehicles? Micromobility solutions that work for everyone? A huge final for this series of THE NEXT BILLION CARS You can listen to The Next Billion Seconds and learn more right here. Catch us on Twitter ⁠@MicromobilityCo⁠. ⁠Horace⁠ and ⁠Oliver⁠ are also active on their personal accounts and would love to hear from you. Our ⁠Micromobility Newsletter⁠ is completely free, and you can subscribe to have it in your inbox every Tuesday and Thursday morning. We’re also on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ and ⁠Instagram⁠.

This week Oliver interviews Grace Rink, Chief Climate Officer for the City and County of Denver. Grace leads the Office of Climate Action, Sustainability, and Resiliency. She’s more well known in micromobility as the head of the Denver e-bike subsidy programme, which has captured the imagination of regulators all over the world with the latest program iterations selling out in mere minutes. Today we talk about how she ended up in Denver, why the programme was formed and it’s objectives and the implications of what they’re finding. This felt like an important interview. We think that subsidies and government support are something that micromobility has traditionally eschewed in favour of just doing it, but there are more and more cities, states, and countries around the world realising that the bang for the buck on these vehicles are substantially higher than they’d be for the other transport climate policies. They talk through the newly launched subsidy tracker that Micromobility Industries has just launched which tracks all subsidies for E-bikes, scooters and more globally. We’re very excited about it - and think that it’ll be an important tool going forward. Oliver and Grace also run through other schemes of government support for end consumers looking to use micromobility and how to make micromobility support non-partisan. If you’re a policymaker who is looking into this, welcome - We hope that you enjoy this, and that this conversation inspires you to push for a similar policy in your jurisdiction. If you have the desire to develop better materials for you on how to best do this and that we can host, please reach out to our team - we’d love to hear from you. Specifically they tackle: - How is the subsidy funded? - Why pick this? What are the motivation/outcome objectives? - “The city reported that the e-bikes purchased as part of the program were ridden 26 miles (42 km) per week on average, and replaced 3.4 car trips each week.” Does the city calculate trips? - How do you balance action and resiliency? - Which companies benefit the most from this? Connect with Grace on LinkedIn Catch us on ⁠Twitter⁠. ⁠Horace⁠ and ⁠Oliver ⁠are also active on their personal accounts and would love to hear from you. Catch us on Twitter ⁠@MicromobilityCo⁠. ⁠Horace⁠ and ⁠Oliver⁠ are also active on their personal accounts and would love to hear from you. Our ⁠Micromobility Newsletter⁠ is completely free, and you can subscribe to have it in your inbox every Tuesday and Thursday morning. And for those who want more, we offer ⁠Micromobility Pro membership⁠ that includes exclusive content and conference discounts, as well as live calls with Horace and team. We’re also on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ and ⁠Instagram⁠.

This week Oliver interviews Melinda Hansen, founder of consulting firm Brightside and formerly the head of sustainability at Bird. They talk about the recent spate of Micromobility/ebike battery fires in New York and the response there as well as the wider conversation about equitable transport options, from her work with the equitable commute project. Like we’ve discussed many times on the show, we think that there is a real opportunity for Micromobility to contribute to the conversation. We really love Melinda‘s take on the whole space – she has a wealth of industry knowledge and is in New York with the legislators having the grunty conversations that will help lead the industry forward. Really hope that you enjoy this episode as we did. Specifically they tackle: - The E-bike fires for the Micromobility Podcast and know that you've been doing some advocacy in this space. - The work on transport equity she has been doing - How she is working to better aggregate and lobby for ebike subsidies at MMI. - How micromobility companies can play a more active role in getting streets ready for smaller vehicles. Connect with Melinda on LinkedIn and Twitter Catch us on ⁠Twitter⁠. ⁠Horace⁠ and ⁠Oliver ⁠are also active on their personal accounts and would love to hear from you. Catch us on Twitter ⁠@MicromobilityCo⁠. ⁠Horace⁠ and ⁠Oliver⁠ are also active on their personal accounts and would love to hear from you. Our ⁠Micromobility Newsletter⁠ is completely free, and you can subscribe to have it in your inbox every Tuesday and Thursday morning. And for those who want more, we offer ⁠Micromobility Pro membership⁠ that includes exclusive content and conference discounts, as well as live calls with Horace and team. We’re also on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ and ⁠Instagram⁠.

This week Oliver interviews Rickard Bröms from Sweden, who is the founder of Vässla, who won the Rider Choice Award at the recent 2023 Micromobility Riders Awards for best subscription company.  We’ve been following along with what they’ve been doing for a while and really love the new pedal Ebike that they are bringing out, along with the standard throttle bike and moped that they've been offering. They have really nailed the subscription services for micromobility, lowering the barriers to entry.  We really loved the conversation with Rickard - he’s very mission-driven. We're really looking forward to watching them in the future Specifically they talk about:  - The early origins of Vässla with e-moped and throttle bikes, and now their pedal e-bikes.  - How they’ve sold around 5000 mopeds - beating the global market leader NIU - in Sweden and sell them in Berlin too.  - How they’ve thought about Vässla Club, their subscription business - what was the insight, and what did it require from them to pivot into this - How they do their manufacturing - Their funding journey for early moped and into developing an ebike and subscription Catch us on Twitter. Horace and Oliver are also active on their personal accounts and would love to hear from you. Catch us on Twitter @MicromobilityCo. Horace and Oliver are also active on their personal accounts and would love to hear from you. Our Micromobility Newsletter is completely free, and you can subscribe to have it in your inbox every Tuesday and Thursday morning. And for those who want more, we offer Micromobility Pro membership that includes exclusive content and conference discounts, as well as live calls with Horace and team. We’re also on LinkedIn and Instagram.