By Peter Rosegg [email protected] Like a kid in a toy store, I went to Micromobility America, a major conference and trade show in September 2022. It was across the bay from San Francisco in Richmond, at Craneway, a renovated Ford factory, the first in California that also rolled out jeeps and tanks in World War II. The Rosie the Riveter WWII Home FrontNational Monument is part of the huge complex. It’s right on the waterfront, and the San Francisco Bay Bike Trail. The TalkI’ll get to the toys. First, some takeaways from two days of panels and talks. Micromobility is in transition, maybe it always will be. After a couple of years of expansion and growth, many experts feel a consolidation is coming. Scooter companies are being born and some (like Bolt) are dying, or being acquired. Hardware and supply chain obstacles are huge. Business models are in flux, including subscription models and direct-to-customer operations. Rad Power Bikes, a leader in the DTI area with practical, hardworking e-bikes, is trying the subscription model . A few big players – like Lyft and Lime – are in the MM space but the anticipated (perhaps dreaded) arrival of the giant “transportation” companies like auto manufacturers has not happened. A few, like Porsche, seem to be testing the space. Even while the definition of “micromobility” is in flux, the next big “little thing” – mini-mobility – may be around the next corner. As McKinsey the consultant firm sees it, three challenges face micromobility in competition for a bigger piece of “automobility,” that is, cars.
Automobiles handle all three, without even getting into the question of distance. So, while automobiles are a big, big part of our climate change problem, micromobility will have a tough time replacing them, certainly in this country. McKinsey, thinks enclosed quadricycles and 3-wheelers may be the next big thing in Western cities. One thing everyone in micromobility agrees upon, whether you think electric vehicles are great or a big, green-washing environmental sham, electric vehicles will not solve the climate crisis alone. Especially when the EV is a Hummer or the like. If we hope to save the planet, not to mention our cities and our personal health, micromobility vehicles must be a big part of the solution. Horace Dediu, the guru of MM, believes the future includes 5 billion micromobility vehicles worldwide. More from Smart People These and other subjects were the juice of networking and panels at MM2. It was exciting to be in a huge room of very smart and very passionate people (sometimes embodied in the same person.) Although attendance and exhibitors were overwhelming male and well-off, it was refreshing to see that equality of access to micromobility was not lost on the crowd. Coming from Hawaii, it was exciting to see representatives of Elemental Excelerator on the panels, even though EEx has now expanded far from our shores to the “continent.” EEx chief operating officer, Avra van der Zee, was on one panel and Gabriel Scheer, EEx director of innovation for mobility and energy, was on another, both talking about funding for start-ups. EEx stood out as a non-profit and as the operation most concerned with getting start-ups to market. Gabriel was one of three judges for a “shark tank” pitch contest to see which of seven start-ups could best woo investors. Still want to visit the toy shop? Check out: What I Saw at Micromobility America, Part 2 on this site!
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