Welcome back to The Station, your central hub for all past, present and future means of moving people and packages from A to B. Reporter Rebecca Bellan will be back in the driver’s seat for the next few weeks as I put away my laptop and head to some adventures (including planes, ferries and bicycles).
micromobbin’
India led the shift to electric two-wheelers, but the scrapping of a popular government incentive has led to a drop in sales, reports Jagmeet Singh.
In May, the Indian government revised its incentive scheme, reducing subsidies from $183 per kWh (up to 40% of the vehicle price) to $122 per kWh of battery capacity (up to 15% of the vehicle price). The scheme changes caused a sudden disruption in sales. June sales fell by more than 56% and was the lowest sales month in about a year.
This not only affects consumers, but could also lead to consolidation in the industry and even exits of some players. It just goes to show that government subsidies help people buy green alternatives and can boost emerging industries.
Among other news. . .
We did a lot e-bike review so you can find the best e-bike for your needs – whether you’re a commuter or a delivery person, a parent or senior, a bargain hunter or a mountain biker. Best of all, MANY of these companies are holding sales right now, so get on board now to find great mid-summer deals!
the former Aston Martin the boss Andy Palmer he wants his own Hilo One “being a Volvo among scooters”.
NYC is inviting delivery drivers to sign up for the city’s e-bike swap program to take e-bike batteries that could cause fires off the streets.
Up cooperates with Super73 for the resale of all used e-bikes.
A 12-year-old died while driving Wow of e-cars in Birmingham, UK, prompting the city to require drivers to verify selfies to avoid underage driving.
Offer of the week
Deal of the week? More than no deal.
British manufacturer of commercial electric vehicles in trouble Arrival killed what would have been his second SPAC deal with Kensington Capital Acquisition Corp. The company announced a plan to de-SPAC in April 2023 (it made its public debut through a SPAC with CIIG Merger Corp. in 2021), but the liquidity plan appears to have fallen through.
As regular readers of The Station may recall, this whole dual SPAC deal raised a few of our eyebrows. Wejo was the first double SPAC, meaning a company that went public with a SPAC merger and then went through a second SPAC merger in search of more capital.
It’s unclear what prompted the death of the second Arrival SPAC. Was it the conditions? And did Arrival or Kensington resign?
Other deals that caught my attention. . .
Finn, a German car subscription company with operations in the US, has entered into a €25 million deal with Avellinia Capital to help finance vehicle purchases. The company says this means it can allocate future capital to growth initiatives instead of fleet financing.
Move over, an African fintech mobility company has raised $8 million from Absa Corporate and Investment Banking. He has raised a total of $28 million to date.
NEU battery materials, a Singapore-based lithium-ion battery recycling startup, has raised $3.7 million in a seed round led by SGInnovate. ComfortDelGro Ventures, Shift4Good, Paragon Ventures I and other angel investors also joined the round.
Nicholas again failed to get enough shareholders to vote on a proposal that would have allowed it to issue more shares and thus increase its capital. But the new law may soon help the company bypass the need to insure more than 50% of all issued shares. The company also managed to secure a $41.9 million grant from the California Transportation Commission to build six heavy-duty hydrogen fueling stations across Southern California.
RapidFlighta Virginia-based drone manufacturing company, has acquired the defunct’s intellectual property portfolio Local engines. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Urban SDK, a company that sells cloud-based traffic management systems to state and local governments, has raised an undisclosed amount in a seed round led by GOVO Venture Partners. DeepWork Capital, Florida Opportunity Fund, Techstars and venVelo also participated.
Important readings and other points of interest
Autonomous vehicles
The San Francisco Safe Street Activist Group is making it impossible Cruising and Waymo robotaxis by placing traffic cones on their covers. The now-viral prank is being done to protest the vehicles, which many accuse of malfunctioning and disrupting the flow of traffic, emergency vehicles and public transport.
Volkswagen has begun an autonomous vehicle testing program in Austin using a fleet of 10 all-electric ID Buzz vehicles equipped with Mobileyetechnology.
of China WeRide has obtained the first nationwide autonomous driving license from the United Arab Emirates to test and use its robotaxis, delivery vans and other autonomous vehicles on public roads.
Electric vehicles, charging and batteries
EV chargers can be hacked quite easily, posing a catastrophic risk that can put drivers and the power grid at risk.
We can’t get enough of it Fiatthe wonderful Topolino EV. The automaker said this week that the four-wheeler will feature a range of unusual accessories, including a small shower, “designed for those days spent on the beach on the Italian coast.” Totally, totally, the Italian coast.
Fisker it fell short of its own production expectations in the second quarter. The new EV produced 1,022 Ocean SUVs, while it expected to produce between 1,400 and 1,700. The company blamed the lack of components from its sub-suppliers.
Panasonic says it needs to build four more battery factories to reach its goal of increasing annual EV capacity to 200 GWh by early 2031.
Polaris is working on building off-road EV charging infrastructure in Michigan.
Rivian has started introducing its electric delivery trucks for Amazon in Europe. The first 300 will be seen on the streets of Germany. The automaker also posted a three-fold increase in second-quarter deliveries — 12,640 units to be exact — sending shares soaring 16%. Rivian said it was on track to meet its previous guidance of 50,000 units this year.
TC+ Journalist Tim De Chant weighs in on the seven things every network needs to quickly charge electric vehicles.
The gig economy
Uber, DoorDash, Grubhub and Relay are suing New York City to block minimum wage standards for concert workers. They say regulators used the wrong data to calculate the new compensation rules. A new $18 minimum wage for delivery workers was set earlier this month.
Hello an Uber it’s a nightmare in Saudi Arabia because of government regulations on who can work for ride-hailing apps.
Miscellaneous
Konux, a Munich-based deep AI technology company is building a predictive maintenance SaaS business to upgrade rail infrastructure. As Natasha Lomas reports, its mission is to drive digitization and transformation into the most sustainable mass transit option using AI and IoT.
Tesla
Tesla gets its own column this week. Here you go.
Tesla has started hiringADAS Test Operators” outside of Europe as it looks to expand its FSD (Full Self-Driving) beta and Autopilot suite outside of North America. Obviously, Australia is next.
It has increased Cybertruck visions, and the Tesla brothers are crazy about it.
The company shipped a record 466,140 units in the second quarter, up 10% year-over-year. Investors will be looking for healthy margins on earnings day, as many of Tesla’s sales have been fueled by price cuts.
Speaking of price cuts…Tesla is cutting prices Model 3 and Model Y drove in Japan.
The Elon Musk-owned automaker has started a price war of the year China, but now the company is trying to calm the waters. Tesla joined the ranks of Chinese automakers, including its biggest rival BYDby signing a letter pledging to strengthen “fundamental socialist values” and compete fairly in the country’s auto market.
But then… Tesla went ahead and introduced a global reference program, which gives $500 cash back to customers who purchase a Model 3 or Model Y. The program has been rolled out in Tesla’s biggest markets, including the US and, you guessed it, China. (Also Germany, France, Canada, Mexico, Hong Kong and Singapore.)
Tesla has several converts North American charging standard (NACS). Mercedes-Benz is the latest to adopt NACS, joining a handful of other automakers such as GM, Ford, Volvo and Polestar. Mercedes electric vehicles will have access to Tesla charging stations until 2024. The automaker also plans to expand its own charging network with more than 2,500 charging stations in North America.
and Kentucky now requires electric vehicle charging companies to include Teslaplug-in as well as standard CCS if they want to secure federal dollars from the state’s highway electrification program. Kentucky is the first to go through with it, but Texas and Washington are considering it.
The National Road Safety Administration has demanded that Tesla provide more information about its driver monitoring system as part of an ongoing investigation into Autopilot safety.
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rootdevices.com/2023/07/09/the-best-e-bikes-for-every-type-of-rider-and-mercedes-adopts-teslas-charging-standard/