https://www.economist.com/business/2018/06/23/how-two-wheelers-are-weaving-their-way-into-urban-transport
How two-wheelers are weaving their way into urban transport
Jun 21st 2018
AMSTERDAM AND BEIJING
THE streets of Beijing are thronged with two-wheeled contraptions. Some
appear to be conventional petrol mopeds but as they zoom through red
lights at pedestrian crossings their eerie silence and lack of exhaust
reveals them as electric. Executives in suits cruise by on electric
kick-scooters, looking like big kids on their way to school, though
travelling much more enthusiastically. Electric bicycles, hacked
together with a battery strapped to the frame and wired to a back-wheel
hub containing a motor, crowd the edges of roads.
China’s cities are at the forefront of a quiet swarm of electric
two-wheeled vehicles. Millions now roam their centres. This
transformation of urban mobility is also happening in the West, albeit
with a notable addition that has yet to take off in China: firms that
rent out electric kick-scooters. These are taking many American cities
by storm and are arriving in Europe.
In the bike-mad Netherlands nearly one in three newly bought bikes last
year was electric, up from one in 20 a decade earlier. Commuters, from
the sweat-averse to the environmentally conscious, are keen. Some 40% of
Dutch e-cyclists use them to replace car journeys. Riding for fun is on
the rise, too: a best-selling model in Europe last year was the
e-mountain-bike.
In Germany, 15% of new bikes sold in 2016 were electric, with sales up
by 13% and exports by 66% compared with 2015. Belgium and France are big
markets too. Whereas exports of regular bikes from China, Taiwan and
Vietnam to the European Union fell by 15% between 2014 and 2016, e-bike
exports more than doubled. Businesses are also joining the ride. One of
Germany’s largest electric fleets is owned by Deutsche Post DHL, a
logistics giant, and includes around 12,000 e-bikes and e-trikes
(three-wheeled ones).
...
For riders in American cities, however, e-scooters may steal the show.
Their characteristics fit even more neatly into rental models than
e-bikes do. Powered not just by electricity, but by volleys of venture
money, e-scooters are the latest craze coming out of California. Revenue
for some of the firms renting them is increasing so fast as to surprise
even seasoned Silicon Valley venture capitalists. Bird Rides, a pioneer
of the business, and not yet a year old, has become a “unicorn” faster
than any other American startup before it. Its valuation has now
reportedly reached $2bn.
...
Another aspect of the model is that people can make money by charging
them. Freelance “bird hunters” pick up scooters with empty batteries and
plug them in at home. The startup pays between $5 and $25 per vehicle
charged, depending on how hard they are to find (the locations of “dead”
scooters are shown in another app). Charging mostly happens at night and
the vehicles must be back on the street in specified locations before
7am the next day. That Bird and other firms can outsource this activity
explains why they have been able to launch their services so quickly in
so many cities. Hot on Bird’s wheels is Lime, co-founded by Toby Sun, a
Chinese entrepreneur, which boasts a similar growth rate and valuation
(its chargers are called “juicers”). Launching in Paris this week, Lime
will beat Bird to Europe.
...
Several American cities have reacted to the invasion of e-scooters by
throttling their introduction, although they reduce car traffic and
pollution. San Francisco banned the vehicles in early June and is now
introducing a 24-month pilot programme: the city will only issue permits
to up to five companies and they will be allowed to operate a maximum of
2,500 scooters in total. Santa Monica has opted for more flexibility: a
“dynamic” cap on the number of scooters each firm is allowed to deploy,
which will depend on how much use its vehicles get. Its approach could
become a model, hopes David Sacks of Craft Ventures, an investor in
Bird.
...
It is possible that e-scooters could turn out to be a fad and e-bikes
prove to be better for many trips. But e-vehicles are sure to become a
permanent part of the urban-mobility mix. And, who knows, e-bikes and
e-scooters may both evolve further. Work is already under way to make
them self-driving (think of a Segway on steroids). That may eventually
bring method to the madness on the streets of Amsterdam, Beijing and
beyond.
_______________________________________________
UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub
http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org
Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
