Welcome back to The Station, your central hub for all the past, present and future ways to move people and packages from Point A to Point B. Reporter Rebecca Bellan is back in the chair driver for the next few weeks while I keep my laptop and head out for some adventures (plane, ferry and bike included).
micromobbin’
India led the shift to electric two-wheelers, but the rollback of a popular government incentive caused sales to nosedive, Jagmeet Singh reports.
In May, the Indian government revised its incentive scheme, lowering subsidies from $183 per kWh (up to 40% of the vehicle price) to $122 per kWh of battery capacity (up to 15% in the price of the vehicle). The design changes resulted in a sudden disruption in sales. In June, sales fell more than 56%, and it marked the lowest sales month in about a year.
Not only does this affect consumers, but it can also lead to consolidation in the industry and even the exit of some players. It just goes to show, government subsidies help people buy green alternatives, and they can boost nascent industries.
In other news. . .
We are doing great e-bike roundup, so you can find the best electric bike to fit your needs — whether you’re a commuter or a delivery worker, a parent or a senior, a bargain hunter or a mountain biker. And the best part is, MANY of these companies are having sales right now, so get in today for some great mid-summer deals!
former Aston Martin boss Andy Palmer he wants Poison One to “be the Volvo of scooters.”
NYC invites delivery workers to apply for the city’s e-bike trade-in program to get potentially fire-causing e-bike batteries off the streets.
Upway partnered with Super73 to manage the sale of all pre-owned e-bikes.
A 12-year-old boy died while riding a Butter e-scooter in Birmingham, UK, prompting the city to require a selfie check from riders to prevent underage riding.
Deal of the week
Deal of the week? More like no deal.
Troubled British commercial EV maker Reaching Killed in what would have been Kensington Capital Acquisition Corp.’s second SPAC deal. The company announced a plan to de-SPAC (it debuted publicly through a SPAC with CIIG Merger Corp. in 2021) in April 2023, but it appears that the plan is for falling liquidity.
As regular readers of The Station will remember, this whole dual SPAC business raised a few of our eyebrows. Wejo is the first double SPAC, meaning a company that goes public through a SPAC merger and then does a second SPAC merger in search of additional capital.
It is unclear what caused the death of the second Arrival SPAC. Are the terms? And is Arrival or Kensington backing out?
Some deals that caught my attention. . .
Finn, a German car subscription company with US operations, has signed a €25 million asset-backed facility with Avellinia Capital, to help finance the purchase of its vehicles. The company says this means it can dedicate future capital to growth initiatives instead of crowd funding.
Move, an African mobility fintech startup has raised $8 million from Absa Corporate and Investment Banking. It has raised a total of $28 million so far.
NEU Battery Materials, a Singapore-based lithium-ion battery recycling startup, raised $3.7 million in a seed round led by SGInnovate. The round was also participated by ComfortDelGro Ventures, Shift4Good, Paragon Ventures I and other angel investors.
Nicholas failed again to get enough shareholders to vote on a proposal that would have allowed it to issue more shares, and thus raise more capital. But a new law will soon help the company avoid the need to secure more than 50% of all outstanding shares. The company also secured a $41.9 million grant from the California Transportation Commission to build six heavy-duty hydrogen refueling stations throughout Southern California.
RapidFlightan unmanned aircraft manufacturing company headquartered in Virginia, acquired the intellectual property portfolio of the non-existent Local Motors. 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.
Great reads and other tidbits
Autonomous vehicles
A group of San Francisco street safety activists has been disabled navigation and Waymo robotaxis by placing traffic cones on their hoods. The now-viral prank was done in protest of the vehicles that many accused of malfunctioning and disrupting the flow of traffic, emergency vehicles and public transit.
Volkswagen launched an autonomous vehicle test program in Austin using a fleet of 10 all-electric ID Buzz-equipped vehicles Mobileyetechnology.
in China WeRide obtained the first nationwide autonomous driving license from the United Arab Emirates to test and deploy its robotaxis, delivery vans, and other autonomous vehicles on public roads.
Electric vehicles, charging and batteries
EV chargers can be easily hacked, and that is a catastrophic risk that threatens drivers and the power grid.
We cannot be satisfied The FiatThe beautiful Topolino EV. The automaker said this week that the quadricycle will feature a series of amazing accessories, including a small shower, “designed for days spent on the beach on the Italian coast.” In general, in general, the coast of Italy.
Fisker fell short of its own production expectations in the second quarter. The EV upstart produced 1,022 Ocean SUVs, when it was expected to produce between 1,400 and 1,700. The company blamed a shortage of components from its sub-suppliers.
Panasonic says it needs to build four more battery factories to meet its target 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 flying their electric delivery vans for Amazon in Europe. The first 300 can be seen on the streets of Germany. The automaker also recorded a three-fold increase in deliveries in the second quarter – 12,640 units to be exact – sending shares soaring by 16%. Rivian said it is on track to deliver its first guidance of 50,000 units this year.
TC+ Reporter Tim De Chant evaluates the seven things every EV fast-charging network needs.
Gig economy
Uber, DoorDash, GrubHub and Relay sued New York City to block minimum wage standards for gig workers. They said regulators used the wrong data to calculate the new compensation rules. A new $18 minimum wage for delivery workers was set earlier this month.
Appreciation of Uber in Saudi Arabia is a nightmare, and that’s because of state regulations on who is allowed to work for ride-hailing apps.
Miscellaneous
Konux, a deep technology AI scale-up based in Munich, is building a predictive maintenance SaaS business to improve railway infrastructure. Its mission, as reported by Natasha Lomas, is to drive digitization and change the most sustainable mass transit option using AI plus IoT.
Tesla
Tesla gets its own section this week. We are here.
Tesla begins hiring “ADAS Test Operators” outside of Europe as it moves to expand the FSD (Full Self-Driving) beta and Autopilot suite outside of North America. Obviously, australian is next.
There are more and more Cybertruck views, and the Tesla bros are freaking out about it.
The company delivered a record 466,140 units in the second quarter, up 10% YoY. Investors will be watching the earnings day for healthy margins, as many of Tesla’s sales are driven by price cuts.
Speaking of price cuts…Tesla has dropped prices on Model 3 and ModelY cars in Japan today.
The automaker owned by Elon Musk has started a price war China, and now the company is trying to calm the waters. Tesla joins Chinese automakers, including its biggest rival BYDto sign a letter promising to promote “core socialist values” and compete fairly in the country’s auto market.
But then…Tesla went ahead and rolled a global referral program, which gives $500 cash back to buyers who buy a Model 3 or Model Y. The program is rolling out in Tesla’s biggest markets, including the US and, you guessed it, China. (Also in Germany, France, Canada, Mexico, Hong Kong and Singapore.)
Tesla has many converts to it North American Charging Standard (NACS). Mercedes-Benz is the latest to adopt NACS, joining several other automakers such as GM, Ford, Volvo and Polestar. Mercedes EVs will have access to Tesla supercharging stations by 2024. The automaker also plans to expand its own charging network, with more than 2,500 chargers in North America.
and Kentucky now requires that EV charging companies include Tesla‘s charging plug, as well as standard CCS, if they want to get federal dollars from a state program to electrify highways. Kentucky was the first to go through with it, but Texas and Washington are thinking about it.
the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is demanding that Tesla provide more information on its driver monitoring system as part of an ongoing review of Autopilot’s safety.
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