This week Oliver interviews Eric Qwidwenus-Wahlforss, Founder and CEO of Dance. When we first heard that the founders of SoundCloud had got into electric bikes we wondered how does the world of software paralleled across to the world of hardware and electric bikes. But Eric puts up a convincing argument and Dance has made a splash with their launch. This is a great conversation about the nature of how the industry has changed over time and how the business model of micromobility parallels to a lot of other subscription Internet businesses. Specifically, they dig into:- The backstory to Dance, including Eric’s background at Soundcloud in Berlin and the climate motivations for starting Dance- Why they chose the rental business model, and what that enables- More about the bike and the service, and how they see competition- The reception to date- The challenges and ease of fundraising and what has changed in the space over time- Manufacturing in an era of COVID

Micromobility

124: Dance: an ebike built for subscription with CEO Eric Quidenus-Wahlforss

This week we’re releasing the first of the content from the recent Micromobility America conference. In this interview, Lauren Goode from Wired interviews Andrew Yang who was one of the headline speakers. Lauren and Andrew talk about Forward, his new American political party, before moving on to talk about role of micromobility in the future of transport. It’s a great conversation and we in the team really appreciate it when politicians have such progressive takes and are willing to embrace technology in transport like this.Specifically they dig into: - Andrew’s new political party, Forward, and why its important- How local, state and federal regulations play a part in Micromobility’s future- How many scooters Andrew owns- Why micromobility is important for health, both mental and physical- The need for cities to better accomodate these new modes- Why he likes small companies and innovation, and why micromobility is well suited to this- The challenges of electrifying other parts of the fleets. - The links between UBI and micromobility

123: Andrew Yang and the future of politics, transport and micromobility

This week Oliver interviews one of his heroes in the urbanist space, Gabe Klein. Gabe has successfully managed to successfully operate in both the private and public sectors, as one of the first execs at Zipcar, helping form the company that became Car2Go and then was appointed head of DOT in both Washington DC and Chicago. He has a great grounding in the space and understands what works and what doesn’t in cities giving him great perspective of what micromobility offers to the cities and urban transport conversation. It was a wonderful conversation - more like a catch up with a friend than an interview. The team hopes you enjoy!Specifically they dig into:- His background starting in bikes, moving on to Zipcar/what became Car2Go- His move into city government - both DC and then Chicago - and what he learned there around the challenges/opportunities to help shape cities and their transport systems- What he thinks micromobility offers to the transport conversation - both owned and shared - on the variables of cost, speed, convenience, joy and safety.- What he thinks the industry in general has done poorly/needs to improve on.- Whether he believes that micromobility has an integral part in the future of transport both in the US and globally, and what needs to be developed to unlock that potential.Our sponsor for the episode is UBCO. UBCO is accelerating the global transition to electric mobility by designing the world’s toughest electric utility vehicles. Engineered and tested in New Zealand, now adopted by consumers and businesses globally, UBCO’s rugged all-wheel-drive two-wheeler stands out in the lightweight electric vehicle category. As appetite grows for sustainable transport options, UBCO provides utility EVs that are tough, versatile, safe and connected. We interviewed their founder Tim on episode 96, and we were honoured to have them on stage at the recent micromobility America event in the Bay Area on the 23rd of September. Thanks for their support of the show.

122: The urbanist-micromobility conversation with Gabe Klein

This week Oliver interviews Jaideep Dhanoa, Founder and CEO of Fenix, about his experience within the micromobility industry across Asia and the Middle East. Jaideep is an absolute OG of the space. They talk about his experiences with the Chinese bikeshare boom while at Grab, his move back to the Middle East with Circ and now his efforts with Fenix. They talk Turkey which is a market that hasn’t been on the radar till now, but could well become the next Paris or Seoul. It's a great conversation and they really hope you enjoy as much as they did. Specifically they dig into:- Jaideep’s background at Grab working on micromobility integrations, and why that foretold the future explosion of the sector.- His journey back to the Middle East and his efforts with Circ and then the rise from the ashes of Fenix.- The challenges and opportunities for the rise of micromobility in the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC).- The significance of the funding rounds that they’ve received.- The largest markets across the Middle East and Central Asia.- Why Istanbul is the most interesting emergent market for micromobility, and what Fenix is doing to secure their position there.- Jaideep’s reflections on the overall space globally, and where he thinks we’ll get to in 5 years.Our sponsor for the episode is Ubiq. Ubiq is making shared mobility profitable. Most shared mobility businesses are not profitable, as 60%-80% of the demand is not met. Ubiq is automating rebalancing operations to ensure vehicles are in the right place, at the right time, to meet demand. This enables operators to increase revenue by 20% within 8 weeks while also decreasing operational costs. The solution? Automated Rebalancing and Charging as a Service. Ensuring EV fleets remain charged is a major challenge for shared mobility and, if not managed effectively, can be a huge drag on revenues. Ubiq’s Charging as a Service gives you a head start by automating the charging process; its predictive engine is combined with crowdsourced operational execution to provide easily scalable charging operations. This leads to an efficient charging process that will have a major impact on revenue boosting.Best part? It’s plug and play and you can get started right away. Get in touch to find out more here: https://l.linklyhq.com/l/c3iX 

121: Micromobility in the Middle East and Asia Jaideep Dhanoa of Fenix (ex Circ and Grab)

Hey team, this week Oliver interviews Olaf Sakkers about his new book, Mobility Disruption Framework. Olaf is one of the General Partners at Redblue Capital, a new mobility venture investment firm that he founded. Prior to this, he was at Maniv Mobility for 6 years with Michael Granoff, a friend of Micromobility Industries and a previous guest on the podcast. This is one of our favourite episodes. Olaf’s work feels seminal, which is always a good place to start from. It covers a lot of the same ideas covered on this podcast all in one, coherent and cogent framework, and helped us really get our head around concepts that we’ve been thinking about for years but have struggled to  articulate. We cannot recommend it highly enough. Thank you to Reilly Brennan for putting us onto it via his excellent Future of Transportation weekly newsletter.Specifically they talk about:- Olaf’s history with Maniv Mobility and his new venture Redblue.- The origins of the Mobility Disruption framework and its audience.- Why Olaf is bullish on hydrogen for vehicles.- His framework around CATS and DOGs and why the dematerialisation of transport matters- His framework for Throughput Construction Cost, which in our opinion is revolutionary._________________In the meantime. The next Micromobility America conference is now scheduled for the 23rd of September. It’ll be at the Craneway in Richmond, across the bay from San Francisco and have more than 50 top speakers from the industry, more than 1000 global participants and 500+ startups and brands represented. If you love this space and want to find your tribe here, head to micromobility.io to find out more details.

120: The Mobility Disruption Framework with Olaf Sakkers

 This week Oliver interviews Horace about his recent thoughts on the impact of lithium ion batteries on power tools and how the market and products have developed. He also spawns a new framework: batteries we carry, batteries that carry us and batteries that carry themselves. It’s Horace at his best - riffing and letting his brain do what it does.In the meantime, make sure that you get your tickets for Micromobility America, the world’s largest summit devoted to small electric vehicles. It returns to the SF Bay Area on September 23, 2021 for an immersive, in-person gathering. The team are hellbent on breaking the old paradigm of car dependency and getting the world moving again, safely and sustainably. The event will be a jam-packed day of talks, demos, meetings, and test rides with micromobility’s top global founders, policymakers, investors, and influencers. Meet over 500 startups and established players, test the latest technology and vehicles for the first time in nearly two years. It’ll take advantage of the beautiful California weather, doing as much as possible outdoors and headliners include political upstart Andrew Yang, veteran tech reporter Lauren Goode, and e-scooter racing trailblazer Lucas Di Grassi, and dozens more. Check it out more at micromobility.io. The sponsor of the episode is Segway Commercial, the sharing business division of Segway-Ninebot. Their job is to help people and companies launch their own micro-mobility business. No matter the size or location of your scooter fleet, their mission is to make shared micro-mobility simpler and more accessible to all. They will be bringing a full line of electric vehicles to Micromobility America and encourage listeners to reserve their test ride. They’ll have their full range, such as Segway’s IoT-enabled e-Bike and e-Moped, and their full line of shared scooters featuring latest AI technologies, including T60 & T60 lite. To RSVP your test ride, please click on this link. 

119: Battery Systems and Business Models with Horace Dediu

Today Oliver interviews Michael Dunne, founder of Zozogo, former VP of JD Power in China, GM of General Motors Indonesia and host of the Winning in Asia podcast which covers the auto sector in China. Mike has a huge depth of experience in China, which is an area that the team haven’t covered as much as we’d like on this show. The conversation gave rise to a lot of discussions about the lay of the land in the Chinese auto sector, the role of the Chinese auto sector in Micromobility and how micromobility will need to change to see adoption from those who are coming from poverty into wealth and are looking for highly performant and high status vehicles. It’s a great discussion and one that we think you’ll really enjoy. Specifically they dig into:- Mike’s background and how a kid from Detroit ended up in China in the 1990s. - the Dynamics of the local Chinese car industry, including a breakdown of local vs joint ventures vs Tesla. - what (totally crazy!) excess capacity in the auto sector looks like and why that might matter for Micromobility - the top down vs bottom up nature of industry in China, and why the incentives matter. - infrastructure in China - roading vs existing Micromobility- the cultural enablers and disablers for Micromobility in China - and why Micromobility will struggle in the quest for statusIn the meantime. The next Micromobility America conference is now scheduled for the 23rd of September. It’ll be at the Craneway in Richmond, across the bay from San Francisco and have more than 50 top speakers from the industry, more than 1000 global participants and 500+ startups and brands represented. If you love this space and want to find your tribe here, head to micromobility.io to find out more details.

118: China’s automobility, micromobility and more with Michael Dunne from Zozogo/Winning in Asia

Today Oliver interviews Kyle Doerksen, founder/CEO of Onewheel, about the companies journey. Kyle has been in the space since the very beginning and epitomises the builder mentality - having tinkered with lots of components back in the late 2000’s to build his first prototypes. They also talk a lot about funding and manufacturing as OneWheel has taken quite a different approach to others in the space in the USA. This video is also up as a Youtube video, complete with images of the vehicle as well. Specifically, they dig into:- The origins of Onewheel/Kyle’s background and motivation for starting the company- The vehicles and where they're finding a market including the breakdown between commuters and recreational users.- How Kyle thinks about community building, including Onewheel racing events.- How they think about countering the learning curve for the vehicle and their target demographic.- What the market for funding etc. has been like on your journey since the late 2000’s and why Kyle is a fan of bootstrapping.- What Kyle’s excited about in the micromobility space

117: The most micro of micromobility - the Onewheel founder, Kyle Doerksen

Today, Oliver interviews Erdem Ovacik, CEO of Donkey Republic, the first shared micromobility player to go public globally. Donkey Republic is listed on the Nasdaq First North exchange in the Nordics. It’s a great discussion about how the market has evolved, and why they see increasingly tight cooperation with governments being the next phase of shared market developments.Specifically, they dig into: - the backstory of Donkey, including where the name came from and the development of the bikeshare market in Europe- Donkey’s unique approach of being both an operator and SaaS business and the economics of the varying parts of the business.- Why they’ve pursued a ‘virtual dock’ solution rather than just straight free-float and what that’s enabled them as a business.- Why they see the growth of the business being in publicly funded bike share systems in the EU.- How their valuation compares to other companies in the shared space, and what the reception of investors has been like.- what the listing has provided them in terms of options and what the costs have been___________________Thanks to our sponsor for the episode, Ubiq, who is making shared mobility profitable with data-driven services to automate operations and ensure vehicles are in the right place, at the right time, to meet demand. Ubiq’s customers have increased revenue by 20% while also decreasing operational costs.Ubiq offers services including Automated Rebalancing and Charging as a Service (ChaaS), using the power of the crowd to exploit the full potential fleets. The StreetCrowd also service matches vehicles requiring repositioning, or charging with crowd users, allowing shared mobility providers to automate operations. Ubiq is also increasing the efficiency of ops teams, by helping identify underutilized vehicles. With its plug-in forecasting models one can easily see where improvements can be made. Ubiq’s systems are plug and play and you can get started right away. Check them out at Ubiq.ai. _________________The next Micromobility America conference is now scheduled for the 23rd of September. It’ll be in Pier 70 in San Francisco and have more than 50 top speakers from the industry, more than 1000 global participants and 500+ startups and brands represented. If you love this space and want to find your tribe here, head to micromobility.io to find out more details. 

116: Lessons from the first Micromobility IPO with Erdem Ovacik, CEO of Donkey Republic

Micromobility explores the disruption to urban transport that comes from new electric, lightweight utility vehicles. Using the history of computing as a framework, we unpack how e-bikes, scooters and more will change how people get around cities.

hubhopper

Micromobility

hubhopper