🦞All-electric lobster fishing and Popemobiles
Vol 96
This newsletter aims to separate the signal from the noise for investment in all things sustainable transportation: Electrification, mode shift, active and public transit, and mobility aggregation, across both people and goods movement.
There is no Deep Dive this issue.
Reminder! Enduring Planet (where I serve as a venture scout) has launched Enduring Planet CFO, a trusted startup partner for bookkeeping, accounting, financial planning and analysis, and fundraising.
🌱STARTUP WATCH: Sustainable mobility startups (pre-seed or seed) to keep an eye on
AllRide (Germany): Mobility aggregator from the founders of Sono Motors, TIER Mobility & Moovel
EV Maritime (New Zealand): Manufacturer of electric ferries
Hilo EV (United Kingdom): Supplier of safety and connectivity systems for micromobility
Lola Vision Systems (California, USA): AI semiconductors for autonomous machines
Outbound Aerospace (Washington, USA): Emerging aircraft manufacturer using 3D printing to reduce emissions
Roundabout Technologies (California): AI-powered traffic light system
Sealion Energy (Pennsylvania, USA): Carnegie Mellon spinout focused on nanoscale conducting polymer coatings for battery cathodes
Starflow (Norway): Hardware platform to optimize the flow of energy between solar panels, EV chargers, batteries, and home energy systems
vsNEW (New York, USA): EV battery diagnostic report for dealers
Wada Hoppah (Massachusetts, USA ): Electric ferry operator
💰FUNDING: Capital raises from startups previously featured in Startup Watch
Alt Mobility (Vol 26) raised a $10M Series A from Eurazeo, LetsVenture, Shell Ventures, and others
Dovetail Aviation (Vol 41) secured a 270K Australian dollar grant from LaunchVic
Reefilla (Vol 48) raised a 4.5M EUR Seed Round from CDP Venture Capital, Azimut Liberia Impresa, HCapital Partners, and others
Carbmee (Vol 61) raised a 20M EUR Series A from Fly Ventures and CommerzVentures
OnTo Technology (Vol 80) secured a $3.6M grant from ARPA-E for its battery circularity technology
As a reminder, the startup data set is free (for now) to subscribers. If you’re a subscriber interested in accessing the Airtable with how these startups raised $2.3 billion in follow-on funding, please let me know.
📰QUICK HITS: Notable news from the last two weeks
👩🏽⚖️Government, Policies & Cities
🗽New York City approved a landmark zoning reform to build more housing. Alas, America’s least-car-dependent big city hasn’t (yet) joined the growing list of cities abolishing parking minimums.
🅿️ Cardiff is moving forward with plans to charge heavy vehicles more for parking. Paris and Montreal get credit for being early movers, but this approach will likely grow over the long term.
🚲 London is turning its back on free-float e-bike sharing, requiring that bikes be parked in designated areas when not being used. The more micromobility evolves, the more it looks like a complement to existing public transport operations.
🚌 London’s new electric buses have a radical tram-like look and charge in 6 minutes. A good example of how the shift to electric can make the passenger experience significantly better.
🚈 Caltrain’s new all-electric trains are driving over a 50% increase in ridership. Just like in London, passengers are embracing the convenience benefits of electrification.
🤪 In San Francisco, some residents are blaming pedestrians for traffic deaths. For reasons why this logic is bogus, see the Deep Dive in Volume 9 entitled Jaywalking is a Scam.
🌊 California promises to bring back EV incentives if the Trump administration reverses the federal EV tax credit. As with Trump’s 2017-2021 mandate, cities and states are again ready to fill the climate leadership void.
🦞 Canada’s Membertou First Nation tribal government launched the country’s first all-electric lobster fishing boat. Vehicle-to-grid technology means the boat can support the electric grid when power demands surge.
🚲 Ontario is considering tearing up bike lanes. This would put the Canadian province on a short list of governments that reversed bike infrastructure. Culver City removed its bike infrastructure and now LA Metro is asking for its money back.
📨 The new USPS electric truck might draw smirks from the general public, but postal carriers are giving the new vehicles a thumbs up. The whisper-quiet new trucks offer air conditioning, a missing feature on the old workhorse.
🇨🇳 China is banning the export of certain rare earth minerals to the US. For context, see the Deep Dive entitled The Next Cold War is Already Here.
🇯🇵 Japan is considering an automated freight belt from Tokyo to Osaka to bypass highways. In this case, the automation is partly due to a shortage of truck drivers.
🚄 The incoming European Commissioner for Transport is promising a legislative push for ‘one-click booking’ system for train travel. This would make the rail booking system look a lot more like the air travel market.
Fun fact: Newsletter subscribers live in 86 countries, including Namibia, Estonia, New Zealand, Uruguay, and Kazakhstan. Not yet a subscriber?
🔬Markets & Research
👩🏽⚖️ The US National Bureau of Economic Research has a new study linking industrial policy measures to commercial innovations in electric vehicles. Short answer: policy can be one of the major drivers of innovation.
Know someone who should be aware of what’s happening in this space?
🏭 Corporates & Later Stage
🚢 Meta (aka Facebook) signed a deal with Danish tanker owner Norden to use sustainable maritime fuels in its supply chain. Meta is a minnow in the shipping game versus companies like Amazon or PepsiCo, but it’s got big sustainability ambitions.
🛳️ Cruise ship operators, increasingly pushed out of European ports, are focusing on private Caribbean islands. For more on cruise ships, see the Deep Dive All A-Boat Sustainable Cruising.
🤖 Shares of Uber and Lyft dropped 10% on news that Alphabet’s Waymo is opening for business in Miami; ridehail drivers in LA and Phoenix claim that Waymo’s model is depressing their earnings. It’s going to be a bumpy ride for Uber and Lyft shareholders if every Waymo step forward causes a double-digit change in their stock price.
🚌 Uber has extended its shared shuttle bus business to India. Much like its ridehailing business, Uber partners with private fleet operators who fulfill the service.
🥀 Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares was abruptly dismissed while VW workers went on strike over plant closures, both in part over the EV transition. The European auto market is turning into a bloodbath, with EVs highlighting painful weaknesses like Stellantis’ lack of organic growth and VW’s absurd cost bloat.
🙊 Tesla might be building a teleoperations team for its robotaxi service. If you combine this with Elon Musk whispering a federal robotaxi regulatory framework to President Trump, it might be enough to overcome Tesla’s technology deficit versus Waymo.
🇻🇦Mercedes delivered its first first all-electric Popemobile. Nice that Vatican City is moving from plug-in hybrid to all-electric.
😌 Universal plug-and-charge for EVs should be coming to US charger networks next year. One of the many needed steps to make public charging more convenient and reliable.
🚲 In US car dealerships, service and parts departments are starting to sell e-bikes. Parts departments often sell accessories at a similar price to e-cargo bikes; they’re not as good of a fit on the new car showroom floor, where sales staff are angling to close $50K deals.
🐣 Startups & Early Stage
🚂 SunTrain (Startup Watch Vol 74), in collaboration with Xcel Energy and NREL, announced the WATT pilot project in Colorado. This is a fascinating use of mobility systems to help our antiquated transmission grid. Sometimes electrons just want to be mobile.
🇳🇬 Nigerian fintech/mobility startup Moove is now powering Waymo fleet operations in Phoenix, with Miami up next. Moove is putting the pieces together for an impressive IPO…
Fun fact: Newsletter subscribers live in 49 of the 50 US States. The top 5 states represented are California, New York, Washington, Texas, and Massachusetts. Not yet a subscriber?
LOVE IT!! Being from an area that has A LOT of lobsterman, this would be excellent. Happy to help make it happen.