✈️ Hydrogen planes and solar trains 🚂
Vol 85
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.
If you’re a tech provider (startup, corporate, etc.) with a solution in the space of zero-emissions delivery across first or last mile, LACI’s City Innovation Challenge, in partnership with C40 and Climate Mayors has an open RFI that covers the piloting needs of 9 cities. Check it out here.
This week has no Deep Dive on account of the holiday weekend in the US.
🌱STARTUP WATCH: Sustainable mobility startups (pre-seed or seed) to keep an eye on
Estuaire (France): Data to help reduce aviation emissions
Evify (India): Zero-emissions last mile logistics
First Ammonia (New York, USA): Integrated green ammonia production for maritime, etc.
Hertha Metals (Texas, USA): Low-carbon steel and iron
Intents Mobi (India): Mobility data intelligence (e.g., traffic)
Nanablue (California, USA): Sustainable deep-sea mining for metals used in batteries
Parcelrun (Australia): Zero-emissions last mile logistics
Terrawaste (Netherlands): Waste into biofuels
Shift Robotics (Pennsylvania, USA): Robotic shoes to enable faster commutes by foot
Superlocal (California, USA): Hyper personalizable maps
💰FUNDING: Capital raises from startups previously featured in Startup Watch
Feon (formerly eLyft, Vol 47) raised an additional $6.1M for its Seed round from Eight Roads Ventures, EPS Ventures, Fine Structure Venture, Foothill Ventures, MassVentures, and Valkyrie Fund
Dodona Analytics (Vol 80) raised a Series A (amount undisclosed) from Flashpoint and WaVe-X
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📰QUICK HITS: Notable news from the last two weeks
👩🏽⚖️Government, Policies & Cities
🇨🇳 Beijing’s municipal government has launched new regulations for autonomous vehicles. Wuhan and Shenzen have been more open to robotaxis, but Beijing wants to make its mark.
🚉 Amtrak’s new Borealis route connecting the Twin Cities to Chicago turned a profit in 11 days. Perhaps rail isn’t dead in America after all.
🇬🇧 In the UK, the Labour Party trounced the Conservative Party, sending Prime Minister Rishi Sunak packing. Sunak was particularly vocal on transportation issues, canceling the northern leg of the UK high-speed rail program and opposing speed limits and bus lanes.
🇺🇸 The US Supreme Court gutted the “Chevron deference” that prompted the judicial to defer to regulators’ technical expertise regarding the scope of regulations. The EPA’s plan to boost EV car sales and any SEC rulemaking on climate disclosures are very much at risk.
🇺🇳 The election for the next head of the International Seabed Authority is getting nastier. The leadership of the previously obscure UN-affiliated agency will decide whether we mine the seabed floor for metals used in EV batteries.
🔬Markets & Research
🏌️♂️Sales of Chinese-made electric golf carts In the US are up sixfold since 2020. Domestic golf cart manufacturers are asking for the same 100% tariff that will be applied to Chinese-made electric cars.
🇪🇺 Strategy&, part of PWC, has a new report on the potential for LFP batteries in Europe. Another example of Chinese technology leadership prompts market changes in Europe and North America.
🏭 Corporates & Later Stage
🛩️ Lufthansa has launched an “environmental surcharge” on flights from 1 to 72 Euros. The fee helps the company manage the costs of environmental regulation.
🇹🇷 BYD announced an EV factory in Turkey, complimenting its upcoming factory in Hungary. As the EU and US slap tariffs on imports of Chinese-built EVs, leading Chinese EV car makers are building out their network of “transplant” factories across the world.
📉 Tesla sales fell again in Q2. The company has exhausted most of the benefits of frequent price cuts and “Full Self Driving” promos, so all eyes are on future product rollouts like the robotaxi.
🚗 Uber is offering $1K to 175 people in North America to ditch their cars for five weeks. The $1K includes up to $300 for public transit and $200 for car share/car rental.
✈️ Battery leader CATL predicts its aviation-focused batteries will be good for up to 3,000 km (1865 miles) of range. For reference, the average plane trip length in the US is 500 miles.
🛵 Ola Electric, the breakout Indian manufacturer of electric two-wheelers, is poised for an upcoming $660M IPO. That surpasses the size of the expected $500M IPO of Ola Cabs, the Uber copycat that birthed Ola Electric.
🚲 Doordash may try to take over its UK rival Deliveroo. Doordash continues to look for ways to diversify beyond the American market.
🐣 Startups & Early Stage
🌞 SunTrain (Vol 74 Startup Watch) was cited by The Economist in an article about solar meeting mobility. Mobile electrons for the win.
🪦Universal Hydrogen, which raised over $100M in funding for hydrogen-powered aviation, declared bankruptcy earlier this week. That leaves rival Zero Avia playing the prime role in hybrid hydrogen-electric powered planes, along with a host of electric-focused startups (Ampaire, Heart, etc.).
🛬 Speaking of ZeroAvia, American Airlines placed a conditional order for 100 hydrogen-powered engines. ZeroAvia is eager to prove it has the skills to retrofit AA’s Bombardier fleet of 100 CRJ700s.
🚁 Electric air-taxi company Archer secured another $55M investment from Stellantis. This solidifies Stellantis’ role as Archer’s largest shareholder.
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