🕹Su$tainable Mobility, Volume 27
This bi-weekly newsletter aims to separate the signal from the noise for making money in sustainable transportation: Electrification, mode shift, active and public transit, and mobility aggregation, across both people and goods movement.
This week, instead of a Deep Dive, I’ve added a bit of an update on follow-on funding from startups featured previously in Startup Watch. This issue also has less commentary and more articles in Quick Hits. Let me know your thoughts at the bottom.
STARTUP WATCH: Sustainable mobility startups (generally pre-seed or seed) to keep an eye on
🛣 Breathe EV (Arizona, USA): EV charging network for highway corridors
🚛 Evolectric* (California, USA): Medium and heavy-duty EV conversions with proprietary vehicle control software
🤳🏽 FlexCharging (Washington, USA): Consumer app to handle smart charging
📦 Lessly (New York, USA): Order aggregator, dispatching a private fleet of drivers on bundled routes
🅿️ MOSA (United Kingdom): Smart bike parking infrastructure
🏎 Planet Electric (India): OEM making lightweight EVs designed for India
⚙️Revoh (India): Tier 1 supplier of EV motor controllers
🚕 Solar Taxi (Ghana): Fleet leasing for multiple EV types (cars, bikes)
🇪🇺 Ultima Mobility (France): e-bikes manufactured in the EU from EU components
FUNDING: Capital raises from startups previously featured in Startup Watch
BattGenie (Vol 12) raised $1.5M from Powerhouse and VoLo Earth Ventures
Daze Technologies (Vol 9) raised $1.1M from 035 Investimenti and EIC Fund
Exponent Energy (Vol 11) raised $5M from Your Nest VC, others
Recurrent (Vol 12) raised $4.5M from E8 Angels, Avesta and others
Parcelly (Vol 7) raised a $6.7M Series A from Scania Growth Capital, others
Sunswap (Vol 10) raised $3.8M from Clean Growth Fund and Barclays
Voltpost (Vol 7) raised $1.3M Good News Ventures and Soaring Startup Circle Venture Partners
QUICK HITS: Notable news from the last 2 weeks
MUST READS
📝 Consultancy ICF launched a great primer on how EVs interact with climate change. If you want a clear, understandable overview of some of the major EV issues, this is a great place to start.
🌳Even with a lot of the right ingredients, Portland is still struggling to reduce emissions from transportation. This is a must-read article that shows how EVs won’t be enough to hit our climate goals. We have to wean cities away from urban highways and single passenger vehicle usage.
POLICY & GOVERNMENT
San Francisco finally makes JFK Drive permanently car-free
Tel-Aviv is embracing micro-mobility and walking in a big way
Pittsburgh is launching digital loading zones with Automotus*
Berlin is getting serious about building a bike network
A “15-minute city” is being planned in Utah
California is again considering a bill (AB 2097) to pan parking minimums near transit
Germany may drop plug-in hybrid (PHEV) incentives
India shared its proposed battery swap policy
MICRO-MOBILITY
Lime’s 4th generation scooter continues its national rollout in the US
The Helbiz business is going to hell
Citroën celebrated selling over 20k Ami quadricycles, with demand continuing to rise
CARS & TRUCKS
Elon Musk agreed to buy Twitter; Henrik Fisker deletes his account in protest
Tesla’s volume is now 50% LFP batteries, as opposed to nickel-cobalt-manganese (NMC)
Ford starts production of its electric F-150, and ups production capacity again
BATTERIES & MINING
The concept of sea bed mining, promised as a way to get more EV battery materials, continues to raise eyebrows
Serial battery entrepreneur Lars Carlstrom announced a battery gigafactory near the Salton Sea in Southern California
GOODS MOVEMENT & LOGISTICS
A consortium of 16 states and others sued the US Postal Service (USPS) over electric truck plans
Instacart is still in the doldrums
DHL abandoned StreetScooter e-vans, and now over 3,000 of them might be coming to North America via Canadian startup GoFor
Terminal tractors are electrifying fast
Amazon drone delivery still isn’t taking off
Micro-depots are growing more slowly than expected.
So, tell me your thoughts: Funding updates yes or no? Also, the balance of news vs commentary?
*Automotus, ChargerHelp! and Evolectric are portfolio companies of my employer, LACI (Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator). LACI Impact Fund I invested in ChargerHelp!