This year has seen some major shifts in the world of personal mobility. Car companies are seeing their world changing fast. Financial and job losses are now weekly announcements and new partnerships are being forged to reduce costs. The winds of congestion and pollution are making the dream of car ownership into a nightmare as cities “densify” and cities come to understand the social costs of the private automobile.
The electrication of drivetrains is nearly universally agreed as the direction of travel.
Many companies are launching battery only electric vehicles. Tesla’s model 3 has arrived and is challenging the IC engined luxury mid size segment. Hyundai has joined Nissan in the B segment.
However large metal boxs don’t solve congestion issues and smaller denser transports are needed.
E-scooters continue to get the headlines as they spread across major cities providing a new way fun way of getting about especially for short journeys and younger people. E-bikes are a great hit with the older demographic and for longer journeys.
The E-bikes are quickly replacing the shared bikes in cities as they allow for longer, faster and more comfortable journeys(no sweat). The E-scooters are yet to show a profit and are only sustained by VC money at the moment in the hope/expectation that they might make returns. Personal E-bikes will dominate in the longterm with the convenience of keeping at home and the ability to carry more, further, faster and in comfort.
The Personal transport future will be E-cars for the ‘out of city’ miles and E-bikes for the inner city ones. Auxtail integrates E-bikes with E-cars to make this future seamless.
