Micromobility Europe 2019 in Berlin

Micromobility Europe has happened in Berlin this week and was a brilliant conference. According to the organizers, it was the largest Micromobility conference so far.

Here are the key observations that I took away:

·       Industry analyst Horace Dediu argued in his keynote that Micromobility customers are actually not interested in renting a vehicle like an e-scooter or bike but are really paying for URBAN FREEDOM. It is the higher degree of flexibility and sustainability that will slow down the growth of cars and free up parking space.

·       On subsequent panels, participants agreed that a shake out of scooter companies in the next 12 months will bring down the number of operators from around 15 or 20 today to just between 4 and 8. Scooter companies will in the future more strongly vary and differentiate in their designs.

·       Pedro Machado from Lisbon shared that the city is planning to substitute the free-floating scooter model with a station-based concept, to remove clutter from the streets. US company Swiftmile already presented a station for charging and parking at their stand in the exhibition.

·       The Mobility Data Specification (MDS) that it is widely used in the US for sharing data between mobility operators and cities the US is not compliant with Europe’s GDPR. As mobility-data sharing as well as personal privacy is in the interest of everyone practical solutions are expected to evolve.

·       Joe Kraus, President of Lime called for the overall Micromobility industry to focus on 1) safety 2) sustainability and 3) alignment with cities. Lime is by far the leader and has achieved more than 100 million rides in the last 12 months.

·       TIER CEO Lawrence Leuschner emphasized their push toward durability of their scooters. He is hoping for a lifetime of 18 months (today’s industry average is only 3 months).

·       Segway Ninebot presented their Autonomous Scooter, including a live demo of tele-operations of scooters in China. While the idea is technically remarkable, I believe it became clear that its realization is several years away.

So in a nutshell, Micromobility is certainly continuing to grow. The industry will presumably consolidate to fewer players and understands what issues need to be resolved to gain further acceptance among citizens and cities. It looks like we will see a move from ‘scooters everywhere’ to stronger regulation. From my personal perspective, e-bikes and personal ownership are currently underrated and will become more widespread.

As always, I’d be interested in your views.