Have e-bikes gone too far?
Dates to remember
- CoMotion GLOBAL 2025 in Riyadh Dec. 7-9: Last chance to Register and get your complimentary pass, limited spaces available. Senior public officials, accredited media, and other key stakeholders are invited to register here for a complimentary ticket. Registrations will be reviewed by our comittee.
Welcome to CoMotion NEWS, your weekly roundup of news and analysis of the mobility revolution. If this email was forwarded, you can sign up here for NEWS.
Let’s talk about e-bikes. The addition of a battery and a motor to conventional bicycles has been a great mobility innovation that’s made biking feasible and attractive to many who would not otherwise seriously consider it. Whether you’re an adolescent or an octogenarian, e-bikes dramatically increase the distance and speed you are able to travel without a car. But e-bike battery fires are no joke, and for the first time, the authorities have pointed the finger at an established brand: Rad Power Bikes. And then there are the electric two wheelers that are closer to mopeds than bicycles, and which are linked to a troubling rise in serious injuries. Yes, we can already imagine you saying, “Wait till you hear about cars…”
Meanwhile, Uber and WeRide unveil the first fully driverless taxis in Abu Dhabi while Bolt is teaming up with Pony.ai to unleash robotaxis on the Old Continent. In New York City, bike-sharing is more popular and more expensive than ever, while soon-to-be Mayor Zohran Mamdani is already getting accused of waging a “war on cars.” Also: America has its first ever female crash test dummy, drones are responding to heart attacks in North Carolina and how Iowa City managed to be one of the few places where bus ridership has increased since the pandemic.
What you need to know
Should kids really be riding these things? The New York Times Magazine delves into the issue of e-bikes and e-motos. Even some e-bike advocates are raising concerns about people (particularly kids)riding vehicles that can quickly reach high speeds without any physical exertion. The injuries are mounting. Our two cents: don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. Electric bicycles and newer, cheaper mopeds are both great innovations, but the latter require far greater regulation and scrutiny than the former.
Rad Power Bike owners told they’re in danger: The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission declares that Rad Power Bike e-bikes “pose a risk of serious injury or death” and warns owners to stop riding them due to “hazardous batteries” that can “unexpectedly ignite or explode.” The company strongly denies the agency’s finding, saying that it stands firmly behind the safety of its batteries. The warning couldn’t come at a worse time for Rad Power, which recently warned employees that it was at risk of shutting down in the absence of more funding.
E-bike battery fires are a serious problem that have been linked to dozens of horrific deaths in New York City, but until now they’ve mostly been associated with cheap Chinese-made batteries that delivery workers are buying online. It’s a big deal for regulators to say that a major brand’s batteries are unsafe.
The Political Future of European Autonomy with Pierfrancesco Maran
In cities across the United States, you can now order a self-driving robotaxi with the push of a button. Not so in Europe, where challenges to scaling and piloting keep the technology in an ever-nascent state. What needs to change for the technology to truly take off there, and what’ll be different there than in car-hungry America? Those are the questions our guest today, Pierfrancesco Maran, answers.
Zoox is for real this time: The Amazon-backed autonomous driving startup takes key steps towards becoming a full-fledged robotaxi operator in San Francisco. Like Waymo, it is easing into the game by inviting a certain number of people from its waiting list to get rides. Zoox is distinct in operating in purpose-built autonomous vehicles that lack steering wheels and pedals, freeing up space for more passengers.
Joby sues Archer: In a lawsuit filed in state court, Joby Aviation accuses fellow California eVTOL startup Archer Aviation of stealing trade secrets with the help of a former Joby employee. Archer firmly denies the allegations, accusing Joby of trying to “distract from its own shortcomings.” This is not Archer’s first rodeo — Wisk Aero, now a subsidiary of Boeing, similarly sued it for trade secrets theft in 2021. The two companies later settled.
Join the visionaries shaping transportation, technology, and urban innovation across every continent at CoMotion GLOBAL on Dec. 7-9 at the KAFD Conference Centre in Riyadh.
From global policymakers to urban innovators, these voices are shaping the next era of urban mobility — smarter, more sustainable, and more connected than ever before.
- Majid Mufti, CEO, NEOM Investment Fund
- Dr. James Yu, Chairman & CEO, QCRAFT
- Dr. Jens Wohltorf, Founder & CEO, Blacklane
- Christopher Pappas, Mayor, uMngeni Municipality
- Bouba Casse, Founder & CEO, Greenride Africa
- Millicent Williams, Director, Portland Bureau of Transportation
- Maja Vukićević, Minister of Transport, Government of Montenegro
Register now and get your complimentary pass, limited spaces available. Senior public officials, accredited media, and other key stakeholders are invited to register here for a complimentary ticket. Registrations will be reviewed by our comittee.
Pony Bolts into Europe: Bolt, the chief ride-hailing rival to Uber in Europe, announces it will soon begin making autonomous rides available on its platform in unspecified European cities. The AVs will be courtesy of Pony.ai, the Chinese startup backed by Toyota that recently said it plans to triple its global autonomous driving footprint by the end of next year.
Uber & WeRide now officially driverless in Abu Dhabi: Uber and WeRide, the Chinese autonomous driving company, are now operating a fully driverless robotaxi business in Abu Dhabi. There is no longer anybody in the driver’s seat.
Higher prices, higher ridership: Even though the cost of a ride has risen 77% (adjusted for inflation) since the arrival of Citi Bike in 2013, more New Yorkers are using the rental bikes than ever, likely because of the big increase in protected bike infrastructure. The city’s Independent Budget Office, however, raised concerns that the high prices might be deterring many from riding.
More money, fewer workers: Redwood Materials, which recycles batteries and manufactures cathodes, lays off 5% of its staff only weeks after raising $350 million in a Series E round.
Mamdani enters NYC’s transportation culture war: Transportation is one of many ways that the New York Post is going after Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani. The Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid decries Mamdani’s appointment of “car-hating” activist Ben Furnas as a transportation adviser to his transition team. Furnas is the head of advocacy group Transportation Alternatives, which lobbies for promoting walking and biking, often at the expense of cars.
Someone call the drones! Clemmons, North Carolina has become the first U.S. town to dispatch drones carrying defibrillators in real 911-cardiac-arrest emergencies — with the devices arriving in about four minutes, roughly 2–3 minutes faster than average EMS arrival times.
Finally, a female crash test dummy: The U.S. Department of Transportation has approved the design of the first advanced crash-test dummy modeled on a woman, featuring three times as many sensors as the old standard and anatomically calibrated to better reflect female physiology. For decades, the standard dummy was based on a 5’9, 171-lb man, who is far less likely to get killed or seriously injured in a crash than the typical female passenger.
What we’re reading
When Iowa City made its buses free: The New York Times offers a flattering perspective on Iowa City’s elimination of bus fares. While transit ridership nationally languishes at about 85% of pre-pandemic levels, it is at 118% in Iowa City, a college town of 75,000. There is probably a better case for free transit in cities where transit ridership is traditionally low and fares don’t account for a big portion of transit spending - not the case in New York, where Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has proposed fare-free buses.
The eVTOL headwinds: Michael Barnard of CleanTechnica writes that the recent plunge in eVTOL stocks reflects a growing awareness that air taxis are unlikely to soon become commonplace. He argues that the near term use case for electric aviation is far more likely to be logistics than passenger travel.
