The traffic, whether urban or rural, is continuing to rise at an unabated pace to keep up with the growing population – not just in India but worldwide. The existing transportation modes especially cars, buses, and trains are struggling to keep up with this emerging transportation crisis. Cities and town planners are under constant pressure to provide, innovative yet, climate-friendly zero emission transport solutions. With COVID-19 impacting public transport and increasing fuel prices and emission concerns are casting doubts on the future of petrol and diesel vehicles, a perfect storm is in the creation for disruption by a new transport mode – Micromobility.
So, what is micromobility? While there are many definitions for this relatively new term in dictionaries and the internet, it can be broadly understood as small, usually electric, novel mobility devices intended for personal transportation or for last-mile deliveries, designed to be driven by one person such as electric standing scooters, cycles, skateboards, hoverboards, segways, etc. Terms like powered transporters, personal mobility devices, personal light electric vehicles, etc., are often used in synonymity for such devices. Recently, SAE International created a set of terminology for describing micromobility vehicles aiming to address the lack of a common vocabulary, as shown in the image below:
In 2019, McKinsey estimated that micromobility, by 2030, could be worth $300B-$500B industry. With countries (or regions of) Germany, France, Singapore, US, UK, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, etc., either legalizing or running trials on micromobility, the last few years have seen enormous investments being poured in – over $5 billion have been invested in micromobility start-ups since 2015 and several are now valued at more than $1 billion.
Micromobility vehicles are typically used for first and last-mile journeys, a term used for shorter journeys lasting for a few miles or kilometers. They typically have speed ranging from 10-25 km/h and can usually cover anywhere between 10-25 kilometers, although the exact speed and range will be dependent upon several other aspects like the type of vehicle model, battery, motor power, speed, weather, rider’s weight, and type of terrain. This gives a perfect ground for using them for short-distance deliveries, commutes or just personal fun. Similar to consumer electronics, they tend to have a lifespan of 2-3 years, promising a solid foundation for y-o-y growth and therefore an opportunity worth grabbing, especially for manufacturers in India.
India, being already a world leader in two-wheeler manufacturing and second only to China in bicycle manufacturing, has the true potential in becoming a world producer as well as consumer of micro-mobility vehicles. Given there is a lack of harmonized international regulations, unlike the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) vehicle regulations for two, three, four, and more than four-wheeled vehicles, this presents another massive opportunity in front of Indian manufacturers to seize it, to become a global leader, and steer the development of international regulations. Some international standards have started emerging for micromobility, most notably of which are:
· EN 17128:2020 – Personal light electric vehicles (PLEV). Requirements and test methods.
· ANSI/CAN/UL-2272:2016 – Electrical Systems for Personal E-Mobility Devices.
· SAE J3194 – Taxonomy and Classification of Powered micromobility Vehicles.
· IEC TC 125 – Personal e-Transporters (under development)
These standards are often used by manufacturers of micromobility devices in conjunction with previously known standards on similar devices or similar component for other vehicles such as:
· EN 15194:2017 – Electrically power-assisted cycles.
· UN38.3 – for the safety of lithium-ion batteries and suitability of their transportation.
· IEC/EN 62133 series – Safety requirements for portable sealed secondary cells, and for batteries.
· EU Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC – essential health and safety requirements for machinery which only applies to products that are to be placed on the EU market.
· ECE R10 – For a demonstration of compliance with the requirements on electromagnetic compatibility (EMC).
The majority of these standards are paving the way to the future of micromobility. The manufacturers should embrace these to design and develop safe vehicles of the future.
