September 7th, 2025
Thoughts on micro mobility – e-bikes and e-scooters.
Amazon currently does not have a way to deliver bigger items like them to lockers.
Some of the companies might charge higher rates for similar items than Amazon. Best Buy and speciality shops. Amazon is nice because selection is greater at times. I will say if something is broken it is nice to have shop close by to talk with.
I think micro mobility has potential to help homeless and people with less access to funding and cash. I think the increased options creates a few problems. There is an increase in danger combined with potentially less feeling of need to protect (people that are homeless or down on luck might not protect safety in ideal ways, might be more will to accept unacceptable risk and increased danger – if I die not like my life was all that great anyway mentality – not the most ideal mindset to foster, might be why some people by extremely fast motorcycles and ride them close to 100mph without a helmet).
Micro mobility is along side expensive cars that if scratched might cost allot yet most micro-mobility does not require insurance. Potential for fast vehicles going at speeds 30mph+ without insurance which could be problematic. Society seems to value vehicle owners (cars, trucks, and SUVs) over pedestrians and micro mobility traffic – dollars spent on roads for cars vs cross walks, bike lanes?
It would be nice if gas station and convenience stores, or even the public transit places had fast charging options for e-bikes and scooters – increased range and better infrastructure support could make the option more attractive.
I like the idea of businesses like Lime and Bird – yet I am not currently a fan of their Uber and Lyft like model – have to pay per minute. It is a similar problem I have with data services with cell phones that aren’t paid – use all your data then start getting charge $5/gb without knowing you are still using data seems like it could make financial responsibility more difficult. If the scooter services had a $50 a month fee for all you could use I could see it making more sense though I am not sure how profitable that would be.
Solar Panels and Power stations are getting better. Fast charging and able to replace batteries on e-scooters and e-bikes would help allot. Potentially partner programs where one could trade out batteries for a charged one like a propane tank.
Being homeless and not having access to charge an e-bike or a scooter limits options. Add in a power station that could be theoretically strapped to the back of an e-bike could give options combined with 400w foldable solar blankets (Renogy has one). Would be nice to have a direct connect option for power stations to e-bikes (1000 wh for a 33lb) could add some range as well as the charging is much faster Anker Solix 1000 Gen 2 for instance. Would possibly move cost more to realm of wear and tear on rest of bike rather than energy – have energy for distance might not equate to have sufficient break pads, tire treads etc for long journeys.
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