The Week in Mobility News — 04 December 2020
By: Imogen Pierce
Tags: Sustainability, Electric Vehicles, Mobility, Millennials, Cars

Millennials and their first car

Now age 24–39 years old, millennials have been landed with accolades of varying levels of flattery; adventurous but also unlikely to flee the nest, civically minded but also selfish, the most educated generation to exist but also impatient selfie takers and proponents of millennial pink.

Us avocado on toast loving, tech savvy millennials make up 22% of the population in Europe and the US, and an overwhelming 82% of the Arrival workforce. However we’ve emerged as somewhat of an anomaly for the automotive world. Millennials are having children later and, with less disposable income compared to their baby boomer parents, are far more au fait with alternative models of usership over ownership. “Uber’d” and “Airbnb’d” have both been verbified by millennials, with assets feeling less of a rite of passage and more of an anchoring burden. In the UK, the average age of a car owner is now 65.

However, like most things this year, Covid has disrupted the balance. A recent survey by EY (EY Mobility Consumer Index) reveals that millennials are leading the global increase in car sales in 2020–2021 and will represent 45% of all first-time car owners. 31% of people who currently do not own a car considering buying one in the next 6 months, whilst 78% of respondents expected to use their cars more frequently in a post-pandemic world, with 24–39 year olds making more than half of that number. China with 90%, India 85% and Germany 81%, led the charge as the most likely markets to increase their car usage.

Is this our “notorious impatience” to “seek adventures” playing out? Have millennials upped and left the city to more affordable suburbs less supported by deliveroo and uber? Maybe for some. Or perhaps vehicles really are, at present the seemingly most sophisticated piece of PPE (personal protective equipment) a person can buy.

Closer inspection of the market in the UK shows that it’s the used car market that is really buoying vehicle registrations which are up 4.4% y-o-y compared to Q3 2019, whilst new vehicle registrations are down 27% compared to Q3 last year. Cazoo, now valued at £2 billion and Cinch are finally bringing second hand sales up to Zoopla standards, allowing an entirely mobile purchase experience without a physical interaction with a store. Cars24, a similar platform in India, is now valued at over $1 billion. Meanwhile even traditional dealers such as Pendragon are seeing between 16–19% of their sales move online. Us “tech savvy” millennials are being offered a consumer experience we can engage with whilst simultaneously making sourdough bread.

Even closer inspection shows that the Top 5 car marks sold in November in the UK are not SUVs or cross over SUVs, which represent the biggest vehicle segment globally. Rather they are small sensible city cars with the trusty Ford Fiesta in gold medal position. Could it be that actually many consumers are simply looking for an immediate solution that will give them the highest likelihood at the lowest cost to get to Christmas with their families without fear of a sneeze on a train resulting in Granny and Grandpa having to spend Christmas alone?

Whilst it is well documented that economic models rarely capture the behavioural economics of a crisis, it is hard not to think about the impact of this trend (even if it is temporary) to public transportation, which despite decreased ridership (just 31% of pre-pandemic levels), remains and must always remain a public service and right for citizens. OEM executives must surely be rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of recovering car sales, but this is not the route to a diverse, sustainable and resilient mobility mix.

No one can begrudge the desire to ensure the holidays can be spent with family or reaching people whilst feeling safe. The loneliness crisis is one that absolutely cannot be ignored. However, perhaps there are ways that we can allow for this spike in car ownership whilst safeguarding future transportation. Taxing car sales to support bus networks or cycle paths, free data licensing agreements to help cities kick off smart city initiatives using vehicle data, incentivising reduced vehicle use. If Millennials truly are “civically minded”, hopefully this is something we may just entertain, if not for us, for the 2.02 children we have in our late 40s…

Elsewhere in the industry

The Indian Ministry for Road Transport and Highways has mandated that OLA and Uber drivers be limited to operating to 12 hours a day and that a minimum of 80% of the ride hailing fare must go to the drivers — Intelligent Transport

GM walks away from equity stake in Nikola — Freight Waves

After going after Nikola, Hindenburg research is attacking Kandi — Inside EVs

Ports in the US are facing major traffic jams following rise in e-commerce — Marketplace

Ikea are using drones to help automate warehouse management -Ikea Today

Tesla, Rivian, Uber and Arrival form zero emission transportation association (ZETA) — The Verge

Autonomous vehicle company Zoox will reveal it’s vehicle on 14 December 2020 — Zoox.com

AI Driven Platform predicts mechanical machine errors — Springwise

ABB installs 1000th fast charger in Norway — abb.com

Smart on street EV charging trial to take place in Camden and Brent in industry first project — Current+-

Tesla recalls 9500 vehicles in the US following roof failure — Reuters

Companies popping up on the radar

RABus Consortium — is testing electrified and autonomous buses as part of public passenger transit in regular urban traffic

Gojek was founded in 2010 in Indonesia as a ride-hailing company and now offers over 20 services from logistics, payments and entertainment

Tortoise — has created remotely controlled trolleys that are driven by trained teleoperators for last mile delivery solutions

Happy Returns — is helping logistics companies reduce the burden and cost of returning goods purchased online

Ark1 — “a fully featured towable trailer home for the digital age”

Miscellaneous

Gitanjali Rao, a 15 year old from Colorado who invented a mobile device to test for lead in drinking water, is Time’s Kid of the Year for 2020. The magazine announced the award Thursday, citing Rao’s ability to apply scientific ideas to real-world problems — and her desire to motivate other kids to take up their own causes. Gitanjali was also named last year in the Forbes 30 under 30 and has recently developed a phone and Web tool named Kindly, which uses artificial intelligence technology to detect possible early signs of cyberbullying.