Microcars Coalition formally launches with six founding members and sets category strategy at first assembly
The Microcars Coalition, announced in June in Amsterdam, has formally launched with six European electric minimobility companies as founding members. The Coalition’s first assembly at IAA 2023 Munich saw a strategy set for category growth as the leading alternative to private urban and rural sustainable mobility.
Ten C-level executives and company founders, representing the founding members of the Microcars Coalition, gathered in Munich during the IAA 2023 Conference, to discuss ways to unify efforts and maximize strengths, in order to reinforce the growth of electric fast microcars as the leading alternative to cars in cities.
The current members of the coalition are Ark Motors (UK), Circle Mobility (FR), City Transformer (IL), Kate (FR), Luvly (SE) and Microlino (CH). More companies are expected to join soon.
The coalition believes that encouraging the microcars segment and strengthening its attractiveness will help policymakers return cities to people and turn them to be more sustainable, livable, and fun places to live. Additionally, recognizing the increasing demand for sustainable mobility solutions in rural areas, where shared mobility options are often scarce, the coalition is dedicated to promoting and educating on this topic.
Promoting Sustainable and Livable Cities through Microcars
The coalition is planning to strengthen the awareness of microcars and their advantages in cities and rural areas, ensuring that taxation and subsidy policies are deployed to encourage people to switch from full-size cars to microcars, and working with city leaders to design distinguished exemptions and benefits for microcars in urban traffic and in parking areas.
The coalition will focus its efforts on quadricycles that are classified as L7e, which is the EU category for four-wheeled fast microcars. These are allowed to drive on any type of road, like all full-size cars.
Advantages of Microcars
The L7e microcars are the best solution to many urban challenges. Their large-scale deployment in cities will lead to less pollution, less urban congestion, more energy-efficient transportation, more safety for pedestrians and cyclists, and above all, more public space for green areas, sidewalks, and all kinds of urban community life (today approximately 50% of urban public space is devoted for roads and parking).
Full-size cars (1-3 tons) continue to consume huge amounts of public space and swallow more and more urban areas for highways, lanes, and parking, while approximately 80% of them are carrying only a single person. Their environmental footprint, whether electric or not, is much higher than the footprint of an electric L7e microcar. City leaders around the world are already pushing to reorient urban areas away from cars. Some are advancing plans to remove all types of vehicles from cities and push people to lean only on mass transportation and micro-mobility two-wheel vehicles. However, studies show that approximately a third of daily commuters are not willing to compromise their safety, comfort, flexibility, and privacy.
In September 2022 the McKinsey Center for Future Mobility designated microcars as the missing link between full-size cars and the current alternatives. McKinsey conducted large-scale research that measured the potential acceptance of microcars and determined that microcars “might be the next big thing in urban mobility". McKinsey estimated the Total Addressable Market of this category in Europe, North America, and China can reach the value of $340BN by 2030.
About the Microcars Coalition
Founded in 2023 with its initial introduction in Amsterdam, the Microcars Coalition is a collaborative alliance of leading European electric minimobility companies dedicated to revolutionizing urban transportation. Comprising pioneering members, the coalition is at the forefront of advocating for sustainable, efficient, and eco-friendly urban mobility solutions. With a strategic focus on L7e quadricycles, the coalition aims to address urban challenges by promoting the benefits of microcars over traditional vehicles. Through partnerships, policy advocacy, and public awareness initiatives, the Microcars Coalition is committed to transforming cities into sustainable, vibrant, and community-centric habitats.
We are going to revolutionize the future of urban mobility and reclaim cities back to people”, announced the coalition members at the Munich meeting.