Confused By ‘Micromobility’ And ‘Last Mile’ Tech? Here’s What It Is

I was talking with a group recently about my work covering transportation tech, including “micro-mobility” and “last mile” technologies, when I got the question about what those terms mean. Transportation has many buzzwords, acronyms, and proprietary terms like any industry. Still, since many people aren’t as much of a nerd about it as myself, I thought I’d expand a bit on both topics.

Mobility – and Micromobility

“Mobility” broadly encompasses any technology people use to move about other than walking (which is technically still a form of “mobility”). Not long ago, “mobility” industries were centered on things like wheelchairs, walking-speed scooters and so forth. Today, “mobility” is a broad umbrella that includes aircraft, cars, trains, motorbikes, bicycles and so forth. Basically, if it moves you without walking, it’s part of the transportation and mobility sector. The recent electrification of many legacy forms of lightweight transportation – such as bicycles, skateboards and scooters – has added a growing subset called “micromobility.”

The most apparent and common “micromobility” product is the e-bike (above). Yamaha produced the first mass-market e-bikes over 30 years ago in Japan (below). Still, for most people, e-bikes have only been on the radar for the last five to ten years.

ForbesThink E-bikes Are A New Idea? Yamaha Is Celebrating Decades Of Development With A Special ModelBy William Roberson

As the popularity of e-bikes quickly increased, other traditionally human-powered devices, including skateboards, push (or “kick”) scooters, and even unicycles have been electrified, thanks to the rapid advances in battery and electric motor technologies that have trickled down from the electric car industry.

Generally, if the device is small, has wheels, and is battery-powered, it’s likely considered a “micromobility” product. Yes, even those once-ubiquitous “hoverboard” devices qualify as a micromobility product. It doesn’t matter what age a person is or what they are using too get around as long as it does most of the work for you.

How is micromobility different from ‘last mile’ technology?

I live about five miles from the Portland, Oregon, airport. Typically, I take a light rail train to the airport from a stop about a mile from my home. When I get home from a work trip, often at night when I’m tired and don’t want to wait for a rideshare to go that single mile from the train station, and I don’t feel like walking, I’ll grab one of those rental push scooters and ride it that last mile to my house. That’s the literal definition of “last mile” technology.

Last-mile tech can be a rental scooter, rental e-bike (or regular bike), or a small electric motor scooter (top photo), which are much more common in Asia and Europe. And it doesn’t have to be a rental device, either. Many people now own a personal last-mile device such as an electric motorscooter, electric push scooter, or some other machine they can take on a train or put in a co-worker’s car that they can then deploy to cover that last stretch to home without walking.

ForbesGet Moving With These Fun And Surprisingly Practical Electric Push ScootersBy William Roberson

Last-mile technologies are also helpful for short-distance delivery work as well. During a recent trip to London and Paris, I was impressed by the vast number of people using either personal micromobility products or utilizing rental devices to commute, deliver goods, or just get around the big city at speeds much faster than walking, driving or taking mass transit.

Clearly, there is a lot of overlap between micromobility devices and last-mile tech since many people use micromobility devices to cover that final distance to home (or any destination). That trend will continue as more people discover they can use lightweight, small but highly effective electrified devices to get places, especially in crowded cities where driving a car or truck may be the slowest way to get from A to B.

Let’s hear your feedback! Subscribing to Forbes.com allows you to leave comments and supports contributors like myself. You can also get notifications when I post new articles and reviews. Follow me on Facebook and LinkedIn. I do not use AI tools to produce content.