The Station: All the news out of TC Sessions: Mobility, #PoorElon and a sobering NHTSA report

VW Group CEO Herbert Diess provided a few more details about plans to increase its market share in the U.S. to 10% by the end of the decade, including that a new standalone factory with a capacity of about 300,000 vehicles a year will be built to support the new independent Scout brand.Waymo co-CEO Dmitry Dolgov announced that the company is pulling the human safety driver out of its recently expanded robotaxi operations in downtown Phoenix. Musk’s response was to call “ESG a scam” and to share a meme that says the ESG score just “determines how compliant your business is with the leftist agenda.” Finally, a New York Times Presents documentary aired called “Elon Musk’s Crash Course,” that examines Tesla’s controversial pursuit of a self-driving car.One result of this internet drama has been “#PoorElon” trending on Twitter this week, mostly by users who mocked the CEO for complaining about being attacked by Democrats – this from the richest man in the world – and also for siding with Republicans who they say probably won’t help the EV initiative. After enjoying years of undying support, it seems Elon is losing ground with the group of consumers that helped Tesla become the largest EV seller in the world.Arcimoto and Joco have teamed up to bring Arcimoto’s Deliverator, a tiny e-vehicle, to Manhattan’s streets as an option for Joco’s delivery partners. Bird might also pull out of markets that it’s finding unprofitable or unfavorable.Delfast e-bikes are being used by Ukrainian armed forces to fire rockets at Russian troops.Dott is making its first move outside Europe and bringing its shared scooters to Israel.England has announced £200m in funding for cycling and pedestrian infrastructure, including a series of €1.5m grants for cities to conduct “mini-Holland” feasibility studies.Harley-Davidson said it needs to stop assembling and shipping motorcycles for two weeks, aside from its electric models, due to a problem with parts from a supplier.While we’re on the subject, Harley-Davidson’s Serial 1 e-bikes will apparently be integrated with Google’s software products, like digital security with pinpoint location accuracy, route planning and navigation and a real-time ride data dashboard. Inspiration Mobility, an EV asset financing firm, has secured a $215 million capital raise, bringing its total funding to $415 million.Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe bought 41,000 shares of company stock worth about $1 million. It’s unclear what prompted the executive to buy the shares.Surf Air Mobility said it plans to go public with SPAC Tuscan Holdings Corporation II with a total enterprise equity value of $1.42 billion.Argo AI is launching driverless testing operations in Miami and Austin, a step in the right direction towards commercialization.Aurora has expanded its autonomous freight pilot with FedEx to include a new lane from Fort Worth to El Paso, Texas.Gatik, an autonomous vehicle technology developer focused on middle-mile logistics, is expanding operations to Kansas following the signing of Senate Bill 313 into law by Gov. Laura Kelly.