Micah Toll

Last month, I had the chance to visit Los Angeles and attend Micromobility America, a yearly industry tradeshow focusing on e-bikes, e-scooters, and other small-format vehicles. To get around the city for a few days, I borrowed a VMAX VX2 Extreme from VMAX’s Los Angeles distribution center and it made all the difference in navigating a city that is notoriously hard to get around.

Heybike is well-known as an entry-level electric bike brand, so what is this company doing building a mid-drive e-bike that is leaps and bounds above anything they’ve produced before? That’s exactly what I wanted to find out – and why I decided to become the first to ride this newly introduced e-bike.

Bosch eBike Systems plans to announce something new at CES 2025, perhaps related to advances in its electric bicycle battery technology. A cryptic teaser video gives a taste of what’s to come.

As powerful electric motorbikes such as those from brands like Sur Ron and Talaria become more popular, especially with teens, police departments in the US are increasingly cracking down on their use on public roads.

What would you get if you created the illegitimate love child of a Mercedes G-Wagon and a Brinks armored truck (and perhaps if the Mercedes chain-smoked through the pregnancy)? I think you’d wind up with something like the wacky-looking electric cart that has earned the dubious honor of being named this week’s Awesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week!

This week on Electrek’s Wheel-E podcast, we discuss the most popular news stories from the world of electric bikes and other nontraditional electric vehicles. This time, that includes new laws and regulations in California regarding electric bicycles, the return of ONYX and the company’s electric mopeds, a review of the Xtracycle Hopper, Russian soldiers on electric scooters, and more.

California has led the nation in electric bicycle adoption, helping more people than ever before switch away from cars and toward smaller and more efficient transportation alternatives. However, the proliferation of electric bicycles has also led to a major uptick in higher-power models that have flouted established e-bike laws, often being used on public roads and bike paths to the chagrin of many local residents.

A new law that came into effect this week has now further clarified which electric bicycles are street-legal and which fall afoul of regulations.

In yet another example of ordinary micromobility vehicles being drafted into military use in Russia’s yearslong attack on Ukraine, a new video has emerged showing a failed Russian assault led partially on electric scooters.

Last September, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law SB-1271, which redefines and adds to several electric bicycle regulations in the state. Chief among them is a clarification of the three-class e-bike system, which is likely to now rule that many of the throttle-enabled electric bikes currently available and on the road in California will no longer be street legal.

In an end-of-the-year miracle to close out 2024, the often-lauded ONYX moped maker has announced its return after shutting down operations earlier this year. The company’s return kicks off with the release of 100 limited edition electric mopeds.

I was recently in China on yet another trip to tour the factories and showrooms of several leading micromobility companies, and I’ll have more to share with you on that trip soon. But first, while I was getting ready to fly out of the Shanghai airport, I stumbled upon the coolest little motorized carry-on suitcase that functions like a seated electric scooter. I ended up buying it on the spot.

Here’s what happened next when I tried to take it 8,000 km (5,000 miles) home.

More people are shifting from car-focused lifestyles to a mix of cars and bikes—or even going mostly car-free. While switching to a bike or e-bike might seem limiting, the cycling industry offers a wide range of categories to suit various needs.

Take cargo e-bikes, for example. These are basically the SUVs or pickup trucks of the electric bike world. And having spent many good miles on the Xtracycle Hopper cargo e-bike, the newest offering from the most famous cargo bike maker in the US, I can tell you that this family truck in an e-bike form is capable of a lot more than many people would expect.

In what couldn’t have been more on-the-nose timing, a group of local California newspapers published an editorial on Christmas Eve calling for the end of a generous $2,000 voucher program intended to help low-income Californians afford electric bicycles for transportation.

Sixthreezero’s wide range of electric bike models includes some fairly out-there models, but the company’s new four-wheeled electric bike really charts a new direction in the industry. Take a look at the new ANYterrain Stabilized 4-wheel Electric Bike.

I’ve got a bit of a reputation for testing out some of the wildest, strangest, and most interesting non-car electric vehicles on the internet. In order to find many of these far-fetched electric steeds, all I have to do is pop open a few (dozen) Alibaba tabs in my browser and start window shopping through the world’s largest repository of creative EV engineering. That’s exactly how I found this week’s focus: a surprisingly fast and fun-looking suitcase that you can giddy-up and ride till the wheels fall off, which they very well might.

This week on Electrek’s Wheel-E podcast, we discuss the most popular news stories from the world of electric bikes and other nontraditional electric vehicles. This time that includes Priority Bicycles launching the new Priority Current Plus, Segway going big on e-bikes in the US, California kicking off its e-bike vouchers, NYC may try to put license plates on e-bikes, Micromobility America 2024 coverage, and more.

There’s nothing worse than a weak cargo e-bike that struggles on hills and under heavy loads. That’s why Heybike ensured the deck was stacked in riders’ favor when they built the Heybike Hauler electric cargo bike. With a 1,400W peak-rated motor and 28 mph speeds, it sounded ready to rock n’ roll. And now that I’ve been testing one out for a while, here are my thoughts on the latest budget-oriented yet high-power family e-bike.

California finally got its act together this month, rolling out an electric bike incentive program yesterday that had been in the works for years. But while the noble program was designed to help low-income riders afford a sustainable, independent form of longer-range transportation, it was exhausted in less than an hour and left many more people frustrated with its inaccessibility.

I’m a bit of a bike lock collector. After having my favorite e-bike stolen a few years ago (as well as several less favorite bikes stolen over the years), I’ve gotten much more serious about security. After testing the LITELOK X1, I can tell you that this lock is so overbuilt that I even use it on my electric scooters and motorcycles.

In a brazen operation pulled off by Ukrainian security forces, Russian Lt. Gen. Igor Anatolyevich Kirillov was assassinated in the Russian capital with what appears to be a weaponized electric kickscooter.

Last week, we shared the news of California’s long-awaited electric bicycle rebate program finally preparing to kick off in the Golden State. The rebate program opens to the public tomorrow, and here’s how you can try and snag up to $2,000 to buy your own e-bike.

Over the years I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing a wide range of products designed to help people make their lives easier, greener, and hopefully more fun, too. As the year winds to a close, here’s a look back on the reviews that viewers liked the most, voted on by your clicks. These are the e-bikes, e-motorcycles, and e-products whose reviews had the highest views of the year.

Get ready, New Yorkers. A new bill could soon extend the same car license plate and registration requirements to e-bikes in the largest city in the US. But despite ostensibly focusing on safety, some argue that the move is a misguided attempt to target marginalized communities.

My regular readers may remember that two years ago, I was winning so hard at life that I bought myself a brand-spankin’ new boat as a treat. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still on an independent journalist’s salary here though, so when I say that I had “boat money”, I mean I scraped together enough to buy a $1,000 electric boat directly from China. It’s now been two years since that Alibaba delivery, so let’s see how it’s held up and what it looks like now.