Micah Toll

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 the launch of Lectric Ebike’s first ever full-size fat tire e-bike, a review of the RadRunner 3 Plus from Rad Power Bikes, Lime’s newly-launched seated electric scooter, Honda’s upcoming Motocompacto electric scooter, Metacycle financial woes, and more.

The RadRunner 3 Plus is an electric utility/cargo bike that deserves a serious second look because of its unique place in the market, straddling the line between value-oriented and premium-focused. It comes from Rad Power Bikes, one of the leading budget-minded e-bike brands in the US, yet is part of the company’s push toward the more premium segment of the market.

A few months ago, we covered Honda’s unveiling of its smallest electric vehicle, the Motocompacto. The company has finally opened the order books on its little electric scooter, meaning you could own a new Honda EV for under $1,000.

Lectric Ebikes, the Phoenix-based electric bicycle company known for the best-selling e-bike in the US, has just opened order books for its latest model. The new Lectric XPeak is the brand’s first non-20″ tire e-bike, ushering a big new look for the company that maintains the same low-level pricing.

Lime has a new electric scooter dropping today, and you’ll want to be seated for the announcement… and for the ride. The new scooter, creatively named the “Gen4 Seated,” adds a padded platform to the ride for a more comfortable and stable experience.

In recent years there has been a growing interest in autonomous vehicles. Big tech and car companies are pouring tons of cash into making the dream of self-driving cars a reality. It may sound like we’re finally close to achieving the future we’ve been sold on from countless sci-fi movies, but perhaps we’re missing the mark here. Maybe what we really need is not another fancier car on the road, but more folks on two wheels instead – I’m talking of course about bicycles and electric bikes.

Not only are more cities and states promoting financials incentives to help residents buy electric bicycles, but the incentives are often growing in value, too.

The Solar Sal 24 is an electric cuddy cabin boat built by Belmont Boatworks in Belmont, Maine. The boat scored the wave-making designation of “first 100% solar US Coast Guard-inspected passenger vessel.”

Powered by an electric motor using batteries recharged by solar panels, it carries enough photovoltaic cells to provide infinite range, at least as long as the sun is shining.

Electric motorcycles have demonstrated superior performance in many areas from acceleration to speed and even towing, but they’ve long trailed behind ICE-bikes when it comes to range. That’s set to change with the launch of the new 2024 Evoke 6061-GT electric motorcycle, now preaparing to make its North American debut.

The popular motorcycle YouTuber Priyanka Kochhar, better known by her handle BikeWithGirl, recently took a stab at a major towing attempt on an electric motorcycle.

I like to say that the strange and fun vehicles we dredge up each week for the Awesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week column cover everything on land, sea, and even in the air. But every now and again, we go past mere wheels, wings, and hulls to something truly category-defying. I’m not sure how to classify this electrically powered backyard roller coaster this week, but I sure am glad that it exists.

Just when you thought that value-based electric bike brand Lectric Ebikes had revealed it all, they drop one more awesomely-priced e-bike into the mix. Meet the Lectric XPeak, a new adventure-style e-bike with some seriously good bang-for-your-buck.

Princeton University’s Electric Speedboat team has set a new world water speed record for an electric-powered boat, reaching an average speed of 114 mph (183 km/h or 99 knots) on Lake Townsend near Greensboro, North Carolina.

I know, it sounds like a gimmick. But it’s not – or at least it’s not meant to be. The Moonwalkers are motorized shoes that are designed to help you walk around faster and get where you’re going in less time.

What happens when you take a heavy duty cargo trike and make it even, well, heavier duty? You end up with something that looks like the Semi-Trike, a new cargo solution from Civilized Cycles.

Today at the Japan Mobility Show, we’re getting our first look at an electric car concept that employs Gogoro’s swappable batteries. Called the Project X, it’s an initiative from the MIH Consortium developed by Foxconn.

There are plenty of low-cost electric bikes out there, but the lowest-priced options can sometimes be more trouble than they’re worth. Two main sub-$1,000 folding electric bikes have risen to the top of the bang-for-your-buck list, the Lectric XP 3.0 and the Ride1Up Portola.

So which one is right for you?

The SONDORS Metacycle electric motorcycle, once the darling of the burgeoning commuter e-motorcycle market, has suffered repeated setbacks since its original launch. Deliveries slowed to a trickle earlier this year and by many accounts appear to have since ceased. Reservation holders, some who have been waiting for years, have been left in the dark.

Speculation has run rampant regarding SONDORS’s current precarious financial situation. With the brand seemingly entering radio silence, we’re now getting more details than ever before from an unlikely source. One of the company’s factories in China tells Electrek that the California-based e-bike and e-moto company has stopped paying its bills, abandoning thousands of partially and fully-assembled motorcycles in the factory’s storage warehouses.

Gogoro, the leading industry player in the swappable batteries for light electric vehicles market, has just unveiled its new Gogoro CrossOver Smartscooter. The electric two-wheeler is the company’s first entirely new platform of the year, yet relies on the same network of over 1 million swappable batteries as Gogoro’s other electric scooters.

If you’re wondering what that rumble you just felt was, it’s a shockwave rippling through the e-bike market in the US after this morning’s launch of the Ride1Up Portola. The $995 e-bike could upend the race for top-value e-bikes thanks to its low price combined with impressive performance.

Over 30 million Americans are affected by Type 2 diabetes, though it is far from a uniquely American health issue. Now though, a new study is shining light on just how electric bikes may be a key tool for helping treat the condition in adults.

Whatever your feelings about the upcoming Tesla Cybertruck are, from brave futurism to misguided flop, there’s no denying that the design is distinctive. And for those who want to capture that same design with half the wheels and a tiny fraction of the pedestrian-murdering mass, the new Infinite Machine P1 electric scooter may be perfect for you.

It just wouldn’t be a classicAwesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week entry if it didn’t include some wacky, far-out machine that seemingly has no reason to exist. So, in true AWAEVOTW fashion, feast your eyes on this free-range bumper car inspired by a Troncycle!

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 Yamaha’s concepts for wild new electric bikes and self-balancing motorcycles, an e-bike designed for women, Bird’s new e-bikes, BMW launching production of its latest electric motorcycle, a microcar review, and more.