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Micah Toll

MicahToll

Micah Toll is an e-bike industry expert, personal electric vehicle enthusiast, battery nerd, and author of the Amazon #1 bestselling books DIY Lithium Batteries, DIY Solar Power, The Ultimate DIY Ebike Guide and The Electric Bike Manifesto.

The e-bikes that make up Micah’s current daily drivers are the $999 Lectric XP4, the $1,295 Ride1Up Roadster V3, and the $3,299 Priority Current. But it’s a pretty evolving list these days.

You can send Micah tips at Micah@electrek.co, or find him on Twitter, Instagram or TikTok.

Connect with Micah Toll

Wheel-E Podcast: New Yamaha e-bikes, Del Mar test ride, electric Polaris RANGER & more

Wheel-E Podcast by Electrek

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 electric bikes from Yamaha and Delfast, test riding the new LiveWire S2 Del Mar and the Polaris RANGER XP Kinetic, new electric motorcycles from Sur Ron and SUPER73, and lots more.

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Weird Alibaba: Who wants this cheap 33 ft electric cherry picker straight from China?

arm vehicle alibaba

Some of you who follow this tongue-in-cheek series may know that I’ve long sought after an electric aircraft from Alibaba to bestow upon it the dubious honor of being featured here. I’ve gotten close, but no cigar. I still haven’t caught my white whale this week on China’s largest online shopping platform Alibaba, but they say if you’re going to shoot for the stars, then you’d better aim for the lowest one. And that’s what I plan to do with my very own electric aerial work platform. Or as we called them as kids, cherry pickers.

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First ride: I went wild off-roading in the all-electric Polaris RANGER XP Kinetic

polaris ranger xp kinetic micah toll

I was recently invited on an eye-opening trip to visit the sprawling Polaris proving grounds in Wyoming, Minnesota. There, over 600 acres feature 17 miles of trails carved from the earth to test Polaris’ off-road vehicles through a range of heavy duty scenarios. And with the company’s exciting new all-electric RANGER XP Kinetic set to roll out to customers next year, I was stoked for the chance to get an early test on the new utility side-by-side.

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Weird Alibaba: A $5,000 electric ice cream truck that you’ll want to drive every day

ice cream truck

Remember the good ol’ days of hearing the ice cream truck’s jingle coming down the street and running outside with a fistful of quarters to grab your favorite tasty treat?

Yeah, me neither, as I’m in my early 30s, and that stuff was mostly phased out by the time we were kids. Why pay a stranger in a questionably shady truck when your mom can just pick up ice pops at Kroger?

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Wheel-E Podcast! Harley police e-bikes, electric bike theft, Zero DSR/X & more

Wheel-E Podcast by Electrek

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 news about Harley-Davidsons electric motorcycles and electric bicycles, a new two-seater shared e-bike from Veo, e-bike reviews, e-bike anti-theft tips, Zero’s new long range adventure electric motorcycle, and lots more.

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Weird Alibaba: Anyone want a $2,000 school bus-shaped electric food truck from China?

alibaba school bus food truck

Sign me up! The weird and wacky world of Chinese electric vehicles just got even more interesting. That’s because it turns out you can order yourself a fancy-shmancy new electric food truck in the shape of a school bus straight from the other side of the world.

And that makes it a perfect addition to our Awesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week column!

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The best urban electric bikes you can buy for under $1,000 right now

RadMission e-bike Rad Power Bikes

Here at Electrek, I’ve had the rough job of testing literally hundreds of electric bicycles over the past few years (ok fine, it’s super fun). I’ve seen everything from bargain basement models to several ultra high-end electric bikes with cutting-edge materials and advanced production processes.

Sometimes the cheapest electric bikes leave me wanting more, while the super expensive e-bikes offer more than an average rider can afford. As usual, the sweet spot is usually somewhere in the middle. Here’s a list of what I consider to be the best quality electric bikes I’ve tested on the market today that still slip in under the coveted $1,000 mark.

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I just had (another) expensive electric bike stolen. Here’s what would have stopped it

E-bike theft is rampant. Simply put, electric bicycles are prime targets for thieves. They’re readily available, they’re easy to flip, and they’re often quite expensive. Mine was, and now it’s not mine any more thanks to some scumbag bike thief. 

The worst part is that there are several simple things I failed to do that could have saved my bike. Please learn from my mistakes and protect your own e-bike properly so you don’t experience the same heartache as me.

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