Micah Toll

If you know anything about me or the topics I cover, you’ll know two of my biggest hobbies revolve around electric bicycles and DIY projects. So combining them has always been a natural conclusion for me – to the point that I even wrote the book on the subject.

With so many great electric bicycles already available at your local bike shop or from direct-to-consumer online companies, some people may wonder why it could be worth performing your electric bike conversion anymore. But the ability to repurpose that bike gathering dust in your garage or build the exact e-bike of your dreams means that a DIY option is a still a great choice for many riders. Plus, being able to do it all for just a few hundred bucks helps sweeten the pot!

The West Coast Electric Highway in the US, which sees electric car charging stations dotting the route from the Canadian border in the north to the Mexican border in the south, is getting a new type of EV charging station as well. Now you’ll be able to charge up your electric bike along the way too, at least in the Oregon section.

Gates, a leading belt transmission manufacturer that creates chain-replacing belt drives for bicycles, motorcycles and other power transmission needs, has just unveiled the newest update to its Carbon Drive portfolio of belt drive products. The updates include new as well as upgraded components across its four key product lines (ST TM, CDN TM, CDC TM, CDX TM).

When Harley-Davidson first unveiled its original LiveWire electric motorcycle and began taking orders nearly four years ago, the industry was largely in consensus about the bike itself. It scored impressive marks and high acclaim for performance and style, but its sales suffered due to the original lofty price of nearly $30,000 (though the price did drop to $22,000 after entering the LiveWire sub-brand). And so it’s no surprise that ever since the original launch, significant hype has been building for Harley-Davidson’s next lower-cost electric motorcycle.

High-capacity portable power stations and home backup batteries that can store lots of energy and dump lots of power are already changing the game when it comes to going off-grid or preparing for a disaster that you hope will never come. And the Bluetti AC200MAX showcases a great example of how far the industry is moving toward putting that power and portability in the palm of your hand (or wrapped in your steel grip, for something like this 62-pound beast… more on that in a moment).

When Harley-Davidson spun off its electric bicycle division into Serial 1 and then released several models of urban e-bikes bearing the “/CTY” suffix, the company was dropping a fairly heavy hint that non-city electric bikes would soon follow. Now Serial 1 has made good on that heavy foreshadowing, unveiling the brand’s first electric mountain bike known as the BASH/MTN.

I’ve been calling for an electric-only division of motorcycle licenses for years, now that e-motos are gaining in popularity. We aren’t there yet, but at least now some new riders can learn to ride and get their motorcycle license entirely on an electric two-wheeler.

Schwinn’s electric bicycle line has significantly expanded over the last couple years. When I first started riding electric Schwinns, I was largely limited to cruiser e-bikes. But with several new commuter-specific e-bikes like the Schwinn Coston CE that I recently tested, this household bicycle name is making a big move on the wider e-bike market.

I’ll admit it – things have gotten pretty weird and wild in this column in the past. But while vehicles like electric submarines, backyard trains, and party buses shaped like tigers all have a certain indescribable charm to them, this week’s electric vehicle stretches the limits of what you could reasonably call “a vehicle.”

But then again, that’s what we’re here for. It just wouldn’t be the Awesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week if it wasn’t both awesome and weird. And while I know I may never get a Pulitzer for this thankless work, it’s enough to know that people out there are at least scratching their heads and going, “Well, huh.” So buckle up because this one is going to be a wild ride.

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 week that includes reviewing Juiced Bike’s new fun-sized RipRacer e-bike, exploring how NYC wants to take 25% of its streets away from cars, new more affordable utility e-bikes from Specialized, Ukraine’s use of military e-bikes, the recently launched LiveWire Del Mar electric motorcycle from Harley-Davidson, and lots more. We’ll also be joined at the top of the show by Juiced Bikes Founder and CEO Tora Harris.

Milwaukee-based motorcycle company Harley-Davidson is feeling the sting of supply chain issues that have plagued major manufacturers for years. Now the company has been forced to pause production across all of its various motorcycles, with the exception of its LiveWire electric motorcycles.

Spoiler alert: Electric vehicles are the future, and they’re destined to replace fossil fuel-powered cars. Unless you’ve got your head firmly buried in the sand, that won’t come as a shocker to you.

But credit where credit is due. We humans, we’re a pretty ingenious animal. We figured out how to build massive societies fueled in large part by poking holes in the ground and then burning the super-pressurized pre-historic algae we found. That was a neat trick, until we realized that it had the small downside of destroying the world we’re leaving for our kids. Whoops.

Now we’re in the process of righting that wrong. Some are embracing the change wholeheartedly, and others are being dragged into the future, kicking and screaming. But make no mistake, it’s the future and it’s coming.

It’s not a strange sight to see silent flying boats zipping around the Stockholm Archipelago, where Swedish boatmaker Candela produces its C-7 hydrofoil electric speedboats. That popular model has already spread across Europe and the US as well, but is soon to have its position as the company’s flagship model usurped by Candela’s next-generation C-8. The new model will be formally launched a week from today at the Salone di Nautico Boat Show in Venice, Italy.

Kawasaki is a bit late to the electric motorcycle game, especially when compared to American motorcycle companies like Zero and Harley-Davidson’s LiveWire. That’s why the company’s promise late last year of three new electric motorcycles to be launched in 2022 was received with such excitement. But now we’re getting word that the first of those models may be a bit underwhelming, at least if you’re old enough to lace your own boots.

The descriptors “nimble” and “fat tire” rarely go together as well as they do with the Juiced RipRacer. This self-proclaimed fun-sized electric bike deftly combines the exhilaration of go-anywhere electric bikes with the convenience of small-format micromobility vehicles.

Ukrainian electric motorbike company Delfast has seen its electric bikes used for some vastly diverse tasks, such as breaking Guinness World Records and outfitting Mexican police. But their latest use is perhaps the bikes’ most important mission yet: helping Ukrainian soldiers strike a David vs. Goliath blow against Russia’s barbaric invasion of their country.

It’s been over two years since Harley-Davidson spun off Serial 1 as its quasi-independent electric bicycle company. The first generation bikes were met with nearly universal acclaim for their sleek design and high-quality manufacturing. Now the company is back to announce its second generation e-bikes, this time touting a new partnership with Google Cloud.

It was an inevitability that once electric bikes started skyrocketing in popularity, more e-bike thefts would soon follow. But NYC-based electric bike company Wing Bikes is helping riders fight back with a free location tracker included along with its electric bikes.

I’ve personally tested dozens of electric scooters and covered hundreds more over the years, but never before have I rested my eyes, feet or butt on one quite as cool or weird as the Fiido Beast. It’s a novel design that, despite having a few issues, is a heck of a lot of fun to ride.

That joy comes from two main advantages: a ton of power and the ability to ride it either sitting or standing.

Arcimoto’s Fun Utility Vehicles (FUVs) have proven to be a versatile three-wheeled electric vehicle platform for all sorts of interesting variations. From camera cars to ambulance trikes, an FUV can be just about anything. And thanks to a new partnership with urban e-bike delivery company JOCO, New York City is about to get a fleet of delivery EVs built on Arcimoto’s ultra-versatile platform.

Dott, one of several leading European electric scooter-sharing companies, announced today that it is making its first expansion outside the continent. The first stop on the scooter company’s world tour? Sun-streaked Tel Aviv.

May is National Bike Month in the United States. With a combination of more cities focusing on walkability/bikeability as well as an increasingly alarming outlook on climate change, a larger discussion on switching to smaller vehicles couldn’t come soon enough.

But for those who never considered switching to a bicycle before, it may be time to take a second look. And that’s because with the invention and subsequent skyrocketing in popularity of electric bikes, switching from an expensive and polluting car to a cheap and efficient two-wheeled alternative is easier than ever. In fact, I go nearly everywhere by electric bike and I barely even touch pedal bikes anymore. Here’s why.

Electric cargo bikes, especially four-wheeled versions that function as mini delivery vans, are becoming an increasingly common solution for mail delivery around the world. As USPS struggles with its own delivery van ordering scandal, the latest example of alternative lightweight and efficient electric four-wheeler delivery vehicles saw yet another European country demonstrating the effectiveness of switching away from gas-powered mail trucks.

I’ll be honest, I’m not quite sure how to describe this thing. If a ride-on lawnmower and a dump truck made an illegitimate child in an electrical storm, this would probably be it. The quirky vehicle has the maneuverability of a shopping cart mixed with the utility of a wheelbarrow.

It’s everything I could ever want in a one-seater electric dump truck, especially since I didn’t know the category even existed until I stumbled upon this little wonder-trucklet. But now that it’s raised its dumpy head above the tall grass and peaked at the great big world out yonder, it has officially won the dubious honor of becoming this week’s Awesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week.