From 2010-2011, Weintraub covered all things Google for Fortune Magazine, amassing an impressive rolodex of Google contacts and a love for Silicon Valley tech culture.
It turns out that his hobby – the 9to5Mac news site – was always his favorite, and in 2011, he went full time adding his Fortune Google followers to 9to5Google, in addition to adding the style and commerce component of 9to5Toys gear and deals site. In 2013, Weintraub bought one of Tesla’s first Model S EVs off of the assembly line, which began his love affair with electric vehicles and green energy — this, in turn, became Electrekin 2014.To cover the burgeoning world of drones and UAVs led by China’s DJI, DroneDJ was born in 2018, and then more recently, Connectthewatts and SpaceExplored were launched to cover connected fitness and space.
From 1997-2007, Weintraub was a Global IT director and Web Developer for a number of companies, with stints at multimedia and branding agencies in Paris, Los Angeles, New York, Sydney, Hong Kong, Madrid, and London before becoming a publisher/writer.
Seth received a bachelor’s degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the University of Southern California with a minor in Multimedia and Creative Technology in 1997. In 2004, he received a Master’s from NYU’s Tisch School of the Art’s ITP program.
Weintraub is a licensed single-engine private pilot and a certified open-water scuba diver, and he spent over a year backpacking to 60 cities in 23 countries. Whatever free time exists is now guaranteed to his wonderful girlfriend, Alana, and two amazing sons.
Foils aren’t necessarily a new technology. I remember taking a Hydrofoil passenger ferry from Hong Kong to Macau every few weeks when I lived in Asia in the late 90s. By knifing through the water rather than riding on top of it, the foils are much faster, more efficient and also, as a byproduct, are much smoother (no seasickness!).
How does that translate to the latest eFoil surf technology from Lift foil surfboards? The company flew me out to their Puerto Rican HQ, factory, and testing grounds to find out…
The e-bike industry has stalled a little bit in terms of new features, and with harsh new legislation coming in from places like California, maybe it is time to start looking at e-bikes that are light, efficient, and smooth rather than how much wattage they can output. The Tenways CGO600 Pro-C, which comes in at just 37 pounds, with a smooth torque sensor is a model e-bike you should keep an eye on…
2024’s Electrek EV of the year will again be controversial: The Volvo EX30. The svelt car from the Swedish brand that is owned by a Chinese company tops our list because it embodies the future of EVs. The EX30 was originally going to be made in only in China, but is now being built in Europe as well and it could even be built in the US where deliveries are just now starting.
The non controversial part is that this is an amazing EV. From the Swedish minimalist interior and exterior styling, to the AWD version’s 3.4 0-60 time (the quickest accelerating Volvo) to its $35,000 starting price, the EX30 screams innovation. But, as they say, that’s not all…
GMC’s third EV truck, if you count the Hummer and the Hummer SUV as two separate trucks, is the Sierra EV. The luxury pickup debuted as a $100K 2024 model 1 last year and got some modest upgrades for 2025. GMC flew us to the hills above Silicon Valley to check it out.
With Camp Mode, Tesla started a new era for car campers. Quiet climate control, a multimedia entertainment display, a glass roof, and a large rear flat compartment area that easily fits most 6′ adults with a mattress mean that hotels on long solo drives are now optional. It can also be a nice camping option for those who don’t want to sleep on the ground, a convenient nap spot, or a nice place to relax and (Netflix and?) chill with that special someone.
Ford has been busy with incremental updates to its popular Mustang Mach-E and they showed off the 2025 version to journalists this week. Here’s what we saw:
Today, Rivian is pushing a software update to its vehicles and Android and iOS apps that includes some fixes, features, and perhaps most notably, some neat Halloween surprises.
Volvo flew us to Newport Beach, California, to test its new EX90 7-seat AWD SUV. For many people, including my family, this is the holy grail of EVs. It is part electric luxury sports sedan, part four-wheel-drive off-roader and trailer hauler, and most importantly, part minivan.
The Paris 2024 Olympics just concluded and whatever you think of actual games (they were great!) the city itself deserves a lot of credit for giving its visitors a first class experience. Here at Electrek, we’ll focus on the transportation aspect…
In case your neighbor didn’t have a Green Machine (video below) growing up as I did, the “big wheels” alternative looked like a little 3-wheeled pedal sled that was steered with two sticks instead of handlebars or a steering wheel. If you wanted to spin out (and what else would you want to do?), you’d simply push one stick forward and the other stick back and hold on!
Well, a lot has changed in the almost 50 years since the Green Machine debuted, and Huffy knows it has many adults, like myself, nostalgic for that drift experience without having to do all of that pedaling.
Pedego announced a slew of big new bikes this month, and we got to try out our favorite, the Pedego Moto. This brawny, two-person, class 2/3 beast leaves its competitors in the dust in so many ways. As Micah would say, “Let’s check it out…”
It has been a big few weeks for smart electrical panel-maker Span. The company announced major deals with Pulte Homes and utilities with Landis + Gyr. The startup also expanded its lineup to include small home and apartment-sized panels and even subpanels
But firstly, why do we even need $3500 smart electric panels?
Rivian gave us a quick 15 minutes with CEO RJ Scaringe to talk about the R2 and R3. Believe me, we took full advantage of that time to ask the pressing questions you told us you had in our watch party and many others. Some of his answers are the first we’ve heard on the matter.
Along with the Rivian R2 and surprise R3/R3X, Rivian announced a slew of new and updated accessories that work with the R2 and perhaps more of its vehicles.
Induction stoves are a great, safe way to save on electricity costs and can heat much quicker, safer, and more accurately than natural gas or propane stoves. But a new breed of these stoves includes huge batteries, which opens up new opportunities by only requiring a 120V outlet, offering 40-sec water boiling, backup power to other appliances like the refrigerator, and even IRA tax rebates. Let’s take a look at two of these new models and try to understand if it makes sense for an oven to have a huge battery over a more centralized Powerwall type of home backup battery.
This is part of a continuing series at Electrek that focuses on home energy usage, see our coverage of heat pump washer/dryers
Cyrusher, a Chinese company known for its burly electric bikes, surprised many in the snowboarding community when it announced its electric snowboard in December. Part snowboard and part snowmobile/e-skateboard/scooter, the Cyrusher Ripple mounts a jagged 3kW hub motor-wheel in a rear hole on a snowboard and puts the battery in a backpack that the rider must wear. Cyrusher states that the Ripple can go 30+ miles at speeds up to 30 miles per hour.
To our surprise, they actually had some review models and sent us one that we took up to Vermont to put through the paces. Would it actually work, and more importantly, would it be a fun form of transportation?
Rivian today announced that the company is going to show the world the smaller, more value-focused R2 at their Laguna showroom on March 7th. We uncovered the launch event date and location earlier, but the move is now official and could include some surprises.
Over the past few months, a new type of washer-dryer combo has emerged on the scene in North America (Yes, Europe and Asia have had great, tiny heat pump tech for decades). These new big combo units from GE Profile UltraFast PFQ97HSPVDS and now LG WashCombo WM6998HBA (introduced at CES) are now on the market.
I’ve had the GE Profile for 2 weeks, and the LG is on the way for testing head-to-head, but for now, I want to tell you about all of the ways both of these things are amazing, and energy savings is just the tip of the iceberg…
Ecoflow announced the Delta Ultra today at CES, its monster 6kWh home LFP battery pack on wheels. Its 240V/30A= 7.2kW output can back up a home the way a whole home generator or Tesla Powerwall can. However, this thing has wheels and can be loaded into a vehicle to be transported to a campsite or a remote location. EcoFlow provided us with one last month and we’ve taken it to an off-grid tiny home which it kept powered, even in the cold of winter, for a whole weekend. Let’s have a deeper look…
The software Over-the-Air (OTA) fix has already been installed on 85%, and counting, of the affected 7800 early Rivian R1T and R1S vehicles. It will save the automaker from requiring owners to visit service centers or deploy mobile service units. At the same time, it will satisfy the NHTSA recall, though Rivian will offer owners a hardware replacement accelerator if desired.
As an electric bike/car enthusiast and snowboarder, I’ve always wondered if an electric, cross-country snowboard would be possible. You know, when the mountain isn’t available? Cyrusher’s $3300 Ripple is one of the first attempts at building such a monster.
Porsche invited us out to Leipzig, Germany, all the way back in October to show off the Panamera Plug-in Hybrid and the new PPE-based Macan EV. We were kept on an incredibly short leash but learned a lot about the upcoming SUV, and paradoxically, we were left with almost as many questions as answers…
I’ve spent the better part of the last month with the Juiced Scorpion X2 and two years with its predecessor, the Scorpion X. Juiced has changed a few things with the X2, but what hasn’t changed is that this descendant of one of the first “moped e-bikes” and our once vehicle of the year is still a great ride. But is the X2 really an improvement over the X1?
One piece of the Tesla Cybertruck launch we didn’t see coming (nor did Tesla event planners or CEO, apparently) was the Range Extender, which we are still learning more about now. But we already know answers to some questions, like how Cybertruck owners expect to tow or travel long distances, especially in the cold, without charging as often.
But the 130-mile add-on battery also presents some opportunities that hearken back to when Tesla demonstrated battery swap stations. And its interface to the Cybertruck even presents opportunities for other energy sources, from solar to hydrogen to even petroleum generators.
