563 all the ebike news that's fit for a phone

What's new in the world of electric micro mobility? Welcome to another fabulous(ly incomplete) edition of Bike & Battery!

Here's the Land District, from an Ohio company. No pedals, it's more of an e moto. But it's not exactly trying to be a motorcycle. Someday I'm hoping that this blogging will trick someone into sending me a demo unit to write about.

You hear that Land?

Or Volcon? It strikes me that these two bikes are prime for a comparison test.

Head to head? Let's do it!

Toyota teased two electric trucks for Thailand. How sweet is this one, the IMV-0? Why doesn't the US get any of these practical trucks? Look at the size of that bed! And conveniently low to the ground! (Whenever I get into the back of Deb's truck, I have to crawl like a baby.)

The Lightyear car gets enough energy from the sun to do a short commute every day. That's kinda sweet.

Still a car, tho.

As we're moving into EV world, a reminder: range isn't everything. If you only use your car to drive a hundred miles a week, you don't need to haul all the extra battery around with you. It's a waste of your money and perfectly good energy.

Speaking of things we'll never see in the US. Why? Oh, it probably won't meet crash standards, plus there's the chicken tax. 

What's that? Oh, back in the early '60s, the US and Europe were having a trade war over chicken. We were flooding the European market with cheap chicken. So they slapped some tariffs on us, and in retaliation, we put a 25% tarriff on imported small trucks. (I dunno, maybe Fiat or Cosgrove or Mercedes had a small truck?) Anyway, the result has been 60 years of paying extra for Japanese trucks.

(Which is why our first Tacoma was made in California, and now with NAFTA, the second one was made in Mexico.)

Still looking for the right ebike for me. Out here in the country, my priorities are a little different than in the city. We don't have a flight of stairs into an apartment, so weight is less of an issue. And we have lots of trails, so off road capability is kind of important.

This Pivot Shuttle is light enough at 18kg (maybe 45 pounds) to do the apartment thing, but also I'm sure that's great for performance. Plus it's an e-MTB, aka a mountain bike, so it's good for off road.

It has a super light weight motor, with just ok torque and battery. Although with it's mid-drive design, those numbers will probably translate into a lovely riding experience.

Here's the money shot. As in, this tech is going to cost you $11k.

This inflation act that got passed last summer has some seriously wonky stuff in it, major market manipulation that who knows what will happen. Hopefully good things. Better than the initial takeaway, which is that small transactions, like eBay selling, are going to get reported for tax purposes. 

The big one for EVs has to do with which cars will be eligible for a tax break. Basically, the government is trying to get you to buy one with US parts. 

Let's see how this works. 

Still a few screencraps to go, let's do this!

Exactly!

Why? Self-balancing, in an unexpected way.

Will probably wind up in satellites before ebikes, tho.

Sounds like nothing, is actually huge. Salt-water chips, baby.

A friend spotted this in Copenhagen.

So I had to look it up. That's 11.9k off, the real price is 50k somethings. Denmark doesn't use Euros?

From the same company, Dream Bikes.

Something to do with salt water again.

I think the promise is some sort of fuel cell. It sucks hydrogen out of water, creating energy in the process.

This is borderline kook-tech, I might not invest in the start-up, but shit if they pull it off, we might all invest in the product.

So, speaking of off-road and kind of heavy, the Frey CC Fat is looking kinda good to me. Lots of power (1000 watts, 150+ nm), mid-drive, full-suspension, decent parts, and a ride that's a little more upright than a mountain bike.

Hmm...$4.5k, tho. Still... Kinda nice for this area.

This looks comparable, but that actually isn't a mid-drive, it just looks like one. I dunno, if we're spending $2.5k on a bike, can we skip the bogus huffy-esque fake tech?

Note the model's carefully positioned leg, hiding the real motor. 

Apparently all the bikes that were on back order during the pandemic have now arrived in the US. Might be a good time to shop.

Be safe!