Agora CO2 Redox Battery Wins Global Deeptech Competitions & Has 1 Year ROI
Agora Energy Technologies just won the 2021 Keeling Curve Prize for Capture & Utilization, sharing it with another firm this year. Earlier this year, it won first prize in the Hello Tomorrow global deeptech competition against 5,000 entrants from 128 countries. Agora’s technology is revolutionary, and the awards are well deserved. They picked up the Asian Alibaba Entrepreneur Fund Award in 2020, and the CEO, Christina Gyenge, PhD, is one of three 2021 Fellows in the Cartier Women’s Initiative science and technology global competition as well. As a result, they’ve been talking to global technology firms, and Canadian trade ambassadors for France and Hong Kong among others.
So, what is their award-winning technology, and what’s so great about it? For those interested in the deep electrochemistry, I recommend reading their peer-reviewed paper on their approach, The carbon dioxide redox flow battery: Bifunctional CO2 reduction/formate oxidation electrocatalysis on binary and ternary catalysts published May 31st, 2021 in the Journal of Power Sources (Impact factor: a very respectable 8.87 in 2021), but otherwise, here’s the low down.
Agora’s technology is a redox flow battery. That tech has been around for a while. NASA was working on them in the 1970s. The first one was stood up at the University of New South Wales, Australia in 1984, using the metal vanadium as a core component of its electrolyte. Commercial variants started appearing in the past decade, all using metals as the basis of their electrolytes. Bill Gates has invested in an iron-based one via Breakthrough, and it’s one of the few of his investments in climate solutions I consider to be a decent choice.
Where do redox flow batteries fit? I have an opinion, having gone deep on energy storage over the past few years, including a series on closed-loop, pumped storage hydro and looking at lithium-ion battery futures with a PhD student of Stanford’s Mark Z. Jacobson, as well as talking with Professor Jacobson directly about storage. In my opinion, lithium-ion in its various incarnations will deal with a lot of 4-8 hour demand management and ancillary grid balancing requirements, including some duck-curve issues. Redox flow batteries will compete a bit for same day storage, depending on the technology, and extend out for 1-3 days or even longer up to several weeks. Closed-loop, pumped hydro storage will mostly take over after 2-3 days and extend out to 2-3 week storage. A lot less storage is required than many people assert, but still a great deal of storage is required, and the solutions will overlap. In other words, redox flow batteries will be a big part of a big market.
Lithium-ion batteries are limited to short-term storage because their energy and power attributes scale in lockstep. The more MWh a lithium-ion battery can store, by definition the more MW it supplies. There are some hacks you can do with that, but effectively you get to a point where you don’t need that many MW at a time, so lithium-ion is unwieldy in the system. Great for demand management with the likely 20 TWh of lithium ion batteries in electric vehicles in the US alone by 2050 by my estimation, but that won’t help much for next day or next week storage.
Redox flow batteries dodge this. They use big tanks of chemicals separate from the bits that transform one type of chemical into another, storing the energy, or transforming it back or into something else, releasing the energy. That separates the power and energy attributes of the battery. You can scale up the MWh storage of the battery as much as you want, while maintaining the same MW of electricity capacity. They share that benefit with closed-loop, pumped storage hydro, but without the necessity to put 30-foot diameter tunnels through miles of rock.
Think of it like a car engine and a gas tank. The gas tank is the energy store, and determines how long you can drive for. The engine provides the horsepower, which says how much work you can do. Energy is MWh. Horsepower is MW. Lithium-ion batteries put both in a single package, and to get more energy, you have to add lots of both energy and power, meaning you end up with too much power a lot of the time. But redox flow batteries separate the gas tank and the engine, just like in car. That means you can get as much energy as you need, with only as much power as you need. And because they are stationary, you can make the gas tank as big as you want.
Not All Redox Flow Batteries Are Created Equal
Most of the technologies were patented decades ago. Except for Agora’s, they all use metals, often toxic ones, and usually expensive ones. They have weaknesses in terms of energy density or durability. The metals used for electrolytes and the semi-precious metals used for catalysts make them capital intensive. Many of the technologies have unsolved challenges. They are batteries, and that’s all they are. Many are good, but aren’t amazing. And they are comparatively expensive.
Then there’s Agora’s solution. First, the team.
The co-founders are Christina Gyenge and Elod Gyenge, both PhDs. Christina is CEO and in addition to her chemical engineering PhD has done post-doctoral work at Stanford and multi-disciplinary work across biology and biological systems chemical and energy engineering. Elod is the President of the company and CSO as well as a professor of chemical engineering at UBC. He is a leader in electrochemical engineering research and has been recognized with numerous international awards and honors. Elod has extensive industrial experience and has collaborated with Ballard and Fortune 500 companies on chemical engineering around fuel cells and related technologies. The Director of R&D at Agora is Dr. Pooya Hosseini-Benhangi. Pooya obtained his PhD at UBC in Elod’s group and has also spent time applying electrochemistry to gold mineral processing as a post-doctoral fellow. The core redox flow battery innovations are protected by patents in various stages of finalization in 52 countries, with the Israeli patent just awarded. Several electrochemical and chemical engineers round out the mix.
Christina and Elod started working in this space in 2012. They have three primary innovations that are unique as far as I am aware.
The first is that they are using gaseous CO2 in the charging phase in a hybrid gas-liquid redox flow battery. Reversing it in the closed-loop model produces CO2 again, unpacking the energy. A major advantage of this is that CO2 and the other chemicals are cheap, non-toxic and common, unlike the metal-based electrolytes of vanadium and other metal-based redox batteries. As with many fields, paradigms are hard to dig out of, and batteries being metal-based is one of those tough paradigms. The closed-loop battery model doesn’t consume the CO2, but CO2 is very cheap by the ton, $30-$100, making the economics of this approach better than metal-based batteries, where the metals often cost thousands or tens of thousands of dollars per ton. Their work on CO2 gas diffusion exchange is cutting edge, well ahead of most others, and a massive technical differentiator as well as a strong value add.
The second deep insight is their catalyst. It’s a core part of their intellectual capital that they are protecting for a simple reason. The catalyst is a cheap and common substance, overcoming a different challenge for many other flow batteries and fuel cells, which typically use semi-precious metals such as platinum, which typically range from $30 – $60 per gram. While little of the precious metals is used per cell, when you start multiplying by thousands of cells, it starts to add up quickly.
But the biggest one in my opinion is the open-loop model. A closed-loop model transforms the CO2 from one chemistry to another, and then back. In the open-loop model when the energy is extracted, the CO2-based chemicals are transformed to carbonates or bicarbonates.
Why is that important? Well, there are a few reasons. The first is that carbonates and bicarbonates are big business. My assessment sees a $44 billion annual market for the chemicals that Agora’s tech can produce from waste CO2 and clean electricity. The second is that this displaces the Solvay process. I’ve looked at that industrial process, just as I’ve looked at cement production, and Agora’s approach is so much cleaner it’s painful. The Solvay process produces a net 2.74 tons of CO2 per tons of bicarbonates produced in the 1870s chemical process involving ammonia, heating with natural gas, and cooling in different steps. Every box of baking soda you’ve ever bought comes with an invisible 3 boxes of CO2 by mass, in other words. More on this in the next article.
In Agora’s process, lower-cost renewably generated electricity flows in at night or other times of day when it happens to be cheap, the process runs at room temperature, and no ammonia is involved. You could put Agora’s tech in a light-industrial building downtown and no one would notice. The third is that it consumes waste CO2, instead of producing a lot of CO2 as the Solvay process does. This is one of the few carbon usage models that makes fiscal and technical sense, and fits as an industrial component of the future. I know, I’ve spent a lot of time assessing carbon capture and industrial processes’ CO2 footprints.
Lazard unsubsidized levelized cost of storage with Agora’s technology annotated
But it’s the combination that’s key. It’s a battery. Shove renewable electricity into it, and get clean electricity back. Lots of tech does that. However, Agora’s tech has excellent energy density, and great durability too. It can store a lot of electricity for the mass and cycle it a lot of times. Using CO2 instead of metals makes it a lot cheaper. And their catalyst being cheap due to the chemistry makes it even cheaper.
Relative ROI for different battery technologies by author
Those basic factors make it cheaper than most other forms of storage automatically. Cheaper to build. Cheaper to operate. Lower cost storage. Agora has done four fiscal case studies with LafargeHolcim for the technology applied to wind energy grid balancing and an integrated low-carbon cement plant of the future, so the numbers have been scrubbed backward and forward.
And the kicker is the carbonate and bicarbonate production. It consumes waste CO2. It produces useful chemicals. Bicarbonates are in lots of things. Food. Toothpaste. Antacids. And they are worth from $200 – $600 per ton, depending on the chemistry and the purity. Imagine a battery that lasts a long time, eats CO2, and produces useful industrial chemicals. It’s a trifecta.
Chart of relative carbon neutrality of different battery technologies chart by author
These battery technology comparison charts are early and indicative, not late, based on rock solid numbers, or seriously reviewed. I pulled them together based on discussions, but they haven’t been validated. My gut tells me that they are close to right in terms of scale, but there’s more work to do on them. And more variants of these assessments to produce. No wonder Hello Tomorrow, the Keeling Curve Prize Team and the Cartier’s Womens Initiative picked Agora. I saw this 20 months ago. The Agora team saw this close to a decade ago.
Their solution isn’t a thornless bed of roses, of course.
The CO2 is transformed into an acid on the way through the process into the storage medium, so that requires care in handling. The set of chemicals include bromine variants. While bromine is an essential trace element in human biology, as with dihydrogen monoxide too much is lethal. The toxicity of the bromine is a concern that must be managed. Other alternatives are less efficient.
Technology readiness levels courtesy NASA
They are at lab efficiency levels right now. While projections indicate that they will get over 80% in terms of round-trip storage, this hasn’t been demonstrated. They are at the MVP stage or technology level four, and need to build a scaled prototype. That’s going to take 2-3 years, and another few million dollars.
They aren’t a manufacturing and distribution firm or a chemical commodity firm, but a technical innovation firm. They need a global manufacturing partner and a chemical commodity partner. Firms like that have been knocking on their door a lot in the past couple of years, and a lot more with the various prizes this year.
Agora’s CO2-based redox flow batteries will be a core technology assisting us to bend the Keeling Curve back down. Hello Tomorrow indeed.
Full disclosure. I have a professional relationship with Agora as a strategic advisor and Board observer. I did an initial strategy session with Agora about their redox flow battery technology in late 2019 and was blown away by what they had in hand, and my formal role with the firm started at the beginning of 2021. I commit to being as objective and honest as always, but be aware of my affiliation.
The 2025 Can-Am Origin electric motorcycle is the pinnacle of fun, just as long as your good time can fit into 69 miles of riding between charges. What it lacks in long-distance range, it makes up for in versatility, rugged style, and instant torque that’s ready for the road and trail. Each twist of the throttle delivers immediate electric propulsion. Its futuristic design and stealthy motor hum make the Origin a dual-sport machine pulled from tomorrow that wonderfully celebrates Can-Am’s two-wheeled heritage of decades past. I also spent some time on the road with the more approachable Can-Am Pulse, a standard street bike with a slight range advantage.
Can-Am style and comfort through technology
The Can-Am Origin is unlike any electric motorbike that has entered my garage. Its tall stance, 21-inch front and 18-inch rear wheels, and high ground clearance practically beg to be taken off your routine street routes. Can-Am simultaneously delivers an infotainment system on a dual-sport bike that, respectfully, makes much more expensive electric motorcycles look like tech dinosaurs in comparison.
The Origin’s dashboard has specs that every electric motorcycle company should copy. Equipping this system to an electric dual-sport feels like a total luxury. The Origin features a giant 10.25-inch color touchscreen with BRP Connect and a clean user interface that automatically switches between light and dark mode and adjusts brightness. In addition to a digital speedometer, you can quickly switch between ride modes, view battery status, check estimated range, and more.
Ride modes include Normal, Sport, Rain, Eco, two different Off-Road modes. You can toggle traction control and fine-tune front and rear regenerative braking independently, each with Off, Mid, and Max settings. Controls are accessible via the touchscreen when parked or through handlebar-mounted thumb controls while riding.
The UI adapts to show either large gauges or a split between speedometer and infotainment applets. Bluetooth connects the bike and your phone, and Can-Am has included built-in wifi for over-the-air software updates. These are the kinds of features you’d expect on a premium electric motorcycle in 2025, but they’re not guaranteed.
For iPhone users, there’s Apple CarPlay integration. Two caveats: first, the system uses USB-A instead of USB-C, so newer iPhones will require an adapter or a USB-A to USB-C cable that supports data, not just charging. Second, it only supports wired CarPlay, not wireless, despite the bike having both wifi and Bluetooth radios onboard.
Those two complaints aside, the CarPlay integration is next-level. The touchscreen is responsive when parked, and everything remains fully controllable through the handlebar controls while riding. Access to apps like Maps, Music, Messages, and Phone while on the move is a real convenience. There are also motorcycle- and EV-specific apps with CarPlay are right at home on the Can-Am system.
There are no built-in speakers, so Can-Am relies on Bluetooth audio outputs. The setup is clever, supporting two output channels: one for the rider and one for the passenger helmet comms systems. I experimented by tossing a Bluetooth speaker onto the handlebars and was surprised to find it worked well in sub 50 mph environments as an open-air audio solution.
My only real hardware gripe on a bike that otherwise outshines much of its competition is the lack of self-canceling turn signals. Not every bike has them, but every bike that lacks them is missing out. There’s nothing less cool than riding around with your blinker still flashing. Fortunately, the dash clearly displays active signals. Still, I initially thought the right indicator light on the dash wasn’t working until I realized a single cable runs directly in front of it from my seated position. It’s a small, oddly specific problem that may be specific to my loaner bike, but I can’t quite position the cable differently.
Overall, I give the look and tech a 9.75 out of 10 for delivering both style and features that I actually want and use.
How the Origin feels to ride
At 5’10” with a 30-inch inseam, I find the Origin’s seat height tall yet correct for a dual-sport bike. Throwing a leg over feels a bit like saddling up on a horse, and once I’m on, it’s immediately comfortable. I can straddle the bike confidently, with my left foot planted on the ground and the other hovering around the rear brake. Any taller, and it might feel like a stretch; any shorter, and the ride position wouldn’t feel as commanding. The elevated stance provides a clear, confident view of the road or trail ahead, and the headlight system works adequately. It sets the Origin apart from the lower, more compact feel of traditional street bikes.
With this bike, Can-Am delivers an awesome mix of rugged reality and futuristic aesthetic. The Origin’s angular black-and-white bodywork and tall riding position regularly invokes the feeling of a stormtrooper hovering through the moon forest of Endor on a speeder bike. That particular vibe is especially strong at speed, where the elevated stance and electric torque make it feel like you’re gliding just above the terrain. At lower speeds, the illusion shifts. The stealthy motor hum fades behind the subtle roll of tires on pavement, creating a sensation much like quietly cruising up on a skateboard. It’s stealthy, smooth, and serene.
In terms of performance, the Origin tops out at 79 mph for me, providing plenty of speed for highway rides. Can-Am rates the 0-60 mph acceleration at 4.3 seconds, but frankly this bike feels like it might toss you overboard if you push it that quickly. Can-Am estimates range of up to 90 city miles and 71 mixed environment miles. On one test ride, I ran the battery from 100 percent to 1 percent over the course of 2.3 hours, covering 58.7 miles at an average speed of 24 mph, according to the bike stats.
According to my stats, it was many more hours of fun in the sun with a break for lunch at the park by the water in between riding sessions. That ride was done entirely in Sport mode with regenerative braking turned off, and it returned an average energy consumption of 9 miles per kilowatt-hour. It’s a solid showing for an electric dual-sport, especially considering the aggressive mode and lack of regen for the most reactive and relaxed ride.
Sometimes I love the feel of regenerative braking on electric cars and motorcycles. It can add to the feeling of responsiveness. I found regen on this bike to feel a bit more tight and underpowered for my liking, but it’s there as an option for extending range. With regen turned off entirely, the Origin felt significantly more loose and natural to ride. On the Origin I consistently opted to leave both front and rear regen off. We’ll see how the Pulse feels when I test that model next.
I must have logged over 500 miles across four weeks with the Origin. The lasting impression is that when you gain muscle memory for how the bike responds to throttle spin and body movement, riding the Can-Am Origin feels like playing an amplified electric guitar. Every incremental finger and palm positioning has a result, and when you find your rhythm, suddenly you’re creating music.
The other piece of the Can-Am Origin experience that I didn’t anticipate is the conversational aspect. Electric vehicles are still novel to many, and electric motorcycles are an absolute enigma to most. “Can it get wet?” is still the classic question that many ask. But from day one to day 28 of test riding the Can-Am Origin, it was the brand itself that got people asking me about the bike.
My takeaway is that people have a real affinity for the Can-Am brand as well as a nostalgia for the days of two-wheeled Can-Am motorbikes. When they learn that Can-Am is back on two wheels in the form of a bad-ass looking electric dual-sport motorcycle, people react like they just met a the much younger version of a celebrity in their home town. It’s a fun thing to experience.
Can-Am has earned its place as an electric motorcycle brand to consider
The Can-Am Origin is an incredibly thoughtful and fun take on what an electric dual-sport can be. It pairs rugged styling with a high-tech, feature-rich interface, offers plenty of real-world performance, and never stops turning heads while doing it without trying. From its futuristic design and surprisingly refined touchscreen to the tall, confident riding position and intuitive handling, the Origin is a complete package, so long as your expectations around electric motorcycle range are in check.
Priced starting at $14,999, the Origin slots in competitively against other premium electric motorcycles, though it leans more toward adventure and off-road versatility than urban street performance. It doesn’t quite reach the power or fast-charging capability of more premium priced machines, yet it undercuts in price and adds very useful touches like Apple CarPlay, OTA updates, and dual regen tuning.
If money were no object, I’d gladly keep one in the garage. It’s just flat-out fun to ride. From quick errands and joyrides to weekend backroad escapes, the Origin is a thrill machine that leaves you smiling between rides. Can-Am has a huge selection of first-party accessories to customize your bike as well. This configuration above makes me drool.
Range will be the limiter on machines like this for a while, and while around 70 miles between charges is enough for plenty of use cases, it still has to be a part of the conversation when talking recommendations. But here’s the thing: despite that limitation, electric motorcycles are a ton of fun right now. And if you’ve got either a high pain tolerance for early adoption or healthy access to good charging infrastructure, you can absolutely push them further.
The Origin is compatible with both Level 1 (standard wall outlet) and Level 2 (240V) charging, but not Level 3 DC fast charging. Can-Am rates Level 2 charging at 0 to 80% in 1.5 hours and 0 to 100% in 3.5 hours. In practice, that translates to plugging in and waiting a few hours between fun sessions. For some riders, that’s no big deal, especially if spending time at your destination is part of the trip.
I certainly don’t live along the great electric freeway of California, but my coastal stretch of highway in South Mississippi is populated with electric charging stops.
In my testing, I used the Can-Am Origin for a roundtrip airport commute from home in Ocean Springs, MS to Gulfport, MS, and back. The airport was outside of the travel-there-and-back-without-charging range, but free charging infrastructure at the airport parking garage made it no problem. I rode there, parked, charged during my trip, and returned from the other side of the country to a full battery. So yes, it’s capable of handling local duties. But if long range is central to your riding lifestyle, it’s something to plan around. I think lower speeds and paid charging solutions along the way would allow me to reach New Orleans and return home, but I haven’t set out on that path with this bike.
The Origin isn’t perfect, but it’s arguably best in its category, well-executed, and just damn cool to experience. Can-Am absolutely executed on creating a great electric motorcycle experience despite not being solely focused on EVs or two-wheeled machines.
Can-Am Pulse experience
After 600+ miles on the Can-Am Origin, I had the chance to put some miles on a 2025 Can-Am Pulse electric motorcycle. My key takeaways? Both are excellent electric motorcycles with equally great CarPlay integration. The Pulse is more approachable with a low riding position and slightly more range. The larger storage capacity is also appreciated compared to the somewhat tight space on the Origin.
If I were choosing which to purchase without extensive riding experience, the Can-Am Pulse is absolutely the bike I would gravitate toward. It’s just a great standard street bike with awesome technology at a competitive price.
Above is a look at the redesigned CarPlay experience coming in September 2025 to iPhone in iOS 26, as seen on the Can-Am Pulse display. The new design flexibility makes CarPlay look more at home next to Can-Am’s UI that always appears on a third of the display. Since Can-Am supports CarPlay, the infotainment system will receive free upgrades as Apple enhances the iPhone-powered feature.
Can-Am also supports free over-the-air software updates to the bike itself. Updates are downloaded over wifi and installed using the built-in system on the bike. No visits to the dealership or firmware updates over USB drives required.
Here’s how both bikes compare on paper:
| Feature | Can‑Am Origin | Can‑Am Pulse |
|---|---|---|
| Starting MSRP | $14,499 | $13,999 |
| 0–60 mph | 4.3 sec | 3.8 sec |
| City range | 90 miles | 100 miles |
| Combined range (WMTC) | 71 miles | 80 miles |
| Charging (20→80 %) | 50 min (Level 2) | 50 min (Level 2) |
| Peak power | 47 hp (35 kW) | 47 hp (35 kW) |
| Continuous power | 27 hp (20 kW) | 27 hp (20 kW) |
| Torque | 53 lb‑ft (72 Nm) | 53 lb‑ft (72 Nm) |
| Dry weight | 412 lb (187 kg) | 390 lb (177 kg) |
| Seat height | 34 in (865 mm) | 30.86 in (784 mm) |
| Suspension travel | Front/rear 10 in (255 mm) | Front/rear 5.5 in (140 mm) |
| Drive modes | 6 modes (Normal, ECO, Rain, Sport, Off‑Road, Off‑Road+) | 4 modes (Normal, ECO, Rain, Sport+) |
Find more about Can-Am Origin and Pulse electric motorcycles here.
Electrek’s Take
I still think the Can-Am Pulse is the easier recommendation for most people, and you can kit it out as much as the Origin. Yet after around a month with each bike, I can’t help but think more about the Pulse. Can-Am really built a fun machine with that bike, especially with its commanding riding position and rugged style.
I would love to see a version with Level 3 charging speeds and greater range to expand the road trip potential, but both machines are super if your commute or leisure route works with the specs.
For now, Can-Am has delivered more than any other electric motorcycle maker when it comes to a giant display with CarPlay integration, attention-grabbing style, and options for two different riding preferences.
Want to learn more about the world of electric motorcycles and other two-wheeled EVs? Catch up on expert Micah Toll’s constant coverage, and subscribe to Electrek’s Wheel-E podcast for weekly updates.
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There’s something about the joy of playing around with Tonka trucks in a sandbox that men really never grow out of. Sure, we grow up, get real jobs, and most of us never take the toys back out of the dusty, long-forgotten box. But the desire is still there. And if you gave just about any former boy and reluctant adult the option, I’d be dollars to donuts they’d gladly play around with the life-sized version of their childhood construction toys in a heartbeat.
If that sounds like fun, then I’ve got good news for you. I just found the coolest grown-up toy construction vehicle and it’s unlike anything you’ve seen before. I’d argue that it slots in nicely as a perfect example of some of the coolest and weirdest things you can find from China’s endless supply of innovative EVs. So, for your viewing pleasure, I submit this week’s Awesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week: the Octo-dumper!
I really don’t know how to describe this vehicle. I’ve been at a loss for words before in this column, but at least there’s usually a general class of vehicle that these things fit into.
In this case, I’m hesitant to call it a dump truck – partly because it appears to be all dump and no truck.
It’s remote-controlled, so you could call it an RC vehicle, but the fact that I’ve seen cars smaller than this rig makes me hesitant to lump it in with the remote-controlled toys.
Then there’s the 8×8 setup here. The last time I saw an eight-wheeled vehicle like this was, ironically, it was a mobile crane that was unloading one of my containers full of fun Alibaba construction equipment. Wow, I didn’t expect to come full circle there so quickly.
But despite being unable to quite classify this dumper, I still love everything about it, and I kind of want one.
Measuring around six feet long (197 cm), it seems capable of carrying a fairly large load. They rate it for 2,200 lb (1,000 kg) of cargo, and it looks every bit ready for it.
The top speed of 9 mph (15 km/h) might not hold up when fully laden, but this isn’t exactly a vehicle built for speed. Or comfort, for that matter. It’s built for by-god gettin’ stuff done! And with a claimed 5.4 kWh of battery capacity, it’s going to be quietly hauling your junk around for a good long time before it needs a recharge.
The cargo bed appears to have the classic pickup truck tailgate in the rear, though it also adds a pair of side gates like an old Corvair 95 Rampside pickup, except that the side gates run the full length. Finally, the front also has a tailgate–err, frontgate? Basically, it’s gates all around to turn this thing into a rolling flatbed capable of carrying just about any oversized junk you can think of!
Just don’t start tipping it up while you’ve got all those gates down or you might lose your load. That’s right, don’t forget that this is also a dumper! Not just a transporter around a job site, you can unload your dirt, mulch, gravel, friends, or whatever you carry in here with the push of a button.
Now I’m not exactly sure what I’d do with one of these if I owned one, but I’m sure I could find plenty of uses. You never realize what you can do with an octo-dumper until you own one, and then it’s suddenly like, “How did I ever manage without this thing!?”
Now it will set you back more than a Tonka truck. But I’d argue that the sticker price of $2,482 is a small price to pay in order to have the coolest vehicle in the neighborhood! Just try not to think yet about the thousands and thousands of dollars in fees, import charges, shipping, and other expenses of actually receiving one of these in the West. Instead, think of the fun hayrides you could give the neighborhood kids, at least assuming their parents signed the extensive liability waiver that this thing would probably require.
Speaking of liability though, before any of you get the bright idea to try one of these, please be warned that I’m telling you that’s a bad idea. As I always try to remind my readers during these fun tongue-in-cheek Alibaba articles: don’t actually try to buy one of these things. Seriously. These wild-looking Chinese EVs may be fun to look at, but this is just a lighthearted weekend column where I dig through Alibaba’s bizarre and fascinating collection of electric vehicles. While I’ve had a few successful (and fun) purchases from the site, I’ve also been burned more than once – so it’s definitely not for the faint of heart or anyone on a tight budget.
That’s not to say some brave (or stubborn) readers haven’t taken the plunge anyway, ignoring my caution and venturing into the unknown. But please don’t be the one who gambles and ends up with empty hands and a lighter wallet. Consider this your official heads-up – I’ve warned you!
For now, let’s enjoy how awesome it is that something like this octo-dumper exists, and leave it at that. Until next time, and until the next weird Alibaba EV, this is Micah signing off.
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Italian electric motorcycle manufacturer Energica has just been handed a lifeline. Previously owned by US company Ideanomics, the famed motorcycle brand entered insolvency late last year after a period of financial duress prevented it from making payroll and continuing production.
Now, a new group of investors from Singapore has stepped in to take over.
The news was shared on Energica’s YouTube channel, and the company confirmed on LinkedIn that “The judicial process undergoing the sale of Energica has received an offer with a significant deposit from investors based in Singapore.” Energica says that the investors, who so far remain unnamed, “are enthusiasts that believe in, and share the common values of Energica.”
While it’s not certain how the buyout and revival will unfold, it appears that Energica is planning on getting the band back together. “If the process comes through successfully,” the company explained, “the same team behind Energica will be entrusted to run the operations, and we will continue creating cutting-edge technologies for our customers.”
With many of Energica’s impressive electric motorcycles already in circulation from years of sales leading up to the 2024 bankruptcy, the company seems focused on starting by supporting those riders. ” Our first order of business is to support the customers and community. The judicial process will be completed in 60 days, and we will continue to share updates during the time.”
Energica rose to fame by building high-performance electric motorcycles in Modena, Italy, and was one of the early pioneers in the premium electric two-wheeler space. Its lineup includes models like the Experia electric touring bike and the Ego sportbike. The company previously supplied race bikes for the MotoE World Cup until Ducati took over the role in 2023.
After being acquired by US-based Ideanomics in 2021, Energica initially benefited from an injection of capital that helped expand production and dealer networks. But Ideanomics itself has faced serious financial trouble, becoming unable to invest in the future of Energica.
Energica’s future prospects seemed dim at the time of its insolvency in 2024, but the uncertainty appears to be clearing with the hope that new owners can breathe fresh life into the company.
Even so, Energica’s core competency is building the fastest, most powerful, and longest range production electric motorcycles the world has ever seen, and that’s not exactly an inexpensive enterprise. Combined with current market trends that favor smaller, lighter, and less expensive commuter-spec electric motorcycles, it begs the question of whether or not a newly revived Energica will find a receptive market, or whether the company will be forced to expand the scope of its products to match better the type of electric motorcycles that are selling today.
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Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
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